Employment of Proverbial Wisdom in Erecting, Crossing, and Collapsing Borders in Petals of Blood

Abstract

In the study of Oral Literature in Africa, proverbs constitute an integral part. There exists virtually no significant contention concerning the importance of proverbs as ‘culture markers’ and the gravity as custodians of traditional lore in African societies. On the other hand, borders are demarcations, sites of contestation, hybridity and /or in-betweenness which are imaginary or real as perceived from the context of application. However, borders are sometimes dynamic and can be erected, crossed, collapsed or maintained.  It is for this reason that African literary writers adeptly employ proverbs in the construction of written literature, whether in African indigenous languages or in borrowed foreign languages.  Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o is one of Africa’s renowned writers whose literary works are replete with African proverbs, particularly from the Gĩkũyũ ethnic community in Kenya. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o employs proverbial wisdom in his fictional writings to serve salient themes as well as embellishments. This paper seeks to investigate the application of proverbs in erecting, collapsing and crossing borders in Petals of Blood. This postcolonial novel is set in a fictional geographical location known as Ilmorog. Although the text employs the proverbs of Agĩkũyũ, the situations Ngũgĩ highlights can be used as a microcosm of other African postcolonial states. The study is informed by poststructuralist theory and a qualitative research approach based on the interpretivist paradigm. Data from the text are broken into quotations, analogies, metaphors and images to assist in the analysis. The findings of the study will contribute to the comprehension and appreciation of the role of proverbs in demarcating and/ consolidating society. Consequently, society will be motivated towards a positive reading culture. The results will also help researchers to carry out similar or related scholarship in this or related disciplines.