Petals of Blood

Wanja, the main female character, returns to Ilmorog near the start of the novel after living in the city. Her grandmother, Nyakinyua, is one of the village elders. Due to her own past, she feels very passionately that Joseph, a young boy, should be able to attend school, and she offers to work as a barmaid for Abdulla in his place. She works closely with Abdulla to grow and expand his business, selling Theng’eta and taking advantage of the increased number of people coming through the village due to the new highway. Wanja is central to many of the other narrative threads: She sleeps with Munira and he falls in love with her, she starts a relationship with Karega and falls in love with him, and she goes into business with Abdulla and ends up pregnant with his child at the text’s end.

Her past is full of tragedy, which troubles her. When she was younger, she began an illicit relationship with an older, married man—Kimeria—and was turned away when she became pregnant. Ultimately, she disposed of their child in a latrine, a decision that haunts her. She often considers suicide, telling Abdulla and Munira that after the father of her baby rejected her, she could “hear a Lamb’s voice calling me across a deep deep valley: come unto me, all ye that are lonely, and I’ll give you a final rest” (48). Later, she recounts a story of a woman who sets herself on fire, and she gets lost in thought, considering the idea of “cleansing” herself in a similar manner.

She also recognizes the limitations of being a woman in Kenya and is frustrated by them. She becomes enamored with a boy named Ritho in school, envious of his “ambition” to go to university and become an engineer. She states that she does not have the same option: “It was as if we knew that no matter what efforts we put into our studies, our road led to the kitchen and to the bedroom” (44). However, she decides to use her gender as an advantage. She leaves for the city and works at wealthy establishments, taking advantage of men and sleeping with them for money. When she does so, it is less about the money or gifts from these men and more about the thrill she gets from having power over them. She states that “a smile, a certain look, maybe even raising one’s brow […] turns a man into a captive and a sighing fool” (67). Despite her frustration over her position, she returns to Ilmorog because she wants to have more children, possibly to assuage her guilt over abandoning her first child. She manipulates Munira to get him to sleep with her during the new moon, the inciting action for his obsession with her and his arson.

Though Wanja repeatedly tries to leave sex work behind she is repeatedly forced back into the role. After returning to Ilmorog, she vows to no longer use her body as a source of power. However, when the delegation is captured on the way to the city, she is forced to sleep with Kimeria to ensure the group’s escape. At the text’s conclusion, after she sells her business with Abdulla to save her grandmother’s land, she opens a brothel, cementing her future as someone who uses her gender, looks, and sex for power and money.

Ultimately, Wanja represents the past, present, and future of Kenya. Because of her grandmother’s position as a village elder, she works closely with her and the other women of the village to ensure their traditions continue. She also feels tied down by old-fashioned views of her gender. However, she also takes advantage of the present by utilizing Theng’eta and helping Abdulla grow his business as Ilmorog grows. At the end of the text, her pregnancy—coupled with Karega’s realization that generation after generation will work toward true change in Kenya—represents the hope of finally overthrowing colonial powers and corruption throughout Africa in the future.

Abdulla, like Munira, is an outsider in Ilmorog. After fighting in the Mau Mau Rebellion and losing a leg, he comes to Ilmorog with Joseph and his donkey. He opens a shop in the village, where people—including the elders—often go to drink. As Ilmorog grows and expands, Abdulla also expands his business. Theng’eta becomes a sought-after drink across the continent, and his food and boarding rooms become central to those building the highway and passing through. Although the bulk of his relationship with Wanja is related to their business, they end up sleeping together at the end of the text, and he impregnates her. The two share a mutual history of despair, though hers is explored more deeply than his.

Initially an outsider, Abdulla’s relationship with the people of Ilmorog grows. The elders make several attempts to sacrifice or send away his donkey during the drought, and his anger and annoyance are often commented on. However, as he works with Wanja and Joseph, his adopted brother, is allowed to go to school, his anger softens. His transition toward belonging is completed during the delegation’s journey to the city. He shares stories of the Rebellion and serves as a guide during the journey, earning the villagers’ respect and appreciation.

Abdulla’s missing limb—and his journey in general—is a physical representation of the Mau Mau Rebellion and its results. As someone who fought for his people and their freedom, he should be welcomed and respected in Ilmorog; instead, he is forced to earn that respect over time. Additionally, the things he fought for—freedom and self-determination—are largely absent from his life. He is rejected from jobs and property ownership because of his missing limb. Ironically, although the work he and Wanja do is critical to his business’s success, more important is the foreign money and influence garnered by the construction of the highway. Rather than being able to create his wealth and future through hard work, a massive influx of people and capital creates his short-lived success. However, this wealth is taken from him by neocolonial policies and he ends up living in poverty, highlighting how these policies are ultimately harmful.