Ngoie-Mwenze
Greener Journal of Language and Literature Research Vol. 4 (1), pp. 01-011, April 2018.
© 2018 Greener Journals
Research Paper
Manuscript Number: 030718034
(DOI: http://doi.org/10.15580/GJLLR.2018.1.030718034)
Women’s fight in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Devil on the Cross: a structural analysis
NGOIE MWENZE Honoré
Professor at the School of Criminology, University of Lubumbashi (UNILU)
Abstract
This
paper attempts to investigate the meaning of Ngugi’s Devil on the Cross.
Through the analysis of the
novel structure, it pursues a revelation of the social disease painted in the
novel and a detection of the kind of Women’s fight and its protagonists engaged
in the revolution of the fictional society. This research bases its analysis through Algirdas Julien Greimas’ semiotic square model. As a
result, the build of the semiotic square summarizes the novel into the binary
words: exploitation and liberation or uhuru. While the exploitation is the work
of the thieves and robbers including their disciples, local or foreign
supporters (belonging to the ruling class), the battle of liberation is the
work of protagonists that belongs in majority to the weak class. The women
fight takes place in this last view when they are engaged to put an end to
their multi-victimization. Women protagonists are engaged in their liberation
and the liberation of the whole fictional Kenyan society. Wangari’s strategy
fails to arrest and to put into everlasting jail those who foot masses. After
experiencing the trouble of past events, Jacinta Wariinga, another woman,
chooses simply to kill the figurehead of sexual abuses and workers
exploitation. And the act of killing the Rich Old Man from Ngorika and his two
guests, mentioned in this novel, marks the symbol of woman’s victory.
Consequently, the plot appears to be the schism between the actants of the
upper class and those of the lower class, the majority and the minority. In the fight of these
two classes,
masses are victorious on the wealthy people who are a minority.
Keywords: Women’s fight, semiotic square, exploitation, liberation or “uhuru”.
References
1. Muzigirwa Munganga, B. (2012). Devil on the Cross: Ngugi’s Marxist Invitation, Bukavu: ISP/Bukavu
2. Odun Balogun, F. (1988). “Ngugi's Devil on the Cross: The Novel as Hagiography of a Marxist”. Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 16(2): 76-92.
3. Yoshida, Yutaka (2011), "Satire, or Cannibalism": Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Critique of Neocolonialism in Devil on the Cross, Hermes-Ir (Hitotsubashi University Repository), 5: 354-368.
4. Malembanie, N. (2011). “Satirical art in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s novel Devil on the Cross”, Memor for the Master of Art Degree in Teaching, Labor, Progress, Humanity, 1 (1): 1-103.
5. Ogunjimi, B. (1984), “Oral Tradition and Social Vision in Ngugi’s Devil on the Cross”. Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 14 (1): 2-16.
6. Brumley, E.A. (2007), Wariinga's Got a Gun: Feminism and Revolution in Devil on the Cross, Asheville, The University of North Carolina.
7. Greimas, A.J. (1966). Sémantique structurale. Recherche de méthode. Paris : Larousse
8. Greimas, A.J. (1973). "Actants, Actors, and Figures." On Meaning: Selected Writings in Semiotic Theory. Trans. PERRON, P.J & COLLINS, F.H. (1987), Theory and History of Literature, 38. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 106-120
9. Branston, G. & Stafford, R (1996). The Media Students’ Book. London: Routledge.
10. Van Zoest, A. (1997). La sémiotique in BESSIERE, J. & al., Histoire des poétiques, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 460-463.
11. Todorov, T. & Weinstein, A. (1969). “Structural Analysis of Narrative”. Novel 3 (1): 70-76.
12. Wangui Mbuguah wa Goro, E. (2005). Hecterosexism in Translation: a Comparative Study of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Caitani Mutharabaini (Devil on the Cross) and Matigari ma Njiruungi (Matigari), London: MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY.
13. Agho, J. (2011). Class Conflicts and the Rise of the ‘Proletarian’ Novel in Africa, University of Bucharest Review: 1(2), 95-104.
14. Waghmare, S. (2012). “Victimization of Jacinta Waringa in Ngugi’s Devil on the Cross”, Research Spectrum: vo. 3, Issue: 1, 107-109.
15. Waita, N. (2013). “Identity, Politics and Gender Dimensions in Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’ s, Wizard of the Crow, International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL): vol. 1, issue 2, 45-50.
16. Gutierrez, G. (1988). A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Social Salvation. New York: ORBIS Books.
17. Uwasomba, C. (2006). “The Politics of Resistance and Liberation in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood and Devil on the Cross”. The Journal of Pan African Studies: vol.1, no.6, 94-108.
18. Ndigirigi, G. (1991). “Character Names and Types in Ngugi's Devil on the Cross”. Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies: 19(2-3), 96-109.