I think the main point that Ngugi made in The River Between was the cultural struggle between the two groups. Customs and traditions are very important to all cultures, and when certain customs clash, all hell breaks loose. In the book, the two tribes were separated because of a religious disagreement. But I think the main problem was the fact that the people who followed Joshua did not approve of the rituals of Waiyaki’s people, specifically circumcision. The Kiama did not like Nyambura because she was not circumcised. Joshua disowned Muthoni because she was circumcised. The people of Makuyu entered adulthood only when they got circumcised. This is obviously a very important aspect of their culture and a big reason why the two tribes don’t like each other. They also take their “oath” very seriously; as soon as they found out that Waiyaki had broken the oath to “never contaminate the tribe with impurity”, he got into a lot of trouble. All that Waiyaki had done is that he tried to unite the people of Makuyu and Kameno; he also happened to fall in love on the way. That shouldn’t have really been a problem, since “the oath did not say that he should not love”. But apparently loving someone with a different background is a crime. What doesn’t make sense to me is the fact that Christianity is a religion that is based off of one thing, love. But Joshua’s people couldn’t have been true Christians then; Jesus was all about loving one’s enemies and reaching out to those who were different and weren’t necessarily liked very much, but Kameno didn’t really practice that. I think Ngugi represented cultural struggle very well within his book.