The reader is then introduced to Catherine Siadem, Falla’s girlfriend. On first impressions, Cath’s purpose seems only to reveal yet another woman’s anxiety and concern for Falla, as well as to read the newspaper clippings for the reader to see what the tabloids have to say about the murder. The press are extremely harsh, prejudiced and biased against Falla – “Falla is well known in the black district. Local people describe him as a lazy, shady character. A docker by profession, he only turned up for work when he felt like it.” (p10) This is an extremely harsh criticism to Falla, for not only is he black, but is also criticized by his own people, pushing him even lower down in status. Cath is quick to prevent the reader from believing the tabloids when Ousmane says “Catherine was unable to read the article to the end, she could not understand anything. The truth was buried.” (p12) This reference to truth ties in with Salimata’s previous insistence of her son’s gentle character, indicating that the situation is not as it has been brutally depicted by the prejudiced press, and serves to foreshadow the truth to be discovered from Falla’s perspective, the only accurate one.
Candidate number: 000198043
However, on second impressions, Cath has a greater purpose than just to reflect upon the newspaper articles. As her personal life manifests, and the reader is invited to share her world, we see that Cath represents the black women of her community and serves to illustrate the social norms and expectations of woman of that time, and in turn the prejudice felt against women. The relationship between her stepfather, Old Malic Drame, and Cath particularly exposes how black woman are doubly marginalized in a western society, as they are not only black, but also women, thus placing them at the very bottom of the social ladder. Cath however is half-caste, marginalizing her even further as she belongs neither fully to the black community, nor to the white community.
Cruelly treated by her stepfather, it becomes evident that black women have no choice but to put up with physical abuse as they are owned by men, and have few rights to defend themselves with.
An interesting relationship brought up slightly later on in the novel is a love affair between a young white woman, and a young black man. Andree Lazare is forced by her mother to have an abortion to save the family reputation. The abortion results in her dying of a haemorrhage. This significantly raises several ethical issues, one being, how an affair between a white woman and black man, as well as the concept of a bastard child, is viewed as a complete social disgrace and entirely unacceptable by the western community at that time to the extent where the death of the girl is worth saving the family reputation. It also focuses on Ousmane’s criticism of abortions, as this is said to kill the woman in the novel. Why the author takes a negative stand against abortions is unclear, but we do know that the combinations of these scandals leaves the father completely “… destroyed.” (p62)
The extreme prejudice of the community is further reinforced when Paul Sonko, recalls how “…[Andree] had told him that her mother would no more accept a bastard than she would a pica ninny and that she had to agree to do whatever was necessary to preserve her father’s reputation.” (p72) Again, the issue of double marginalization is raised with the concept of a mixed child born to unmarried parents as being an unacceptable scandal, and how the fear of this leads to the young woman’s death.
The relationship between Cath and Falla is another complex one, where Ousmane employs Cath’s prejudice against Falla’s possible success, due to her fear and ignorance of it, to voice his philosophical ideas: “If you become a famous writer, you’ll leave me…men of wit should only marry their equals…” (p86) The issue of social equality fuelling a successful match is displayed as the most significant aspect of marriage, and the reader may begin to wonder whether Falla really would leave Cath behind if he grew to be ‘superior’ to her.
Finally, the controversial relationship between Falla and Ginette Tontisane, serves to highlight the vast differences between blacks and whites. As the reader discovers later on in the novel, an affair between Ginette and Falla did in fact occur, although the whites will never believe that Ginette would willingly have one with a Negro. “It is easy to imagine how the Negro, in a frenzy of sexual passion, seized poor Ginette Tontisane and raped her.” (p10) Even in a courtroom, the reader is shocked to find that a doctor – a man of science - claiming “Among Black people, [sex maniacs] is natural and especially when it is a question of a white woman. They are fascinated by the whiteness of their skin which is more attractive than that of a negress.” (p25) This ultimately displays the prejudice against the blacks that a man of science could make such a judgement and allude it to scientific facts.
Candidate number: 000198043
In conclusion, the core theme of prejudice is strongly evident throughout the entire novel, from the very beginning where we are shown the prejudice against westerners from a Senegalese perspective, to the very end where a western doctor will go so far as to use science to back up his prejudice against a black man in order to condemn him in court. The prejudice of the Senegalese towards the westerners strongly contrasts the prejudice held by the whites against blacks, and although one has a lot more effect than another, both cases demonstrate how it is merely fear and ignorance responsible for such a negative emotion. This prejudice ultimately becomes the driving force of the plot as well as Ousmane’s criticisms towards the western society of that time as it does nothing but expose the weakness of those who hold so strongly onto their prejudices, by demonstrating a lack of knowledge and understanding, which in turn amounts to fear. The negative implications of this is the ultimate devastation of the life of the object of that prejudice, as the promised liberation, equality and freedom of the west becomes merely an fallacy for the blacks who, discriminated and marginalized as they are, stand no chance for justice in such a community.
Candidate number: 000198043
Bibliography
Primary Source:
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Ousmane, Sembene, (1998) Black Docker, London, HEINEMANN Educational Books Ltd.