Devil On The Cross

Devil on the Cross was written by Ngugi while he was imprisoned. He was held without trail by a government that tried to silence him. The out come was a book that was "One of the century's greatest novels" by the Tribune. In the following passages I plan to explain the meaning of four characters that are affected by capital class.

The speaker of the passage "She sat down on a box..." is the gorgeous protagonist; Jacinta Wariinga. Jacinta Wariinga is a young beautiful black woman who easily stops "men in their tracks." She is like Thanksgiving dinner, a feast for the eyes. Jacinta moves with grace when she is without self-conscious. Underneath all her beauty, she is a suicidal person who hates her blackness. Jacinta truly hates her blackness because she uses "skin-lightening creams." The skin-lightening cream rejects her skin color because the cream knows "that which is born black can never be white". She clearly suffers from Cultural Imperialism. Cultural Imperialism has wiped out the music, culture and art many. The military has taken over lands for their own personal use, economic stability can not be reached between classes because the gap between the rich and poor has increased and political power is the only thing of importance. The people are of no importance because if they were better living conditions and necessary items would be more accessible.

Jacintas' color coated thinking has led her to believe "that her appearance [is] the root cause of all her problems." Jacinta analysis's her many problems with a small mirror. Jacinta is using a small mirror for petty problems when she needs to be using a mirror like the one in my room, 7feet tall by 5 feet wide. With that mirror she can examine all the cultural imperialism flaws and not just her materialistic problems. The small mirror depicts her problems to be petty. If Jacinta truly wanted to analyze all of her problems she should a use a mirror like the one in my room, 5' by 7', she can clearly notice all of her flaws. Ngugi, clearly tried to show that her problems are petty because the size of the mirror.

The speaker of the passage "Have I been on the road all this time..." is Robin Mwaura the "rapper." Robin Mwaura is a false artist. He is a trickster, a con artist, in today's society Robin Mwaura would is considered a rapper, a great one at that. Mwaura would be an excellent rapper because he would appeal to the masses with his lies of riches and fame. There would be "no song that [he] wouldn't [sing]." Take new main stream rap artist 50 cent. He was considered the king of underground rap. Now by his own people that voted him the king of underground, he is despised by them. His titled stripped away and called a sellout by his once loyal fans. Where his raps were once about stealing from the rich rappers and giving to the poor, the oppressor, the injustice system that holds the little person back, now raps about the cars, sex, drugs and money. He has bit off more then he can chew because he has added himself to the list of rich rappers. Just like the once fans of 50 cent, Nugui feels that the modern trickster is a worthless character and is only about manipulation.

The problem of art is that on the surface it is a lie. A false artist like Mwaura uses art to cover up the truth. Robin Mwaura is a catharsis. He feels free of all repressed emotions because he sides with the cause, if the cause "bends, [he] bends with it...if it grows; [he] grows with it." Educationally Mwaura is not very intelligent. The trickster character which he plays is a character that comes out of an oppressed population. He is the books comic relief. Mwaura is just like 50 cent, both lie to get the audience to side with him even though they won't help them because they ONLY like doing things for themselves.

The speaker of the passage "The human heart..." is none other than Muturi or Nugui speaking to us himself. Muturi or Nugugi believe in oral tradition. That by telling a story one learns from it. Just as "heart makes man," oral tradition smoothes out the rough edges one