Religion In The Wizard Of The Crow

In the satire, The Wizard of the Crow, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o compels scholars to become well-educated about the use of religion under a dictatorship. Thiong’o presents a community in Aburiria who has become consumed with “Satan’s presence” and the Wizard of the Crow which signifies a distraction to focus on Satan and the sorcerer. Towards the end of the novel, the Ruler claims “Aburirians were deeply religious” (Thiong’o 750). However, Ruler is an avaricious man who misleads people and surrounds himself by fraudulent people, it then becomes inevitable to disbelieve the validity of his claim. Although there is a sub community that may be seen as Christian, their actions and beliefs prove otherwise.
The Ruler’s greed leads him to presenting Baby …show more content…
He reveals his dishonesty when he denies beating Vinjinia in front of the Hawkeyed Justice court. He states “she slipped and fell on the cement floor” and that their home is a Christian home (Thiong’o 436). This demonstrates Tajirika’s ability to lie in front of the court and how he uses religion to defend himself. Once Vinjinia confesses to being beaten, Tajirika continues to deny the truth. This displays that if Tajirika is capable of lying once proven untruthful, he has no problem denying the truth for the Ruler. Similar to his decision to object the truth, after he admits to the Ruler about the three bags of money, he decides to state that they are dollars when they are actually Buri bills. Furthermore, the Ruler promotes Tajirika to governor of Central Bank because Tajirika proved that he “could be entrusted with any task that required bending or breaking the law under the guise of legality” (Thiong’o 612). This exhibits the Ruler prefers to have a person who is able to obtain money in dollar form and has no trouble doing unlawful …show more content…
Aburirians became “’obsessed with Satan’” and focused entirely on him rather than praising God (Thiong’o 665). Maritha and Mariko spoke about their ongoing battles with Satan and how he terrorized them. Soon the church and public became filled with the couple’s stories that it led to the formation of the Soldiers of Christ with their purpose to eliminate Satan. Moreover, many Aburirians believed people’s deaths were due to witchcraft (Thiong’o 614). In the bible, witchcraft is not permitted. Believing in witchcraft reveals the belief of considering someone other than God holds power to determine the outcome of an individual’s