AMBIGUOUS
ADVENTURE
Frederick Ingram
(c) 1992
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."--Luke 15:12
Samba
Diallo, the hero of Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane, is a
young man whose existence is a part of many spheres. In this story of his moral and intellectual
development, he tries to find a harmony through which he may satisfy the
necessities of physical existence while remaining true to the word of God. The problems that he faces parallel those of
his people, the Diallobe, for whom he is being prepared to take the role of
leader, either spiritual or secular. He
is both a prince of blood and a prince of spirit (18).
He
is being educated spiritually by Thierno, also known as the Teacher, a man of
frail body but with a powerful spiritual influence over the Diallobe. The education that Samba receives at his
Muslim school consists of rote memorization of the Quran reinforced by physical
punishment. This is designed to instill
in him the code of living contained in the Quran which is based on the
submission of the individual to the laws and harmony of God revealed therein.
At
the same time, however, his aunt, known as the Most Royal Lady, believes Samba
should be groomed for the nobility, and should be versed in the ways of earthly
power and influence. This is directly in
opposition to the wishes of the Teacher, who believes the concept of nobility
arises from paganism: "Nobility is
the exaltation of man, faith is before all else humility, if not
humiliation" (23).
This
basic conflict of spirit versus flesh is echoed throughout the book. The Most Royal Lady feels Samba is being
prepared for death, not life (27). Her
concern is over the physical state of the Diallobe, or what the Teacher refers
to as "weight" (33)--his body's "sorry propensity to remain
glued to earth" (29). The people
want to send their children to the Western schools to learn how to take care of
their physical needs better. The
chief--more spiritually-interested than his sister, the Most Royal
Lady--questions this "vertigo," or reluctance of spiritual heights,
on the part of his people. The Teacher
views it as his mission to master this weight through submission to God's
laws. Significantly, his gait due to his
inflamed joints is like that of a bird (29).
The
pupils of the Muslim school are not ignorant of the problems of poverty,
either. As part of their duties, they
are obliged both to humiliate themselves and to gain compassion for others by
dressing in rags and begging for substinence for a period of time. When Samba Diallo does this, it is
appropriate to the above imagery that he is surrounded by wind (14).
The
question of physical survival is contemplated by both Samba Diallo and the
"Knight," his father. The
Knight reasons that attention to the physical necessities of life via working
is justified to the degree that that life is devoted to God (100). Samba derives from this the idea that work
need not be a source of conflict if it is undertaken in accordance with God's
law, a source of harmony: "There is
no antagonism between the discipline of faith and the discipline of work"
(104).
The
knight sees Western infidelity as a cause of strife regarding work. After Nietzsche decreed "God is
dead," he states, "God was no longer there to measure and justify
man's activity." Beyond providing what
was needed for a prayerful and justified life, work then became for Westerners
"frenzied toil." It then
ceased to value man (101).
The
Diallobe adopt Western methods for dealing with the demands of corporeal
existence. After the Teacher retires,
Demba, Samba's practically-oriented rival, is named as his replacement,
promising to make "short work" of problems (121).
But
Samba has experienced negative aspects of the West. Both he and the "Fool," also once
an observer of Western ways, agree that a void exists in the heart of Western
society. Pierre-Louis, a former African
jurist that Samba meets in Paris, agrees also, noting the feeling of
"vacuity" the busy streets paradoxically give (148). A literal and spiritual lack of feeling is
mentioned, Westerners being distanced from death (148). In Paris, "the world is silent,"
Samba states, and "nothing touches me any more"
(150). The Knight sees his people
dazzled by the blinding light of the West (70).
Elsewhere, the events of Western life are seen as obscuring the truth
(128, 167).
The
coldness and narrow focus of Western philosophers is contrasted with the warmth
of remembered traditions and the wholeness of Islam. The culture of Islam and the Diallobe is
associated with shadow (74-81, 104) and night (71). Samba feels the shadows of his home closing
in on him after moments of doubt in Paris (161). Thought and God are associated with the sea
(128, 178). During a philosophical
debate between the Knight and the father of one of Samba's schoolmates, the
office they occupy takes on the appearance of "a bluish-green
aquarium" (74).
This
imagery illustrates an important difference in the tools the two cultures use
to describe the world. Orality informs
African modes of expression; the West is influenced by features of print. According to Walter Ong (paraphrasing
Levi-Straus), "the oral mind totalizes" (56). Context is most important in societies where
the primary mode of intellectual discourse is spoken language. However, reading is an activity that
"throws the psyche back on itself" (69), hence Western-styled
detachment. In relation to human
perception and consciousness, "sight isolates, sound incorporates"
(72), hence the Diallobe likenings of God to media that surround, e.g. the sea
and the wind.
Samba
Diallo recalls his experience of the alphabet (158-160). "With it, they struck the first hard
blow at the country of the Diallobe. I
remained for a long time under the spell of those signs and those sounds. . .
. My happiness knew no further
limit." Contrasted with the
extended process of Islamic education, he was now entering "a universe
which was, at the very first, one of marvelous comprehension and total communion. . . . " McLuhan has commented on the suddenness with
which it is possible for an individual to be made independent from his
traditional society via the easily acquired skill of reading with the phonetic
alphabet (86).
However,
strong psychocultural forces exert an effect on Samba Diallo to remain close to
tradition. Endleman has listed five
types of social classes from a psychological standpoint which offer a framework
for understanding how the social roles which Samba Diallo and others play
interact and how they are related psychologically.
One
of Endleman's classes is the "culturally-stylized psychopathological
variant," the definition of which seems to fit the "Fool"
exactly: he is characterized as being
considered deviant by the society, which affects his ego negatively (86-87);
his behavior is influenced by traumata some of which is not typical to his
society (i.e. his experience with Westerners, 88-93); and he is recognized
(169) and typecast by his society, since his histrionic behavior (85-93,
165-174) helps the society relieve stresses that cannot be resolved
otherwise. The Fool's naming of Samba
Diallo as successor to the Teacher is further evidence of his undeniable de
facto role in this society (166).
It
is also possible to identify psychocultural forces that act on Samba
Diallo. Through his traditional
education he is exposed to culturally prevalent traumata: the negative reinforcement involved in memorizing
the Quran (1-7) and the experience of poverty (13-17). Both the traumata he experiences and his
means of expression are controlled by his society, characteristic of
individuals considered normal in their societies. However, the Western experience is a new one
both for Samba Diallo and for the Diallobe people.
When
the Fool describes his experience with the Westerner, he uses a great deal of
figurative literature. However, when the
author describes the people of the Diallobe, he makes comparisons from the
European tradition; e.g. Samba Diallo comparing his father with a medieval
knight (55). This is a forerunner of his
immersion in "text-formed thought" (Ong 55), since his father reminds
him of an engraving of a knight in his history text.
This
book is similar to The Notebook of Malte Larids Brigge by Rainer Maria
Rilke in its mixture of personal observations, reminiscences, and philosophical
speculations. Like Rilke's protagonist,
Samba muses philosophically in the Paris heat (128-29). He realizes the similarity of his story with
Pascal, a believer who strayed and could return. Pascal's story is similar to the biblical
story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).
Samba,
too, comes home after an ambiguous adventure.
If the West is the light and his tradition is the shade, during his
journey he falls into the penumbra, the part of the shadow into which some
light has spilled. He finds enduring
universal beauty only in the context of his religion, and in the end, he is
called back from his doubt into its purity and truth.
