All around the world many different people have many different cultures. Within these cultures there are many different religions, practices, beliefs, and ways of living that makes each culture distinct from one another. Every culture is a little different in their own little way. Some cultures are very religious and some may not be. They are all just different. In the book Scarlet Song, the African culture that is practiced is very interesting. It is different than a traditional culture that involves Christianity and the religion that is practiced by this family in the book is an Islamic religion in which they read the Koran and pray many times a day. This African culture that is practiced in Scarlet Song eventually leads to negative effects
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The first problem that is faced based on the culture is the allowance of polygamy. Polygamy is when someone has more than one spouse at time. In Ousmane’s African culture, polygamy is allowed and is not looked down upon in that culture like it is in many other cultures. Ousmane gets married to a little French girl named Mireille but in order for him to be accepted for doing this he has to convert her to his Muslim religion. With Mireille being French, the belief is that polygamy is not the normal thing to do in her culture so they have the traditional life of having one wife or husband. With this said Ousmane’s relationship with Mireille is starting to get a little rough and leads to Ousmane questioning his love for Mireille. He then starts to fall in love with a girl named Ouleymatou in which he had a crush on earlier in his life. Without telling Mireille about anything he goes and marries Ouleymatou. He marries her under the condition that “she will not have her turn” (Ba 127). This means Mireille comes first. In this way …show more content…
In the world interracial marriages can be approved, but in many instances they are disapproved due to many factors such as racism. This is kind of the reason why the interracial marriage between Ousmane and Mireille is looked at in a negative way. In Ousmane’s culture you are able to marry someone of a different race, but people don’t like it and want people to marry the same race as their own. In Mireille 's culture it is fine have an interracial marriage, but even her parents weren 't happy about it. Throughout the whole book you can see the negativity of the interracial marriage by Yaye Khady. She is constantly putting down his marriage. She always tries to get him in a relationship with Ouleymatou who is black just like Ousmane. Yaye Khady in one part of the book says that “Black women can compete with White girls in every respect” (Ba 96). With this line said it is showing how Yaye Khady is saying that black women are much better than white women. In one instance after, she tells a senior women “Any African women rather than this white woman. Any African woman would show respect and consideration to me” (Ba 126). This line obviously shows how Yaye Khady doesn’t like having a white daughter-in-law and would much rather have a black one. She is very happy once he marries
The first problem that is faced based on the culture is the allowance of polygamy. Polygamy is when someone has more than one spouse at time. In Ousmane’s African culture, polygamy is allowed and is not looked down upon in that culture like it is in many other cultures. Ousmane gets married to a little French girl named Mireille but in order for him to be accepted for doing this he has to convert her to his Muslim religion. With Mireille being French, the belief is that polygamy is not the normal thing to do in her culture so they have the traditional life of having one wife or husband. With this said Ousmane’s relationship with Mireille is starting to get a little rough and leads to Ousmane questioning his love for Mireille. He then starts to fall in love with a girl named Ouleymatou in which he had a crush on earlier in his life. Without telling Mireille about anything he goes and marries Ouleymatou. He marries her under the condition that “she will not have her turn” (Ba 127). This means Mireille comes first. In this way …show more content…
In the world interracial marriages can be approved, but in many instances they are disapproved due to many factors such as racism. This is kind of the reason why the interracial marriage between Ousmane and Mireille is looked at in a negative way. In Ousmane’s culture you are able to marry someone of a different race, but people don’t like it and want people to marry the same race as their own. In Mireille 's culture it is fine have an interracial marriage, but even her parents weren 't happy about it. Throughout the whole book you can see the negativity of the interracial marriage by Yaye Khady. She is constantly putting down his marriage. She always tries to get him in a relationship with Ouleymatou who is black just like Ousmane. Yaye Khady in one part of the book says that “Black women can compete with White girls in every respect” (Ba 96). With this line said it is showing how Yaye Khady is saying that black women are much better than white women. In one instance after, she tells a senior women “Any African women rather than this white woman. Any African woman would show respect and consideration to me” (Ba 126). This line obviously shows how Yaye Khady doesn’t like having a white daughter-in-law and would much rather have a black one. She is very happy once he marries