4. Kamau’s bundle in “The Return” by Ngugi wa Thiong’o symbolizes his wife, Muthoni, and it is an effective symbol because the story relates the loss of the bundle to giving up on Muthoni. The narrator’s description of the bundle depicts the “bitterness and hardships of the years spent in detention camps” that bundle held because Kamau totes the bundle with him during his five years away (Ngugi 135). This establishes that the bundle has a significant meaning to him because he carries it with him the entire time he is imprisoned. Likewise, while Kamau is gone, he holds onto two thoughts, “the village and his beautiful woman,” and as he returns becomes anxious to see Muthoni again (Ngugi 137). Kamau physically holds onto the bundle while mentally
