Global Lit Essay 2

Gianna Liaci
Doug Anderson
EN 207
April 22, 2015

Resistance to women’s subordination
In the introduction of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s “Wedding at the Cross” “Ngugi was the first successful English language novelist from East Africa” (Puchner et. al. 1037). This explains why he found inspiration in the modern classics of Western Literature because most African authors of his generation did. The idea of women’s subordination and the resistance to that subordination is one of the main themes in this story. Miriamu is the female protagonist in the “Wedding at the Cross” and is expected to obey her husband and take care of the kids. During this time, wives were just supposed to take care of their family and weren’t valued as much as they should’ve been. In the beginning of the story, the author describes them as a couple, “Wariuki and his wife Miriamu were a shining example of what cooperation between man and wife united in love and devotion could achieve: he tall, correct, evens little stiff, but wealthy; she small, quiet, unobtrusive, a diminishing shadow beside her giant of a husband” (Thiong’o,1038). Miriamu is described as a diminishing shadow of her husband, which means to make something less valuable. This shows the idea of women subordination. Throughout the story, Miriamu is disappointed in how her husband has changed, but it takes her long enough to leave him because of her hope in her getting back the guy she fell in love with and women subordination. Miriamu came from a wealthy family and fell in love with Wariuki who was the total opposite. Wariuki ‘s personality changes and suffers from the rejection by Miriamu’s father. He goes on to fight in the Second World War, becomes a Christian, and gets an English name, but still cannot let go of the resentment Miriamu’s father has for him. She loved him even when he had not a cent to his name. But, after meeting Douglas Jones Wariuki envied his wealth and had is mind set on getting money to rub it in Douglas’ face he neglected the woman that loved him for who he really was and eventually results in the loss of his wife. At one point in the story, Wariuki takes Miriamu up to Limuru and puts her with his aged mother and then just disappears from them. Miriamu even finds out that her husband had married another woman, but she still waits for him because “The seedling he planted in her warmed her” ( Thiong’o, 1042). Wariuki is fighting for that success and money just to erase the memory of that interview out of his mind. On the other hand, Miriamu wanted things back to normal. “But Miriamu prayed a different prayer, she wanted her man back. Her two sons were struggling their way through Siriana Secondary School. For this she thanked the Lord. But she still wanted her real Wariuki back” (Thiong’o, 1044). Miriamu remembers the old Wariuki who she fell in love with and therefore, is unable to just give up and leave. She has hope in getting the man she loved back and looks past everything he is doing. She’s also limited because her family disowned her and even though Wariuki isn’t exactly always there for her that’s all she has. Miriamu wasn’t giving up on the hope so she still waited for Wariuki to see if he could go back to the man who she loved despite his financial status. Towards the end of the story, we see Miriamu disobeying Wariuki by working with the workers on the farm and treating them so well even when Wariuki. All of this prosperity changed the old Wariuki who wore the patched up trousers on the bicycle, the man Miriamu really loved. She didn’t care about the money with him because she came from a family of wealth. But, Wariuki was doing all of this just because that interview with Douglas Jones. A few weeks before the wedding, Wariuki was excited, but not about marrying Miriamu. Wariuki looks at the wedding at the cross as a sense of vengeance to Douglas Jones. Instead of being happy to marry the woman he loved, he’s just worried about getting what he wants. This

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