Petals of Blood by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o: Plot Summary

In the light of the story, the reader discovers the relationship that would have strained and disturbed the lives of each of these four characters due to the investigation of Inspector Godfrey in the assassination of the personalities of Kimria, Choi and Zigu.

This officer was known for his strong belief in the power and dominance of the police as "the makers of modern Kenya." The following Ngugi highlights the changes that transformed the appearance of Ilmorog Village which was just a small village covered by mud huts to a new city full of vitality. But this European material and spiritual change that swept through the village brought with it only a lot of greed, corruption and government control. Instead, Noguji's adoption of the broken chronology in the narrative of the story made the events read separately and the psychological backgrounds of the characters moving from the present to the past which makes linking the information of the case a bit difficult.

The reader is supposed to be more focused in the follow-up of the story and this so that he can discover the mystery of crime. In a moment in the novel, the author shows a period of time when the four characters gather together after their separation and are filled with joy and satisfaction, where they meet in traditional celebrations and dances. Here Munira, Abdullah, Wanga and Kreega feel a strong sense of joy and belonging to the Kenyan identity and knowledge of the roots of their stolen culture.

In the last part, we find that Munira, a religious man in a state of confusion and anger due to the suspicious relations of Luanga and the illegal and moral behavior, especially her secret meetings with Cariga, thought that as long as Wanga alive Van Karyga will not escape its evil magic, this sense of responsibility for the deportation and rescue Kariga of Wanja's effects is immoral as if it was part of his duty to make Wanja away from Karega and because of that; he set fire to Wanga's house, which was known as the "brothel," and here the flame of fire appears as bloodstains. Godfrey lost the string of the mystery and accuses Munira. The burning of Wanga's house that caused the death of the three men. After the news spread, it turned out that Wanja had killed Kimeria with a death appeal, but she was the only person who knew the truth. Mounira received a visit from his father a few days before the trial and accused them of hypocrisy because they had not helped him in the past.

In spite of all this, the author finishes the novel with a lot of glimmers of hope, including the carrying of Anja with a fetus from Abdullah and the planning of workers and peasants of the village of Morog to the coup and claiming their rights.