XALA

I believe that Sembène Ousmane made a distinct connection to the ever active decay of European culture amongst places such as Africa in his novel, Xala (meaning "The Curse"). I give such a statement so surely because I feel as though African culture has been deprived of itself due to the ironic savage mindset inflicted by the Europeans. The greatest example of this would be none other than the main character within the novel, El Hadji.

El Hadji's thoughts and actions give a shocking truth to what European society (or what they deem to be civilization) has done and continues to do to African culture. Through actions of greed, deceit, self hatred, and cruelty, European culture has left it's imprint on Africa in a way unimaginable. Examples throughout Xala would be El Hadji's greed and sense of self hatred (in my eyes) towards the beggar. Greed that he wouldn't give to the less fortunate, and that sense of self hatred that he wouldn't give to his own people.

If you take a few minutes to yourself and think of what the Europeans did to bring down a once vast and rich culture, and think further into how it lives on in Africa even without their presence. Every thought or action that El Hadji took part in, I feel as though any European (such as the French in which El Hadji learned from) would have done just as he did, if not worse to any degree.

In any case Xala, to me, was a nice read that kept my attention. Ousmane displays some great use of allusions (thanks Peter) throughout the novel that catch my eye in a way I'm not even sure he had intended. I still wonder if the Xala still has a hold on any of us today.