i

EPIGRAPH

" Do not judge a book by its cover"

(George Eliot)

NDALA NKINDA Gloire

 ii

DEDUCATION

I honestly Bestow this work to : Ngoy Mudindwa David, Kalenga Mutombo Esther ,
kumnadi mpishi Serge.

NDALA NKINDA Gloire

 iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With deeper thankfulness I thank the head of heaven (almighty God), who lends me life and
who has allowed me to complete my studies.

I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor ,P.katufya wa katufya, for his patience,
effort and dedication. He gladly accepted to supervise this work in spite of his Various occupations. May
Lord gives him peace and protect his family.

I express my gratitude to all the staff of the department of English for having contributed to my
knowledge in their planned field and this goes directly to Mr. Katuta Mwangala, Mr. Cola makumba, Mr.
Katufya, Mr kilufya, Mr. remy and those whose names are not mentioned.

I am grateful to my parents my daddy Ngoy Mudindwa David, and my mom Kalenga Mutombo
Esther, who have supported me to pay my school fees.

Special thanks to my brothers and sisters for their funding contribution and encouragement
throughout the academic process.
 iv

TABLE OF CONTENT

EPIGRAPH......................................................................................................................................i

DEDICATION....................................................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................................... iii

TABLE OF CONTENT......................................................................................................................... iv

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................1

0.1. Problem definition........................... ..............................................................................1

0.2. Choice of the topic......................................................................................,..................1

0.3. Interest of the topic.......................................................................................................1

0.4. Aim of the study ...........................................................................................................1

0.5. Research questions.......................................................................................................2

0.6. Hypothesis ....................................................................................................................2

0.7 Research methodology.................................................................................................2

0.7.1. Methods.................................................................................................................3

0.7.2. Techniques............................................................................................................3

0.8 paper subdivision .......................................................................................................3

CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY ...........................................................................4

1.1. The author..........................................................................................................................4

1.1.1. His life.......................................................................................................................

1.1.2. The author's works..................................................................................................

a. Plays...................................................................................................................

b. Poems ...................................................................................................................

c. Novels....................................................................................................................

d. Short stories..........................................................................................................
 1.1.3. His society Kikuyu (gikuyu) people.......................................................................

1.1.3.1. Gikuyu pre- colonial life................................................................................

1.1.3.2. The colonial period........................................................................................

1.1.3.3. After the colonial period...............................................................................

1.2. Kenya Nairobi and its population..................................................................................

1.2.1. Education in Kenya................................................................................................

1.3. African's plays History ............................................................................................

1.3.1. How plays started in Africa..................................................................................

1.3.2. How it was played...................................................................................................

1.4. Synopsis of the play.........................................................................................................

CHAPTER TWO: CHARACTERIZATION...........................................................................................

2.1. Definition of the concept characterization...................................................................

2.2. Character..........................................................................................................................

2.2.1. Main Character........................................................................................................

2.2.1.1. Protagonist....................................................................................................

2.2.1.2. Antagonist.......................................................................................................

2.2.2. Sub-characters........................................................................................................

2.3. Types of Character..........................................................................................................

2.3.1. Static character......................................................................................................

2.3.2. Round or dynamic character.................................................................................

2.3.3. Foil character..........................................................................................................

2.3.4. Stock character ...................................................................................................

2.4. Characters and their roles..............................................................................................

2.4.1. Remi..........................................................................................................................

2.4.2. Omange....................................................................................................................
 2.4.3. Thoni.........................................................................................................................

2.4.4. Nyobi.........................................................................................................................

2.4.5. Jane...........................................................................................................................

2.4.6. Pastor........................................................................................................................

2.4.7. Leader .......................................................................................................................

2.4.8. Elders.........................................................................................................................

2.4.9. 1st neighbour............................................................................................................

2.4.10. 2nd neighbour.........................................................................................................

2.4.11. A woman.................................................................................................................

2.4.12. A crowd...................................................................................................................

2.5. DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS .......................................................................................

CHAPTER THREE: THEMES ..............................................................................................................

