Petals of Blood Literary Elements

Fiction

Kenya, 1960s and early 1970s

Third-person omniscient

Tone: meditative, anxious, foreboding, exhilarated, uncertain

Mood: determined, apprehensive, overwhelmed, pessimistic, rejected, empowered

Protagonists: Munira, Wanja, Abdulla, Karega. Antagonists: Mzigo, Chui, Fraudsham, Kimeria.

In the present: Who killed the three executives?
In the past: Will Ilmorog survive its drought?
Generally: Will Kenya survive and thrive in this post-independence, neo-colonialism era?

Because of the way the story is told, there is no traditional climax. The closest the novel gets to it is the villagers' arrival in the city after their long journey, after which the novel moves into denouement, resolution, and closure.

1. Wanja's family's experiences with fire foreshadow her own involvement in the fire that killed the 3 men
2. Munira's flashbacks constantly foreshadow the terrible events of the future, as well as the way he changed from the man he was twelve years prior

1. Munira describes Ilmorog as "slightly out of the way" and a "bit dry" (87) to Mzigo, when it is actually quite remote and experiencing a terrible drought
2. The comment that the villagers returned from their journey "no longer the same" (143) is an understatement given how impacted they were and how much Ilmorog changed

1. There are numerous allusions to the unrest in Kenya that preceded and succeeded Independence: the Mau Mau, the oath, the Emergency, etc.
2. "Petals of blood" is an allusion to Derek Walcott's poem "The Swamp"
3. Chui is a fan of William Shakespeare, the revered English playwright and poet (27)
4. There are numerous allusions to Christianity, such as Adam and Eve, Peter and Paul, the Bible, baptism, Jacob wrestling the angel, etc.
5. Godfrey's comment that "when things are fully revealed to us, when we as it were cease to see things through a mirror darkly..." (44) is an allusion to the writings of the Apostle Paul
6. Karega quotes Shakespeare when he says, "Somebody a long time ago asked the question: What's in a name? And he answered that a rose would still be a rose even by another name" (61)
7. The part of "What do they say in the good book? That to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose in heaven" (142) is an allusion to Ecclesiastes in the Bible
8. The lawyer references a blues song, "Strange Fruit," which later becomes famous when Billie Holiday covers it
9. The lawyer quotes Chui, who quoted from Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida"

See the separate "Imagery" section of this ClassicNote.

1. "...her taunt had the same alluring power as the beckoning coquetry of a virgin: he could touch her only by deflowering her by force and so himself flowering in blood. A virgin and a prostitute" (76)
2. "To see her was a need. Yet seeing her was a quick act of torment" (245)

N/A.

"Ah! who was I to keep a storehouse of the eyes I had taught?" (50)

1. "The glittering metal has called them" (7)
2. "Our soil is tired. It did not receive enough water to quench its thirst" (54-55)
3. "But the sun seemed to mock their inquiring faces" (79)
4. "But the forest was eaten by the railway" (82)
5. "Make poverty and stolen wealth shake hands in eternal peace and Friendship!" (113)