WHAT ARE THE MAIN THEMES IN KINTU BY MASUMBI

Ancestry

Kintu is based on the present day clan’s connection to their ancestors and how one mistake can ripple farther into the future than anyone could have guessed.

First, it is important to establish the curse, the clan’s ancestry, and how it continues on despite Ntwire’s declaration that living is suffering. The patriarch that causes the curse is Kamu Kintu, and it is his last name that continues through the bloodline for generations despite the death of himself and his entire family. The Kintu name lives on through Zaya who carries Kintu’s grandchild because “way back, [Baale, Kintu’s son] offered to teach me how to be with a man, in case I had to go back to Gitta” (96). This is the moment that the Nitwire’s curse takes hold. He tells Kintu “Your house, and to those that will be born out of it-to live will be to suffer. You will endure so much that you'll wish that you were never born” (62). When all of Kintu’s family dies, his legacy continues on through Zaya, a woman that only slept with Baale a single time.

This fact creates an interesting conundrum in the future, as the family tree is vast, but centers around a single offspring. The reader knows that the clan is large because the narrator says he married numerous other women and “his wives’ homes were scattered all over the provenance for his convenience when he toured” (24). Furthermore, “Nnakato brought the wives who failed to conceive to Mayirika and asked him to double his efforts” (25). This creates a clan filled with countless children, but only one direct descendant of Kintu. We learn in the later chapters that this is Miisi. When two of his cousins visit, they tell him, “You are at the heart of the family tree… you are the only surviving son of the heir lineage… Baale’s unborn son Kidda was to be the heir. When you follow that heir’s blood it leads to you” (352).

This focus on ancestry is vital to the Kintu clan because it gives them a reason for the suffering they experience in their own lives. By gathering together, the family gets a chance to free themselves from this curse. They come to understand that this pain is not just their own. It is a product of hundreds of years of history throughout their bloodline. Even those that are skeptical, like Isaac and Suubi, find peace in the arms of their family. Their shared past brings them together, absolves them of their suffering, and gives everyone a chance to move on from the damage their ancestors caused.

Naming

The tradition of naming children a certain way creates a bond between all of the characters and a dynamic for the clan itself. Over time, these names become more like titles that represent the clan’s shared history.

The first and most obvious name that is passed down through the generations is Kintu. Every main character has some part of Kintu’s name as their last name. Some, like Kanami and Miisi, have the name Kintu. Others, like Suubi, have names like Nnakintu, which, while not confirmed, could be because she is a female or a twin. Furthermore, first names like Kamu, Baale, Nnakato, and many others are all present within the family tree. Miisi confirms this when he says, “Indeed, Kintu, Kidda and Baale are recurrent names in our clan” (352). This relates back to the idea of ancestry and the pride these characters may or in cases like Kanami or Isaac’s mother, may not feel.

Furthermore, some names within the clan have ascended to something akin to titles. This is especially obvious with the names for twins. In the first book, the reader meets Babirye and Nnakato, with Babirye being the oldest, and Nnakato being the youngest. These same names are used with Suubi and her twin Ssanyu. The difference is, Suubi chooses not to use her twin name, and expresses this numerous times throughout the novel. Other characters continue to refer to her by this name, including her aunt, Kulata. She tells the other tenants that Suubi “is the Nnakato. Babirye was born full of life…” (112). And while twins themselves will be discussed in detail in another theme, their names themselves have meaning within the clan. As suggested, Babirye is the first twin; the one born with the best chance at life. Whereas Nnakato is the younger twin who, as Suubi shows, is generally shriveled and considered lesser than the older twin. As Kintu says, “Nnakato, the younger twin, was the copy… rather than be selfish, Nnakato was the pacifier who always allowed Babirye to have her own way” (17). This is also why Suubi chooses to go by the name “Acen” at the end of the novel as she looks to marry into a new clan. She tells her partner, “it still means Nnakato” (438). Names are central to the clans.

Lastly, there is a shared belief throughout the novel that names hold a certain level of power. During the prologue, Kamu’s death is blamed on his name. When someone asks why his and the death of others happened, someone thinks “it was in the name… who would name his child first Kamu and then Kintu… Someone seeking to double the curse” (7). Even the introduction addresses the complex nature of names. When talking about why the book was rejected in England, one thing he says publishers complained about were that “their names were [not] solid English names (and for goodness sake, only one name each)!” (II). Naming traditions are very important to every clan, Kintu or otherwise, because it creates a shared identity.