Really, women could never understand. Women were women, whether saved or not. Their son had to be protected against all evil influences. He must be made to grow in the footsteps of the Lord. He looked at her, frowning a little. She had made him sin but that had been a long time ago. And he had been saved. John must not tread the same road.
Here, the narrator uses a literary device called free indirect discourse to convey the thoughts of John's father, Stanley. Free indirect discourse is a mode of narration in which a third-person narrator takes on the voice of a character in the text. Here, the narrator inhabits Stanley's thought process as he looks down on his wife for her criticism of his treatment of John. This moment showcases Stanley's stringent commitment to his patriarchal, Christian way of life. It also sets up the growing conflict between Stanley and John.
As he watched her disappear, he felt proud that they should think well of him. He felt proud that he had a place in their esteem. And then came the pang. Father will know. They will know. He did not know what he feared most; the action his father would take when he found out, or the loss of the little faith the simple villagers had placed in him, when they knew. He feared to lose everything.
After John encounters a woman on his first walk to visit Wamuhu, he is anxious about what will happen when the truth of Wamuhu's pregnancy comes out. Here, John's thoughts reflect how he is burdened by disappointing both his father and his community, who have exalted him for his Eurocentric upbringing.
Then the white men had come, preaching a strange religion, strange ways, which all men followed. The tribe's code of behaviour was broken.
Here, the narrator inhabits the mind of Wamuhu's father, who thinks and lives differently than Stanley. Wamuhu's family still follows the traditions of the tribe, while Stanley is a Calvinist preacher who raised John to idealize white European education and culture. Wamuhu's father's reflection suggests that the introduction of Christianity was responsible for the disintegration of the tribe's strength.
"Why not marry her? She is beautiful! Why not marry? Do I love her or don't I?"
As John wavers on what to do now that Wamuhu is planning to tell her parents she is pregnant, he briefly thinks about marrying her and staying in the village. He cares for Wamuhu, finds her attractive, and notes that she is the most beautiful and most charming woman in the village. However, this quotation underscores John's inaction and paralysis, as he can no longer understand his own feelings. Unable to discern if he loves Wamuhu, he finds it impossible to make a decision about what to do next.
Soon everyone will know that he has created and then killed.
This is the final sentence in the story, just after John has strangled Wamuhu to death. This conclusion implies that John will face major consequences for what he has done, as everyone in the tribe will know that he killed his pregnant girlfriend. The juxtaposition of the words "created" and "killed" underscores the severity of John's crime, as well as the two-sided nature of his character.
