Previous
Fire
In Petals of Blood, the boys’ high school Siriana represents how British colonial education indoctrinated Kenyan students in racist, Europe-centric, and capitalist beliefs and how successive generations of Kenyan students educated this way must “decolonize” their minds. The novel first mentions Siriana when the schoolteacher Munira tells his friends Abdulla and Wanja that when he was a teenager, Siriana expelled him and his classmate Chui for organizing a strike. The strike was protesting their white headmaster Fraudsham, who refused to let the Kenyan students eat decent food or wear shoes except on Sundays, because Fraudsham wanted them to be not “black Europeans but true Africans.” As Fraudsham’s idea of “true Africans” involves hunger and poverty, Munira and Chui’s student strike is clearly protesting racism, demonstrating that Siriana hasn’t fully indoctrinated them. Yet Munira and Chui seem offended that Fraudsham thinks they can’t be “black Europeans,” which suggests they have absorbed Sirana’s Europe-centric worldview. Later, Karega—a former grammar-school student of Munira’s who went on to attend Siriana after Kenya became independent from Britain—tells Munira that he, too, participated in a student strike against Fraudsham. The strikers were demanding to learn about Africa, instead of only European history and European literature. After Fraudsham retired, Chui replaced him as headmaster. Karega thought Chui would sympathize with the strikers’ demands—but Chui insisted on a Europe-centric curriculum too, showing that he had not succeeded in “decolonizing” his mind after his own indoctrination at Siriana.
At the novel’s end, Abdulla’s young ward Joseph is attending Siriana after Kenya’s independence. Joseph mentions to Abdulla that Chui’s murder interrupted a strike the students were planning to protest Chui’s business interests, to improve conditions for teachers and staff, and to demand a curriculum “related to the liberation of our people.” With each successive generation of Siriana students, the strikers demand more and so decolonize their minds more: Munira and Chui’s strike rejects outright racism; Karega’s strike rejects racism and a Europe-centric worldview; Joseph’s strike rejects racism, a Europe-centric worldview, and capitalist exploitation of staff and teachers. Thus, the characters’ interactions with Siriana show gradual, generational progress in “decolonizing” the mind after colonialism.
Siriana Quotes in Petals of Blood
The Petals of Blood quotes below all refer to the symbol of Siriana. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
‘We must always be ready to plant the seed in these last days before His second coming. All the signs—strife, killing, wars, blood—are prophesied here.’
‘How long have you been in Ilmorog?’ asked the tall one, to change the subject from this talk of the end of the world and Christ’s second coming. He was a regular churchgoer and did not want to be caught on the wrong side.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
A man, believed to be a trade-union agitator, has been held after a leading industrialist and two educationists, well known as the African directors of the internationally famous Theng’eta Breweries and Enterprises Ltd, were last night burnt to death in Ilmorog, only hours after taking a no-nonsense-no-pay-rise decision.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4
Quotes
Kenyan people had always been ready to resist foreign control and exploitation. The story of this heroic resistance: who will sing it? Their struggles to defend their land, their wealth, their lives: who’ll tell of it?
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The Journey
Quotes
‘To understand the present . . . you must understand the past. To know where you are, you must know where you came from, don’t you think?’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
‘I saw in the cities of America white people also begging . . . I saw white women selling their bodies for a few dollars. In America vice is a selling commodity. I worked alongside white and black workers in a Detroit factory. We worked overtime to make a meagre living. I saw a lot of unemployment in Chicago and other cities. I was confused. So I said: let me return to my home, now that the black man has come to power. And suddenly as in a flash of lightning I saw we were serving the same monster-god as they were in America.’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He did not therefore want to hear any more nonsense about African teachers, African history, African literature, African this and that: whoever heard of African, Chinese, or Greek mathematics and science? What mattered were good teachers and sound content: history was history: literature was literature, and had nothing to do with the colour of one’s skin.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9
Quotes
‘Are there pure facts? When I am looking at you, how much I see of you is conditioned by where I stand or sit; by the amount of light in this room; by the power of my eyes; by whether my mind is occupied with other thoughts and what thoughts. […] Even assuming that there were pure facts, what about their selection? Does this not involve interpretation?’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13
Quotes
‘The junior staff—the workers on the school compound—were going to join us. And one or two teachers were sympathetic. They too had grievances, about pay and conditions of work and Chui’s neglect. This time we were going to demand that the school should be run by a committee of students, staff and workers . . . But even now we are determined to put an end to the whole prefect system . . . And that all our studies should be related to the liberation of our people . . .’
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Petals of Blood LitChart as a printable PDF.
Siriana Symbol Timeline in Petals of Blood
The timeline below shows where the symbol Siriana appears in Petals of Blood. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...actually attend religious services. Mariamu’s son Nding’uri was Munira’s friend until Munira went away to Siriana for school; later, Munira learned the son was caught smuggling guns for the Mau Mau...