3.1. Definition of the concept theme.......................................................................................

3.2. Major themes.....................................................................................................................

3.2.1. Discrimination...........................................................................................................

3.2.2. Tribalism...................................................................................................................

3.2.3. Racism.....................................................................................................................

3.3. Minor themes....................................................................................................................

3.3.1. Beliefs.....................................................................................................................

3.3.2. Christianity..............................................................................................................

3.3.3. Disappointment.......................................................................................................

3.3.4. Love.........................................................................................................................

3.4. Effects of tribalism and discrimination in society...................................

3.4.1. Tribalism effects..............................................................................................

3.4.2. racial discrimination effects............................................................................

 3.5. The influence of tribalism and racial discrimination on African value..............

3.5.1. African culture.............................................................................................

3.5.2.African culture and values........................................................................

3.5.2.1. Social values.....................................................................................

3.5.2.2. Moral values....................................................................................

3.5.2.3. Religious values.............................................................................

3.5.2.3. Political values...............................................................................

3.5.2.4. Economic values.............................................................................

3.6. When can we talk about tribalism and discrimination................................................

3.7. How did tribalism and discrimination influence African society...............................

GENERAL CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................

BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................
 1

Chapter 0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION

0.1. problem definition

A problem definition is the nature or aspect of problem that the one who is
researching(researcher) who may be phonetician, physician, philosopher or a critic has in a specific field
or science in order to solve that problem.

In the play "Black Hermit" the writer presents tribalism and discrimination in general manner
as big problems which destroy the society and separate people who is living together in the same area
or community.

In specific terms 1.Tribalism in Africa refers to a cultural term which is a Way of thinking or
behaving in which people are more loyal to their tribes than to their friends, countries or social groups.

2.And Discrimination according to the dictionary of Cambridge is the way of treating a person or
particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other
people, because of their race,gender, sexuality. Racism is a prejudice or Discrimination based upon race
or ethnicity.

0.2. Choice of the topic

As the academic rule says that, after three years of studies students have to write
scientifically a researcher paper, I have chosen to work on this topic in order to help people to remove
tribalism and racial discrimination in the their mind for better living wherever.

0.3. Interest of the topic

Despite great importance of this topic in title "Tribalism and racial Discrimination" which has
got three main themes that are in link with we human beings daily life. Then I believe that by analysing
this topic, it will suggest some solutions to the issues and help future researchers to find out some
solutions that will save the society from tribalism and racial discrimination.

0.4. Aim of the study

The present work aims at contributing to the solution which will help us to stop Tribalism
and racial discrimination knowing Africa. Through Ngungi wa Tshiongo's" black hermit" tribalism and
racial discrimination cannot no built the society in the contrary it destroys the community.

2
 0.5. Research questions

After Reading and presenting the main problems or themes, the dissertation raises the
following questions :

∆ why do the white people mistreat black people?

∆ Who Started Racial discrimination

∆ Why do African tribes fight for separation from each other? Arren’t they all the same?

∆ What can be the solutions to these issues?

0.6. Hypothesis

It is a leading idea, an attempt to explain facts formulated from the beginning of the research,
it aims at orientating the investigation,fact that can be adopted or rejected after detailed analysis.

In the context of racism in the United States and in other countries, racism against African
Americans dates back to the colonial era, and it continues to be a persistent issue in American society in
the 21st century.From the arrival of the first Africans in early colonial times until after the American Civil
War, most African Americans were enslaved. So here the base of this problem is the colonization.

Racism occurs when an individual, community, or institution discriminates against someone based
on their belonging to a racial or ethnic group, in particular a group that’s been marginalized.

Racism is discrimination based on an individual’s or community’s race. While bigotry and social
exclusion have always occurred, white Europeans and Americans created the modern concept of “race”
to justify slavery.

The emergence of Tribal conflicts in Africa can be traced back to colonialism as it created an
answer distribution of resources among different tribes and engendered resentment class class
différences,and Tribalism that still affects the grwoth and development of many African countries.

