Alienation of the Land

Petals of Blood is an overtly political novel, and the author's intention is to present readers with a portrait of the economic, social, and other ills of post-independence Kenya. As he makes clear in his writings, Ngugi does not think that his role as a writer is to change society, because only people can change society. However, as he says in a 1979 interview in African Report, he thinks writers can point out where things are wrong and also that "fiction should embody the aspirations and hopes of the majority—of the peasants and workers." Clearly the main concern in Petals of Blood is to draw attention to the plight to the dispossessed peoples of Ilmorog, and by extension, of Kenya. The novel shows that after decades of colonial rule, many of the poorer segments of Kenyan society have been alienated from the land, the source...