The Play of the Black Hermit: Thematic Study

Kenya suffered before and after it was liberated from the British colony in 1963 of the last century from a number of fundamental problems. The land problem was one of them and was among of main causes of the revolution outbreak of Mau Mau in 1952 against British colonialism before independence. Also, the tribal problem was a grave problem that faced the Kenyan state after independence, where the Kikuyu tribe dominated government, economy, jobs, and land. On the contrary, other tribes were marginalized. This research aims to study external elements that are outside the linguistic structure in James Ngugi's play Mtawa Mweusi (1968). Because this research deals with literature and society, it will depend on socialist realism as a theoretical framework. This study concluded that if James Ngugi had criticized his literary creativity spreading of corruption during the era of colonial domination; his criticism for this corruption after independence was stronger.