0.7. Research methodology

Every scientific work must have the research methodology in which, the researcher has to plan
and choose ways, instruments or tools through which he or she can be led to the

discovering of true informations or goal what he or she is looking for. Ways of researching , instruments
or tools are considered as, méthodes,and techniques.

0.7.1. Méthodes

Cambridge dictionary defines a method Is a way of doing something, especially a systematic way;
implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps.
 As far as I am concerned I am going to study tribalism and racial discrimination through characters
in the Play, how they act and behave. This study is more based on the writer's way of presenting
tribalism and racial discrimination in the society through the play. Themes that are chosen make the
comparison to other society.

0.7.2. Techniques

Robert & Grawtz (1978:210) define technique as " a tool that enable a researcher to collect
information concerning his work". To elaborate this dissertation I will deal with intrinsic and extrinsic
ideas which consist of consulting written materials such as: magazines, images, Books web-site, and
other research papers in order to analyze the Play.

0.8. Paper subdivision

This work reads four chapters apart from general introduction and general conclusion. The first
chapter will talk about the background to the Play And author'life, the second chapter deals with
characterization, the third chapter Talk about the description of characters and the fourth Chapter
focuses on Tribalism and Racial Discrimination.

Chapter 1 BACKGROUND TO THE PLAY

1.1. the author

1.1.1. His life

 Ngugi wa Thiong’o (born January 5, 1938, Limuru, Kenya) is a Kenyan writer who is considered East
Africa’s leading novelist. His popular Weep Not, Child (1964) was the first major novel in English by an
East African. As he became sensitized to the effects of colonialism in Africa, Ngugi adopted his
traditional name and wrote in the Bantu la

Ngugi received bachelor’s degrees from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in 1963 and from Leeds
University, Yorkshire, England, in 1964. After doing graduate work at Leeds, he served as a lecturer in
English at University College, Nairobi, Kenya, and as a visiting professor of English at Northwestern
University, Evanston, Illinois, U.S. From 1972 to 1977 he was senior lecturer and chairman of the
department of literature at the University of Nairobi.

The prizewinning Weep Not, Child is the story of a Kikuyu family drawn into the struggle for Kenyan
independence during the state of emergency and the Mau Mau rebellion. A Grain of Wheat (1967),
generally held to be artistically more mature, focuses on the many social, moral, and racial issues of the
struggle for independence and its aftermath. A third novel, The River Between (1965), which was
actually written before the others, tells of lovers kept apart by the conflict between Christianity and
traditional ways and beliefs and suggests that efforts to reunite a culturally divided community by
means of Western education are doomed to failure. Petals of Blood (1977) deals with social and
economic problems in East Africa after independence, particularly the continued exploitation of
peasants and workers by foreign business interests and a greedy indigenous bourgeoisie.

In a novel written in Kikuyu and English versions, Caitaani Mutharaba-ini (1980; Devil on the Cross),
Ngugi presented these ideas in an allegorical form. Written in a manner meant to recall traditional ballad
singers, the novel is a partly realistic, partly fantastical account of a meeting between the Devil and
various villains who exploit the poor. Mũrogi wa Kagogo (2004; Wizard of the Crow) brings the dual
lenses of fantasy and satire to bear upon the legacy of colonialism not only as it is perpetuated by a
native dictatorship but also as it is ingrained in an ostensibly decolonized culture itself.

The Black Hermit (1968; produced 1962) was the first of several plays, of which The Trial of Dedan
Kimathi (1976; produced 1974), cowritten with Micere Githae Mugo, is considered by some critics to be
his best. He was also coauthor, with Ngugi wa Mirii, of a play first written in Kikuyu, Ngaahika Ndeenda
(1977; I Will Marry When I Want), the performance of which led to his detention for a year without trial
by the Kenyan government. (His book Detained: A Writer’s

Prison Diary, which was published in 1981, describes his ordeal.) The play attacks capitalism, religious
hypocrisy, and corruption among the new economic elite of Kenya. Matigari ma Njiruungi (1986;
Matigari) is a novel in the same vein.

