38 pages • 1 hour read •
Cheikh Hamidou KaneAmbiguous Adventure
Cheikh Hamidou KaneFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1961A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 2, Chapters 7-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2
Part 2, Chapter 7 Summary
The next day, Samba receives a letter from his father asking him to return home. His father admits that he was wrong to send him to the West and says that God has not abandoned Samba, as Samba may believe; the “traitor” is Samba himself, if he is not bringing all his thoughts in line with God. Samba’s father tells him, “Your salvation, the presence of God living in you, depends upon yourself. You will obtain both these if, in mind and body, you rigorously observe His law, which religion has codified” (147).
Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary
The fool, who believes Samba is the teacher, requests that he come to the mosque for prayer. Samba denies his request and reminds him he is not Thierno, who has passed away.
In a flashback, the fool observes Thierno physically struggling to pray during his final days. After watching, the fool runs to inform the chief that he believes Thierno will die soon. The village gathers in Thierno’s home, with the fool at his side.
The fool is now in denial about Thierno’s death and upon seeing Samba begins to refer to him as “the teacher.” In order to calm him, Samba asks him to speak of the “white man’s country” (78), and the fool recounts his observations of their use of technology and mechanisms. He notes that the white men “have been eaten up by objects” such as the utensils they use to eat. Samba concurs.
Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary
The fool leads Samba to the cemetery. Amongst the plots, the fool reminds Samba to pray, to which Samba replies, “People are not obliged to pray” (155). Samba’s inner monologue addresses Thierno, stating that he is no longer afraid and that he does not believe what he was taught as a child; he also acknowledges that he does not know everything. He wishes Thierno were still there to help him believe. The fool wakes him from his meditation, reminding him that it is time to pray. Samba refuses, and the fool kills him with a weapon from his pocket.
Part 2, Chapter 10 Summary
In the moments after Samba’s death, a voice speaks and asks him if he is at peace. Samba replies that he is not but that he wishes for death and for peace and that he does not regret leaving life. He calls to the voice, which seems to fade from him as it speaks of the “great reconciliation” between love and hate and light and darkness (159). Samba remarks, “I am two simultaneous voices. One draws back and the other increases” (159). The voice brings Samba’s “kingdom” back to him, and Samba feels infinite, reflecting on the relationship between humanity and eternity.
Part 2, Chapters 7-10 Analysis
The setting of Chapter 7 shifts back to the Diallobé community. Samba’s father knows his son is experiencing inner turmoil, which is why he calls him back.
Compared to other chapters, Samba experiences less inner turmoil in his final days. At this stage, he is no longer undergoing change, but his relationship with religion and traditions has shifted, and he is unsure whether to practice prayer. Before he traveled to France, he prayed continuously; then he began to forget to pray and eventually abandoned it altogether. This ultimately results in his death: Though the fool reveres Samba as a respected teacher, he kills Samba over a tradition he refuses to complete.
Death is the ultimate reconciliation for the dual philosophies Samba has struggled to balance. In this state, love and hate and light and darkness are all bound together. There is no more division, and dualities that previously divided are unified. This harkens to the idea of truth that Samba’s father articulates in his conversation with M. Lacroix—as something that transcends the individual’s ability to grasp through the senses or through pure rationality. In other words, while the novel ultimately reconciles the opposing worldviews it represents, it does so in a way that privileges the traditional or spiritual (as opposed to modern and scientific) way of apprehending reality.
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