Chief Kinanjui

Character Analysis

The ruler of the Kikuyu, Chief Kinanjui is an imposing figure whose reign roughly corresponds to the Baroness' stay in Africa. One of the first times they meet she isn't in the mood to talk to him so she gives him a super-loaded Long Island Iced Tea to shut him up. That knocks him out, to the point that everyone thinks he's dead, but he survives it. This (somehow) makes them best of friends. Whatever floats your boat, we guess.

He's also praised for keeping his cool when the going gets tough. When the tribe goes nuts over whether or not the cow that Kaninu brings as payment for his son's crime is good enough, Kinanjui just sits,

immovable, like some bulk without either intelligence or sympathies just set down by my house. […] I do not think that Kinanjui could have spoken or moved without fanning the flames of passion, as it was he kept sitting on them to quell them. Not everybody could have done it. (2.4.43)

It doesn't seem like a compliment to say that someone's super power is to turn into a lifeless lump, but it seems to work for Kinanjui. His lumpishness calms people down.

When he is on his deathbed Kinanjui shows the great friendship and faith he has in the Baroness by requesting that she take him to the farm to die there. She is too cowardly to do so, though, and they must say goodbye in his home. It seems that he doesn't hold it against her, though.