Chapter One Summary of A Grain of Wheat

A Grain of Wheat chronicles the events leading up to Kenyan independence, or Uruhu, in a Kenyan village. Gikonyo and Mumbi are newlyweds in love when Gikonyo is sent to detention. When he comes back six years later, Mumbi has carried and given birth to his rival's child. Instead of talking about their trials, a wall of anger separates them. Mumbi's brother Kihika, a local hero, is captured and hanged, and his comrades search for the betrayer. Mugo becomes a hero through leading a hunger strike in detention, and the town wants him to become a political leader. Mugo, though, struggles with guilt and ultimately confesses that he betrayed Kihika.

As the novel begins, Mugo wakes too early, feeling upset. He forces himself out of bed in the cold and makes porridge with some maize flour he finds. It reminds him of the detention center. Mugo takes his tools and heads through the village of Thabai to farm his land. Warui, a village elder, greets Mugo. Warui asks if Mugo is ready for Uhuru, independence. Githua comes up to Mugo on his crutches and salutes him, mentioning black freedom. At first, Githua seems ecstatic, but then he mentions harm done by the Emergency and walks away.

Mugo walks past an old woman's house. Her deaf and dumb son, Gitoko, was killed during World War II because he couldn't hear a soldier tell him to halt as he was running to make sure his mother was all right. Mugo has seen the woman several times near her hut, and he feels a strange connection, as if she recognizes him. One day, Mugo brought her some food, and her hut reminded him of sleeping in the soot with the goats at his aunt's house. When the woman looked at him, seeming to recognize him, he ran off. Now, he thinks of going into her hut, but he loses his nerve at the last moment.

Mugo goes to work the land, but he is tired and frustrated. Before the Emergency Mugo was a poor orphan who lived with a drunk, paranoid aunt who was derisive and hateful to him. Mugo hated her and wanted to kill her, but she died of age and drink, leaving Mugo alone. He found comfort in working the soil, but he no longer feels that comfort. Mugo, exhausted, goes home early. Three visitors come to his door, Warui, a woman named Wambui, and Gikonyo, the brother-in-law of Kihika, the man who upturned Mugo's life. Mugo invites them in, and they tell Mugo that they have come to him from the Party, the Movement.