Ngugi presented his ideas on literature, culture, and politics in numerous essays and lectures, which
were collected in Homecoming (1972), Writers in Politics (1981), Barrel of a Pen (1983), Moving the
Centre (1993), and Penpoints, Gunpoints, and Dreams (1998). In Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of
Language in African Literature (1986), Ngugi argued for African-language literature as the only authentic
voice for Africans and stated his own intention of writing only in Kikuyu or Kiswahili from that point on.
Such works earned him a reputation as one of Africa’s most articulate social critics.

After a long exile from Kenya, Ngugi returned in 2004 with his wife to promote Mũrogi wa Kagogo.
Several weeks later they were brutally assaulted in their home; the attack was believed by some to be
politically motivated. After their recovery, the couple continued to publicize the book abroad. Ngugi
later published the memoirs Dreams in a Time of War (2010), about his childhood; In the House of the
Interpreter (2012), which was largely set in the 1950s, during the Mau Mau rebellion against British
control in Kenya; and Birth of a Dream Weaver: A Writer’s Awakening (2016), a chronicle of his years at
Makerere University.

1.1.2. Author's works

Ngungi wa tchiongo is a Kenyan author and academic, who has been described as "East Africa's
leading novelist".[3] He began writing in English, switching to write primarily in Gikuyu. His work
includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's
literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story The
Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright

A. Plays:
B. Poems:
C. Novels:
D. Short stories:

1.1.3. His society Kikuyu (gikuyu)people

The Kikuyu (also Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ) are a Bantu ethnic group native to East Africa Central Kenya. At a
population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making
them Kenya's largest ethnic group.

Person: MũGĩkũyũ

People: AGĩkũyũ

Language: Gĩkũyũ

Country: Bũrũrĩ Wa Gĩkũyũ

The term Kikuyu is the Swahili borrowing of the autonym Gĩkũyũ (Gikuyu pronunciation:
[ɣèkòjóꜜ]).Kikuyu, Bantu-speaking people who live in the highland area of south-central Kenya, near
Mount Kenya. In the late 20th century the Kikuyu numbered more than 4,400,000 and formed the
largest ethnic group in Kenya, approximately 20 percent of the total population. Their own name for
themselves is Gikuyu, or Agikuyu.

The Kikuyu traditionally lived in separate domestic family homesteads, each of which was surrounded by
a hedge or stockade and contained a hut for each wife. During the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s,
however, the British colonial government moved the Kikuyu into villages for reasons of security. The
economic advantages of village settlement and land consolidation led many Kikuyu to continue this
arrangement after the emergency was ended. The local community unit is the mbari, a patrilineal group
of males and their wives and children ranging from a few dozen to several hundred persons. Beyond the
mbari, the people are divided among nine clans and a number of subclans.

The Kikuyu believe in an omnipotent creator god, Ngai, and in the continued spiritual presence of
ancestors.

1.1.3.1 Gikuyu pre-colonial life

Yes, the Kikuyu or Gikuyu people in Kenya had a well-organized socio-political structure before the
arrival of colonial powers. They were organized into independent clans and had a system of governance
led by elders and chiefs. However, the Kikuyu did not have a centralized kingdom like the Buganda or
Rwandan kingdoms. Instead, they had a decentralized political structure with each clan having its own
leadership.

The Kikuyu had no tribal chiefs, but the population as a whole was divided into several clans and
subclans (today there are nine such clan groups). Extended family groups, or mbari, within these clans
were headed by a number of senior, related males who were ranked according to their age group.
Inheritance went through the male line. Each mbari could be composed of anywhere from 30 to over
300 people. Even though the Kikuyu have abandoned the individual homestead for village life, the mbari
remains an important social unit. The importance of family ties is also reflected in the belief that the
spirits of ancestors are present and available to help the living.

Grouping people into age ranges was very important for social status, as were rites of passage for
adolescents, which included male and female circumcision.

