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Struggle in The River Between Essay

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Struggle in The River Between

In the book "The River Between" we find traditional values of the tribe challenged by tribal members who had converted to Christianity. The novel focuses on the struggle between two conflicting interests: First there was the interest to convert Africans to Christianity, and the second was the tribe trying to keep their traditional values in the midst of Christianity. The most contrasting characters in the story were Waiyaki and Joshua.

Waiyaki was a strong influence on the people of the land, and his father, Chege, was a man who had powerful visions of his son's future: "Salvation shall come from the hills ... Arise. Heed the prophecy" (Pg. 20). Waiyaki’s father put the burden of this prophecy …show more content…

some good, some truth shone through it" (Pg. 141).

Joshua instead believed in rooting out all pagan traditions and rituals: "He renounced his tribes magic, power and rituals. ... his people worship the Gikuyu god the Prince of darkness" (Pg. 29). "All the tribe’s customs were bad. That was final. There could never be a compromise" (Pg. 84). As is true in every religious movement there are those who become fanatical and try to push their ideas. Many people will not understand what your beliefs are, and so they will be fearful and most likely reject anything that you say. Fanatics come out when they think they know better than the people they are trying to convert, as is true in Joshua's case. Joshua, and a few others grasped the Christian ideas and fully took hold of the beliefs. He, Joshua, went as far as judging everybody around him who would not convert to Christian ideas: "'There is none righteous, no, not one.' ... 'for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God'" (Pg. 84).

Both of these characters become different when faced with Western ideas. Waiyaki takes to heart the idea of education in helping his people, and the need to learn like the white people do. In the case of religion he knew that some of the teachings were beneficial, but he also knew that if they gave up all their traditional rituals their society would disintegrate. Waiyaki

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