The bundle that Kamau carried in “The Return” by Ngugi wa Thiong’o is an effective symbol of his wife, Muthoni. A symbol is an object that stands for something else in addition to itself. The bundle that Kamau carried throughout the years of detention camps contains little things that remind him of his wife, Muthoni. Because the bundle reminds him of his wife, it is a symbol of his wife to him. Kamau holds it through all five years of detention camp and hardships because it reminds him of what he is striving to come home too. During the years in the camp, he thought “Of nothing but the village and his beautiful woman”(Thiong’o 137). The symbol is proven effective because it gives him hope to continue and make it to home once again. After he
