Change In The Return By Ngugi Wa Thiong O And The Return

Change is an inevitable part of life‒ one that has harboured the growth of our civilizations for many years. It is a real and authentic part of our being. However, many individuals struggle with coping and accepting change in their lives. This can be due to their inability to let go of the past, or their desire to bridge certain gaps between the past and the present. Evidently, such ideas are developed in “The Return” by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh, since in each story, both protagonists deal with changes around them as a result of conflict in their beloved homes. Through the effective interpretation of these characters, both authors portray how the acceptance of change can foster an individual’s efforts …show more content…
In “The Return”, the protagonist Kamau contemplates and distinguishes the considerable amount of changes that have occurred while he was away from his village. Throughout the duration of the time he’d spent in the detention camp, Kamau’s only hope was to return to his home‒ to his old way of life, that sheltered the “painful exhilaration” of his childhood. He had hoped to reunite with his wife Muthoni, and perhaps raise a child with her once he was financially stable. With this hope, Kamau believed that upon his return “life would begin anew.”Although, despite his optimism, he feared that his family, even his wife, had forgotten him. He worried that they had moved on with their lives‒ that “[he would] no longer [be] one of them”, or that they would no longer receive him. It is not until Kamau finally arrives home that he learns of the changes that have occurred in his village. He is told about the “new village”, and that the old …show more content…
In an attempt to deliver some letters for his friends, the soldier is faced with a terrible fever that prevents him from continuing his task. When he is freezing and at his worst, a woman finds him and aids him back to health. The narrator did separate from her after the explosion, but he hoped to see her again, perhaps to thank her for her kindness. However, as it would turn out, the trolley that had been a marker for her house vanishes‒ it was “[his] only clue [and now it] was gone.” Without it, he had no chance of finding her, and as a result, he experiences deep regret and is left “brooding over [his] failure.” Moreover, several years in the future, when the narrator visits the “same street”, he is shocked by the changes that have occurred; it is no longer “monotonous [or] gloomy” but “glamourous [and] beautiful.” In fact, the trolleys that once loitered the streets had also been “abolished.” This change is quite significant, in that it causes the narrator to lose touch with a memory he had been gripping onto for several years. The diminishing of these visual reminders meant that the experience would gradually erase from his memories, and therefore cease to exist at all. As a result his pursuit becomes futile and