I conjure up images from my Limuru youth that are more in tune with my triumphant mood.
-- Ngũgĩ (chapter 1)

Importance: Ngũgĩ is returning home from boarding school to visit his family. As he walks home from the train station, places trigger his memory of certain events. When he walks by a steep slope, he remembers his older brother running down without missing a step because he was avoiding the bullets from the police officers chasing him. Ngũgĩ dismisses such downtrodden memories and returns to more pleasant ones to match his current mood. He had a successful semester at boarding school, moving to the top of his class in academics. Here, the young Ngũgĩ shows the ability or at the least the attempt to change his consciousness in the face of danger and difficult circumstances. This will become a useful tool as he navigates through the transformation high school years in...