The Dark Child -Cmr Ly - Novel - Essay Example

THE DARK CHILD – CAMARA LAYE - NOVEL The Setting: L’Enfant Noir (The Dark Child) by Camara Laye was written in the year 1953. The story initially tells of Laye’s childhood in the village of Kouroussa, located in Upper Guinea where he lived with his parents. They belonged to the Malinke tribe, mainly agrarian people whose culture had evidently harmonized Islamic and ancient African tradition. Laye later goes to Conakry, the capital of Guinea, for higher education. 2) The Time Period: The complete events of the story take place when Guinea was a colony of France in the 1930’s.

The book takes the reader along two decades of Laye’s life, starting from his childhood as a boy of 6, right up to the age of 19 when he finally leaves for France. 3) Main Character: The story is told by a grown-up narrator-protagonist who recalls his years as a young boy. The autobiographical characteristic of the novel leads the reader to assume that this young boy (Fatoman), who is the main character of the book, is Camara Laye himself. Laye traces the development of his cultural and personal values as a young man coming of age within the Malinke tribe.

He portrays nostalgically his happy childhood, his parents, education, initiation of Malinke culture, ritual circumcision, and the end of his youth. He then goes to Conakry for higher education; after completing it, he gets a scholarship to go to Paris for further higher studies.4) Plot: The story starts with the young 6 year old Fatoman (Laye himself) playing in his village Kouroussa. “I was a little boy playing around my father’s hut” (Laye 17). The relationship with his parents, especially his mother, is the link between the boy and his African roots.

Laye is very proud of his parents, depicting both as outstanding characters. His father, a reputed blacksmith in the village, is also endowed with spiritualistic powers. His father tells Laye: “The snake is the guiding spirit of our race. Can you understand that?” (Laye 69). Although theirs is a patriarchal society where the father is the head of the family, in Laye’s household it was his mother who was dominant. “I realize that my mother’s authoritarian attitudes may appear surprising; generally the role of the African woman is thought to be a ridiculously humble one, but Africa is vast, with a diversity equal to its vastness.

” (Laye 69). His mother had spiritual powers as well. “It was due to the strange powers she possessed.” (Laye 69). Among these powers was the ability to persuade animals to obey her commands and being able to approach crocodiles without being harmed. Laye lays great emphasis on the veracity of these supernatural powers of his parents. “They seem to be unbelievable; they are unbelievable. Nevertheless I can only tell you what I saw with my own eyes.” (Laye 70). Strongly influenced and confused by French education, Laye is of two minds, whether to follow his father’s footsteps and become a blacksmith, or continue to attend school.

His father sees the potential for education in his son as he sadly says: “I fear, I very much fear, little one, that you are not enough in my company. You are all day at school.” (Laye 27). Education first takes him away from Kouroussa to Conakry. By this time, the now adolescent Laye had been already initiated into his Malinke community through circumcision. Laye unabashedly tells of his tribal initiation into manhood, as though wanting his readers to understand the beauty and compassion behind his tribe’s secrets.

The circumcision rituals, public and private ceremonies followed by physical healing process takes over one month. He had never been separated from his mother so long, and when he sees her he keeps repeating “Mother! Mother!” (Laye 130). Upon his return, Laye is moved to his own hut. This pivotal scene closes with Laye turning to his mother to thank her, only to find her standing quietly behind him “smiling at (him) sadly” (Laye 135). Shortly after moving to his hut, Laye leaves at 15 years of age to attend “Ecole Georges Poiret” in Conakry.

Laye’s mother sadly sends him off on a train to live with his Uncles Sekou and Mamadou in Conakry. (Laye 144). Laye’s two aunts (Awa and N’Gady) at Conakry, both wives of his uncle Mamadou, welcome him, and they take the place of his mother, giving him love and care. “Yes, my aunts really put themselves out to take my mother’s place. They did so all the time I was with them.” (Laye149-150). Laye’s confusion increases with his new experiences in Conakry. He shifts from a fixed, knowable identity to something much less integrated, even fractured.

“I was in Conakry and yet I wasn’t….I was really at Kouroussa. But, no – I was in both places. I was ambivalent.” (Laye 148). In spite of his confusion, there seems to be no ways to go back. Laye meets Marie. He describes her as “a half-caste, with light skin that is almost white, and long hair that falls down to her waist. She is “as beautiful as a fairy”.(Laye 158). Marie and Laye fall in love. They listen to records, dance, go on bicycle rides, study together, and particularly enjoy looking at the sea.

Laye’s two aunts encourage the relationship between Laye and Marie. “They loved us both and they would have liked us to become engaged despite our youth.” (Laye 159). As a result of his increasing academic success and his trysts with Marie, Laye spends more time in Conakry, thereby receding physically from the native environment. Several years after leaving for Conakry, Laye returns home with a graduation certificate and an offer from the director of his school to continue his studies through a scholarship in France.

His mother is against it. “To France?…So you are going to leave us again…You’re not going!” (Laye 180). However, his uncles and father support and encourage Laye to take the foreign study opportunity. Laye accepts the offer despite his mother’s resistance. other. He parts with her and his father during a heart-breaking scene with Laye’s mother shouting insults and pushing him away, then falling into a heap of tears, grasping her son and turning her anger instead to the European influences she believes are taking her son away to France.

Laye’s father gives him a map of city transportation of the Paris Metro in France – the best support he can offer from thousands of miles away. References used :1) Autobiography of an African Boy by Camara Laye (1953)Retrieved 11/08/2005 from U.R.Lhttp://www.currentconcerns.ch/archive/2004/04/20040414.php2) Camara Laye’s The Dark ChildThe Undecided World of a Mental MulattoRetrieved 11/08/2005 from U.R.Lhttp://www.casadeasterion.homestead.com/vsn19dark.htmlNote from writer to customer:Your requirement states that we should “hint at the ending, without giving completely away the ending”.

This is why I ended the plot where I did, leaving out the ending which should be : -The fear, excitement, anxiety and sadness culminate in the last vignette of the novel, with Laye crying as he goes to the plane, lightly placing his hand over the map in his shirt pocket. (Laye 188). Camara Laye’s departure to Paris at the end of his novel is the metaphor of the social and cultural oblivion of his African roots. This is only for your information……and in case you may decide to add it at some later period of time…..Best regards