Petals of Blood

Novel | Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Brief Questions in Petals of Blood

Brief Questions in Petals of Blood

  • Who is Ngugi wa Thiong’o?
Ans: A Kenyan postcolonial writer, born 1938.
  • In which language does Ngugi write his novels?
Ans: First English; later his Gikuyu language.
  • What do you know about the Mau Mau revolt?
Ans: An anti-British uprising, 1952–1960, led by Kimathi.
  • From where are the novel’s epigraphs taken?
Ans: Revelation, and Whitman’s poem on Europe.
  • Who are murdered?
Ans: Mzigo, Chui, and Kimeria are murdered.
  • Who is Abdulla?
Ans: An ex–Mau Mau fighter and shopkeeper.
  • Who is Joseph?
Ans: Abdulla’s adopted brother.
  • Who is Mukami?
Ans: Munira’s sister; she committed suicide.
  • Who is Old Mariamu?
Ans: A worker on Munira’s father’s farm.
  • Who is Wanja?
Ans: Nyakinyua’s granddaughter; returned to Ilmorog.
  • What is Wanja’s new job?
Ans: She is a barmaid at Abdulla’s shop.
  • What about Wanja’s first love?
Ans: A school friend; her father beat her.
  • How does the new police officer treat Munira?
Ans: Kindly; he gives paper for confession.
  • What does Karega reveal to Munira?
Ans: He is Old Mariamu’s son and an ex-student.
  • Who was Nding’uri?
Ans: Karega’s brother; a Mau Mau fighter.
  • How did Abdulla become a shopkeeper?
Ans: He restored a building; Joseph helped.
  • What is the Kamwane Cultural Organization?
Ans: A state group arranging oath-taking tea parties.
  • What did Karega do at Gatunda?
Ans: He sold skins, fruit, and vegetables.
  • How did Ilmorog’s history begin?
Ans: With Ndemi settling and farming there.
  • Why was there a marketplace massacre?
Ans: After a white man’s death, Europeans fired.
  • Why is Karega compared with Ndemi?
Ans: He urges action, not waiting for gods.
  • Why is it called Abdulla’s feast?
Ans: He killed an antelope for the meat.
  • What does the lawyer do for them?
Ans: He shelters, feeds, and frees them.
  • How does Nderi wa Riera behave?
Ans: Cold welcome; then he sends police.
  • What festival follows harvest?
Ans: The circumcision festival.
  • What drink is taken then?
Ans: Theng’eta, a hallucinogenic brew.
  • How is Theng’eta made?
Ans: Maize flour, water, Theng’eta juice; brewed.
  • What news shocks Munira?
Ans: Mukami loved Karega; Ndung’uri cut father’s ear.
  • What is Muratina?
Ans: A milder drink allowed by colonials.
  1. Why does Karega return to Ilmorog?
Ans: He was fired for union organizing.
  • Why is Karega taken to the red chamber?
Ans: For torture and forced confession.
  • How does Wanja answer Abdulla’s proposal?
Ans: She rejects the proposal.
  • What does Abdulla decide seeing Kimeria?
Ans: To kill Kimeria that night.
  • What does Wanja do before the fire?
Ans: She invites Mzigo, Kimeria, and Chui.
  • Who killed Kimeria?
Ans: Wanja hit him with a frying pan.
  • How is Wanja saved?
Ans: Burned, but Abdulla rescues her.
  • What does Munira’s father do at trial?
Ans: He asks Munira why he did it.
  • What news does the girl give Karega?
Ans: Workers unite; a mass strike looms.
  • What is Munira’s view of Wanja and Karega?
Ans: He is jealous of their love.
  • Who are the Samaritans?
Ans: Munira, Abdulla, Karega—helpers in drought.
  • Who is Mwathi?
Ans: The town’s prophet and medicine man.
  • What follows Wanja’s love with Kimeria?
Ans: Pregnancy; rejection; she becomes a barmaid.
  • Why does Munira befriend Julia?
Ans: To make Wanja jealous.
  • Which project brings development to Ilmorog?
Ans: The Trans-African Highway.
  • How is Ilmorog modernized?
Ans: Road, bank, cooperative, and many shops.
  • Who sets fire to Wanja’s brothel?
Ans: Munira does, out of jealousy.
  • What is the novel’s background?
Ans: Kenya’s independence after the Mau Mau.
  • What was the Mau Mau Revolt?
Ans: Armed resistance to British rule, 1952–1960.
  • How was Abdulla’s donkey killed?
Ans: A plane crash killed the donkey.
  • Who is Munira?
Ans: A schoolteacher running Ilmorog’s school.
  • Who inspires villagers to visit Nairobi and their MP?
Ans: Karega inspires the journey. 

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