The villagers do not understand concepts like taxes or external government (since they have no parallel concepts of their own) and thus do not recognize the threat in time. Some characters in the novel (like Chege, for instance) argue that the Gikuyu people need a Western education so they can more easily recognize and resist the white colonialists and their efforts to dominate and administrate over the Gikuyu people. Joshua’s unpopular hope that the white people will take control again suggests that his Christianity makes him subservient to the colonialists, while his fantasies of beating the tribespeople into submission suggests he craves his own power.