(full context)
...have to know how “to lick the boots of those above” them. In school at Siriana, Munira was never great at that or anything else. The best student was Chui, who...
(full context)
When Siriana’s friendly headmaster—whom the students liked even though he was white—retired, the new headmaster Fraudsham refused...
(full context)
...relationship, he feels he made himself vulnerable to her and Abdulla by telling them about Siriana and keeps almost bringing it up again. He’s also jealous of Wanja’s flirtatious friendship with...
(full context)
...barmaid at Abdulla’s so Joseph can go to school. Wanja credits Munira’s “moving” story about Siriana for her decision to help Joseph. Abdulla, pleased, tells Wanja that she looks so young...
(full context)
Chapter 3
...explains he’s Mariamu’s son, used to work on Munira’s father Ezekieli’s flower farm, and attended Siriana until a year ago. When Munira says he knew Karega’s older brother Nding’uri, Karega admits...
(full context)
...him back at Manguo. Suddenly Munira remembers Karega, a student he had who matriculated at Siriana. Heartened by a former student’s success, he says freedom has given Black Africans many more...
(full context)
...and Chui came back. These revelations shock Munira. After questioning Munira about his time at Siriana, Karega leaves without fully explaining what happened at Siriana or why he visited Munira. Alone,...
(full context)
...they sit down. Wanja asks about Karega, and Munira explains Karega too was expelled from Siriana for striking and knew Chui, “almost a repeat story of [his] past.” On the subject...
(full context)
Chapter 5
...Ezekieli scolds him for being a disappointment and for failing at everything—by being expelled from Siriana, by leaving his wife Julia alone to work in Ilmorog. Ezekieli notes that all his...
(full context)
...himself and asks what happened. Digressively and incoherently, Karega explains how after his expulsion from Siriana, he couldn’t get a job and ended up selling cheap items by roadsides and begging....
(full context)
Chapter 6
...as an untrained teacher, a “UT,” in Ilmorog. Educating children makes Karega think more about Siriana. He’s concerned his students don’t understand life “outside Ilmorog” or larger political entities like Kenya,...
(full context)
The Journey
...thinks about Nyakinyua’s stories, how they seem more truthful and alive than his education at Siriana or what he teaches Ilmorog’s children. He thinks, too, about how greedy European colonialism obliterated...
(full context)
...his attempt to write about her memory’s effect on him just before Chui’s arrival at Siriana and his expulsion.
(full context)
...the monster to prove they were “as civilized” as Europeans. He says he went to Siriana after Munira and Chui were expelled and, as his ambition was to become a priest,...
(full context)
...Wanja is amazed white prostitutes exist. Munira is surprised that the lawyer, too, went to Siriana. Finally, Karega feels the lawyer’s story helping him construct a “coherent” picture of reality out...
(full context)
Munira abruptly asks Karega about his real experience at Siriana. When the shocked lawyer asks when Karega was at Siriana, Karega explains he was expelled...
(full context)
...that Munira, too, was expelled for striking. Karega goes on to explain that while the Siriana students believed Fraudsham was powerful and tough, he was obsessed with his dog Lizzy. When...
(full context)
Chapter 7
...Karega, thinking that he only desires “truth,” wonders what kind of education he and the Siriana students went on strike hoping to get.
(full context)
...Karega think of moments of change in his own life: Mukami’s death, his expulsion from Siriana, and Ilmorog’s delegation to the city. He wonders whether African history belongs to the freedom...
(full context)
Mukami began attending Kanjeru High School. The next year, Karega matriculated at Siriana, which was close by. One vacation, Mukami asked Karega to attend church with her. Afterward,...
(full context)
Chapter 8
...of rebels in [his] family,” given Karega’s brother’s actions and Karega’s participation in strikes at Siriana. When Karega points out that Munira went on strike at Siriana too, Wanja claims that...
(full context)
Chapter 11
...own shops in Ilmorog. Karega asks what happened to Joseph; Munira says he went to Siriana. There is a pause.
(full context)
...now sells fruit by the road, Karega—perhaps trying to cheer Abdulla up—mention’s Joseph’s admission to Siriana and hopes he doesn’t get expelled like him and Munira. Abdulla says that all poor...
(full context)
Chapter 12
...Godfrey interrogates him. Godfrey establishes Karega’s brother (Nding’uri) died during independence; Karega was expelled from Siriana for participating in a strike while Chui was headmaster; Chui, Mzigo, and Kimeria had voted...
(full context)
...he got a letter from Joseph saying he’d come first in some school results at Siriana, and he decided to go tell Wanja as an apology for rejecting her money. Walking...
(full context)