1.1.3.2. colonial period

The central highlands of Kenya are those elevated portions of East Africa which European colonists
entered from the beginning of the twentieth century in an effort to make Kenya a white settlement
area. This region is also the homeland of three African peoples—the Kamba, Kikuyu, and Maasai. This
work is a study of the ways in which these three societies were colonized, the impact this colonization
had upon their traditional ways of life, and the different patterns of change and continuity that marked
their experiences roughly from 1900 to 1939.

As the new economic overlords, the British presence shattered Kikuyu society. Kikuyu trade, especially
with the Kamba and the Maasai, the latter having been forcibly relocated to the far south of Kenya,
simply disappeared.

But the most damaging aspect of the colonial period was the wholesale theft of Kikuyu land for the
benefit of white settlers and their ranches and farms, especially the lands in and around the Nyandarua
Mountains (Aberdares), which became known as the 'White Highlands'. Colonial rule saw the Kikuyu
dispossessed of between thirty and seventy percent of their best lands, as large numbers of people were
herded into restricted "Native Reserves" on inferior land.

1.1.3.3. After colonial period

Since the proclamation of the Republic of Kenya, after colonial rule in Kenya came to an end in 1963, the
Agikuyu now form an integral part of the Kenyan nation. They continue to play their part as citizens of
Kenya, helping to build their country. However, some Kenyans resent their incorrectly perceived
superior economic status, a resentment sometimes vented through political violence, as happened in
1992, 1997 and 2007 Kenyan elections.

1.2. Kenya Nairobi and its population

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Kenya), is a country in East Africa. A member
of the African Union[12] with a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census,[13] Kenya is
the 28th most populous country in the world[7] and 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and
largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest and second largest city, is the major port city of Mombasa,
situated on Mombasa Island in the Indian Ocean and the surrounding mainland. Mombasa was the
capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which

included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Other important
cities include Kisumu and Nakuru. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the
north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the
southeast. Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped
mountaintops (Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife
and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and further on
to dry less fertile arid and semi-arid areas and absolute deserts (Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).

Official languages: Swahili and English[1]

National language: Swahili[1]

Kenya includes the following Ethnic groups: 17.13% Kikuyu, 14.35% Luhya, 13.37% Kalenjin, 10.65%
Luo, 9.81% Kamba, 5.85% Somali, 5.68% Kisii, 5.23% Mijikenda, 4.15% Meru, 13.78% others.

1.2.1. Education in Kenya

Historical records from the travels of John Ludwig Krapf and Johannes Rebmann reveals that
Kenyans had access to education as far back as 1728, with a Swahili manuscript Utendi wa Tambuka
(Book of Heraclius) attesting to the fact. The C.M.S. missionaries interacted with locals in the coastl town
of Mombasa and set up one of the earliest mission schools in the country at Rabai in 1846. Before
independence, elementary education was based on the colonial system of education. In 1967, Kenya
formed the East African Community with Uganda and Tanzania. The three countries adopted a the same
system of education, the 7-4-2-3, which consisted of 7 years of primary education, four years of
secondary education, two years of high school and 3 to 5 years of university education.

With the collapse of the East African community in 1977, Kenya continued with the same education
system until the year 1985, when the 8-4-4 system was introduced, which adopted eight years of
primary education, four years of secondary education and four years of university education except for
speacilized courses which took up to 5 years of university education. Before joining primary school,
student aged between 3-6 years must attend pre-primary for one to two years. Primary education is

universal, free and compulsory and usually caters for student ages 6 to 14. A major goal of primary
school education is to develop self-expression, self-discipline and self-reliance while at the same time
providing a rounded education experience. Secondary education begins around the age of fourteen and
lasts for four years. Secondary school education, especially in public schools,s is subsidized by the
government, with the government paying tuition fees for students attending public secondary school.
The roots of higher education in Kenya started in 1956, with

the founding of Nairobi’s Royal Technical College, a school that would in 1970 become the country’s first
university –The University of Nairobi.

∆ The Traditional System of Education (Informal)

Informal education was a lifelong process and involved the acquisition of values, attitudes, knowledge
and skills relevant to the day to day affairs of society (Ocitti, 1973). This type of development was
stimulated by study through observation and participation in the role of the extended family and the
community as a whole, of its accumulated wisdom as translated through proverbs, riddles, songs,
legends and folklores.

