Petals of Blood Characters

Godfrey Munira is the son of rich Presbyterian landowner Ezekieli. As a youth, he attends the boys’ high school Siriana, which expels Munira and his classmate Chui after they lead a strike protesting… read analysis of Godfrey Munira

Intelligent, beautiful Wanja is Nyakinyua’s granddaughter, Munira and Karega’s lover, and Abdulla’s lover, employee, and business partner. When Wanja is an adolescent, her father’s friend, the businessman Kimeria, impregnates her. Despairing… read analysis of Wanja

Idealistic Karega is Munira’s sometime student and coworker and Wanja’s lover. In grammar school, Munira teaches Karega; later, Karega attends the high school Siriana. In childhood, Karega falls in love with Munira’s… read analysis of Karega

Abdulla is Wanja’s employer, business partner, and one-time lover. He is also Joseph’s guardian. As a young man, he works in a factory that exploits workers and calls in the colonial police to… read analysis of Abdulla

Nderi wa Riera is Ilmorog’s MP (representative in parliament). Early in life, Riera is a freedom fighter. Yet after Kenyan independence, foreign corporations co-opt him, bribing him with directorships on their boards. He becomes a… read analysis of Nderi wa Riera

Chui is Munira’s classmate and one of Karega’s headmasters at Siriana. Later, when Wanja becomes a sex worker, Chui is also one of her clients. As a student at Siriana, Chui is… read analysis of Chui

Mzigo is Munira and Karega’s regional boss overseeing Ilmorog’s school. A corrupt and incompetent administrator, he mostly ignores Munira’s repeated pleas to help find more teachers for Ilmorog. When Wanja needs to sell her… read analysis of Mzigo

Wanja’s grandmother Nyakinyua is one of the respected elders in Ilmorog, the town where much of the novel takes place. When Munira first arrives in town to become the new schoolteacher, Nyakinyua questions him… read analysis of Nyakinyua

Joseph is Abdulla’s ward. Working as a poor, self-employed transporter of goods after Kenyan independence, Abdulla comes upon a homeless child searching for food in a pile of garbage. Abdulla questions the child, who… read analysis of Joseph

The lawyer attends Siriana after Munira and Chui but before Karega. As a youth the lawyer is initially conservative and religious, but the extreme racism of Siriana’s headmaster Fraudsham makes him doubt his convictions… read analysis of The Lawyer

Ezekieli is Munira and Mukami’s father. A rich yet stingy landowner, he uses his Presbyterian Christian faith to manipulate his Christian workers, worshipping with them to earn their goodwill but dismissing those who ask… read analysis of Ezekieli

Inspector Godfrey is the police detective tasked with solving Mzigo, Chui, and Kimeria’s murders. Amoral but obsessed with social order, Inspector Godfrey has served in the police force both under British colonial… read analysis of Inspector Godfrey

Ilmorog’s “diviner” and mysterious spiritual leader, Mwathi wa Mugo advises the town elders on matters of spirituality and serious difficulty. When Wanja comes to Ilmorog seeking advice for her infertility, her grandmother Nyakinyua takes her… read analysis of Mwathi wa Mugo

A traditional farmer and one of Ilmorog’s elders, Njuguna often speaks up in favor of wrongheaded conservative ideas. For example, Njuguna and his other elderly farmer friends have a conversation suggesting that Ilmorog’s drought is… read analysis of Njuguna

Mukami is Munira’s favorite sibling, Ezekieli’s daughter, and Karega’s first love. Playful and rebellious, she socializes with the children of her father’s farm employees, to her father’s disapproval. When she meets Karega… read analysis of Mukami

Mariamu is Nding’uri and Karega’s mother and Ezekieli’s sometime employee. Munira, who was childhood friends with Nding’uri, recalls her as an impressive and religiously sincere person, though she did not attend church… read analysis of Mariamu

Nding’uri is Mariamu’s oldest son, Karega’s much older brother, and Abdulla’s friend. During the struggle for Kenyan independence from British colonial rule, he fights for freedom alongside Abdulla. At this time, Nding’uri… read analysis of Nding’uri

Fraudsham is a racist, white, British man who serves as headmaster of the Kenyan boys’ high school Siriana. He expels several students, including Chui and Munira, for organizing a strike to protest Fraudsham’s… read analysis of Fraudsham

Rev. Jerrod Brown is a rich, influential Black Anglican minister and a friend of Munira’s father Ezekieli. When Joseph gets sick on the way to the city, Ilmorog’s delegation approaches Rev. Jerrod Brown’s… read analysis of Rev. Jerrod Brown

Akinyi is a factory working at Theng’eta Breweries and a member of the workers’ movement Karega has helped organize. When the police arrest Karega after the murders of Kimeria, Mzigo, and Chui… read analysis of Akinyi

Julia is Munira’s wife and the mother of his two children. When Julia and Munira first met, she was not a Christian, and Munira found her sensuality attractive. After they married, however, she converted… read analysis of Julia