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Blake E. Schrein

Prof. Arnold

Hon. Global Connections

2 February 2011

The Dark Child Microtheme

For this microtheme I would like to focus on Camara Laye’s feelings of

separation from his family, tribe and culture as he becomes more engrossed in

school and learning. The first mention of this separation can be found on page 19,

which is really only the third page of the book due to the introduction. Here Laye

talks about the charmed liquid that his father smeared on himself everyday. Laye

goes on to admit that he never found out what exactly each charm was for because

he “left [his] father’s house too soon.”

When I had first begun to read and annotate this text I was drawn to this

sentence for it seemed to ache with longing and regret. I underlined it and beside it

wrote questions as to why he had to leave.

There are numerous examples throughout this text of Laye’s sense of

separation. Another prominent one is when he tells his uncle he would like to reap

the rice and his uncle refuses claiming that this work will never be for him. I was

able to feel the inner conflict that Laye felt in that moment. I could, as the reader,

understand that having your path chosen for you, and having that path be an

unfamiliar one, is a very scary thing.

Then again, as Laye was preparing for initiation into manhood, he was

embarrassed by the actions of his second mother. He did not appreciate being
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singled out as different from the other boys. When she held up the schoolbook and

pen, his alienation from his “hard working” friends was obvious.

I also noticed how Laye never grew out of being at least a little afraid of his

unknown path. He cried to his father when he mentioned him leaving home and he

found cold comfort in the metro map in his pocket as he left his homeland. I believe

that this is natural. One should be nervous of leaving their whole life behind to start

out again in a new world but, that isn’t to say one shouldn’t do it.