Observation and imitation were used in teaching young ones in the general Kenyan traditional
communities. Informal education included involving student in productive work and observation. A
student was expected to learn mainly by seeing and imitating. From an early age, a student was taught
to accept, to value and reproduce the behaviour, customs and sentiments of the society (Samperu, O.I.,
22.11.2015). Education was strictly enculturation of the traditional habits, attitudes and behavioural
codes. Development towards adulthood proceeded strictly according to custom and social tradition.

∆ The 7-4-2-3 System of Education.

According to Ominde (1964), the chairman of the first educational commission in independent Kenya,
“during the colonial era, there was no such thing as a nation” only several nations living side by side in
the same territory. Education, like society, was stratified along racial lines; there existed an ‘African
education’, a ‘European Education’, and an ‘Asian Education’; three separate systems divided by rigid
boundaries (Ominde 1964). This stratification was based on the colonialist’s assertion that the mental
development of the average African adult was equivalent to that of the average 7-8-year-old European
boy (Gachathi, 1976). African education’ therefore, tended to be a hybrid, precariously hovering
between a European model with a European subject matter and an education deemed suitable to the
place in colonial life considered ‘appropriate’ to the African population (Ominde 1964).

Thus the eve of independence brought sweeping reforms in the educational system. With the creation
of a single nation came the emergence of a single educational system, no longer stratified along racial
lines.

Ominde through his commission fucused on identity and unity, which were an issue in colonial period
and it Changes in the subject content of history and geography were made to reflect national cohesion.
Between 1964 and 1985, the 7-4-2-3-system was adopted, seven years of primary, four years of lower
secondary (form 1 -4), two years of upper secondary (form 5-6), and three years of university. This does
not include the ‘pre-primary’ schooling provided to student under six.

∆ the education system

According to Muya (2000), the 8-4-4 system of education, was introduced in January 1985 as pre-
vocational. Following the Mackay report of 1982. It consisted of 8 years of primary education, four years
of secondary and four years of university.

∆ competency-based education

DEFINITION of Competency based curriculum

Competency-Based Curriculum (C.B.C.) is where learning is based on the needs and potential of
individual learners under a flexible framework and parameters that move and shift according to the
learners’ demands. C.B.C. is collective learning in which the learner and instructor are partners in the
learning process as they jointly seek answers and solutions to complex and straightforward learning
expectations beneficial to humanity.
C.B.C. promotes hands-on training and infuses the acquisition of new knowledge through observation,
‘learning-as-you-do,’ experiential learning, and practical experimenting in order to become better at
each successive stage.

∆ Competency-based education structure

C.B.C in Kenya is structured into Pre-Primary, Lower Primary, Upper Primary, Lower Secondary, Senior
School, and College Education, as shown in fig 2.8. This study will mainly focus on the 3.3 parts of the
Junior and Senior secondary schools, replacing the former 4-year Secondary studies. According to the
C.B.C, competencies learning is customized according to the level of education attained. Therefore,
different levels have different competency learning (Kenyayote, 2020). Secondary education is organized
into two levels. Namely, lower secondary (Grades 7, 8, and 9) and senior school (Grades 10, 11, and 12)
are stated in the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development developed in 2017.

C.B.C junior Secondary

Graduates of primary school Grade 6 join lower secondary at Grade 7. The Lower secondary exposes the
learner to a broad-based curriculum to enable them to explore their abilities, personality, and potential
as a basis for choosing subjects according to career paths of interest at the senior school.

∆ C.B.C Senior Secondary Schools

Senior School comprises three years of education targeted at learners in the age bracket of 15 to 17
years and lays the foundation for further education and training at the tertiary level and in the world of
work. It marks the end of Basic Education as defined in the Education Act, 2013. Learners exiting this
level are expected to be “empowered, engaged, and ethical citizens” ready to participate in the nation’s
socio-economic development.