Xala Essay Questions

Describe the complicated gender politics developed throughout Sembène's Xala.

The world of Xala is one in which men are empowered over women, but it is also one in which men are ironically manipulated by and emasculated by women. In the case of the former, note for example how El Hadji physically hits and orders the women in his life around, as well as the fact that he treats them like property that can be bought and sold. In the case of Rama, his daughter, note in particular that he explicitly says that her intellectual potential is wasted on account of her gender.

At the same time, however, note in the case of the latter how El Hadji is basically reduced to a walking checkbook by these same women, shelling out obscene amounts of money on cars, clothes, education, and even a minibus for them and their respective children. Note also how these women and the other women in Dakar threaten El Hadji's masculinity by spreading word of his xala, which in turn attacks his political authority and leads him to neglect his business affairs. Finally, recall the character of Yay Bineta who—though she is neglected by the public and relegated to a life as "damaged goods" on account of her status as a double-widow—is able to manipulate El Hadji into marrying N'Gone and is able to use Islamic law to get some money and resources out of El Hadji as part of divorce proceedings.

In sum, though men and women in the novel are forced into the hierarchical schemas of traditional gender roles, women find subtle ways throughout the text to center themselves and assert power over men where it matters.

How does the power of traditional rituals differ from the power exerted by neocolonial elites in Xala?

Xala is the tale of one man realizing that neocolonial power cannot save him from a curse that stems from traditional rituals. Afflicted with sudden impotence at the novel's start, El Hadji—who has both social and political power as a polygamist "captain" with a role in the national Chamber of Commerce—is forced to participate in a variety of rituals in a vain attempt to cure himself. These include the "cloth of virginity" ceremony that Yay Bineta wants El Hadji to participate in, the rituals that various seers impose on El Hadji, and the rituals of healers like Sereen Mada. Though these initially cure El Hadji of his xala, El Hadji is ultimately unable to fend off traditional ritual power with the capital and influence he wields as a member of the Senegalese elite. His checks bounce, and his xala is returned to him.

In a broader sense, however, we learn at the novel's end that El Hadji's curse—bestowed by ritual power—is the very price he has paid to accrue capital and political influence in modern Senegal. In other words, because El Hadji has stolen property and other physical belongings from his clan, he is forced to pay for these things spiritually, immaterially, and on a deeper level. Once he has been afflicted by the unseen specter of ritual power, after all, his attempts to visualize the material or interpersonal source of his curse absorb him, and he misses that the origin of the curse (i.e., the Beggar) has been in front of him all along.

Interpret the ending of Xala. Does El Hadji ultimately pay the price for what he did to his clansmen?

Xala's ending represents a stunning and bold attack on the neocolonial establishment of modern Senegal. Though we have been conditioned throughout the entire novel to think of xala as El Hadji's true affliction, the end shows that the true affliction of El Hadji is the pain that he has inflicted on others—made manifest in the material impoverishment and grotesque physical deformities of the poor people who invade his home. In breaking into the safe space of the colonial elite, they are attempting to reverse the sickness he has inflicted on them, staging a small revolution and seeking retribution against both El Hadji and his family. Though one might read this bold action as a call for Senegal's own downtrodden population to revolt against the comprador elite, one also must take care to note the novel's final sentence, which points out that the police are outside El Hadji's villa, ready to fire. Thus, while the ending of the novel seems to be bringing our attention to the urgent need for social upheaval in order to remedy vast inequities, the novel's final ironic twist lies in the fact that even Sembène seems to know that El Hadji's pain will be momentary at best, since the neocolonial establishment will continue to support and defend villains like El Hadji.

How are conventional family relationships complicated in Xala?

Xala takes great care to show us how an uneven combination of precolonial traditions and postcolonial values explode the family unit. Through the case study of El Hadji's family, for example, we see how urban polygamy turns the father-child relationship into a primarily transactional one, with little support or role modeling accompanying such monetary transactions. We see also the ways in which the husband-wife dynamics are convoluted in the face of broader social concerns, rumors, and financial troubles. Moreover, we see that a combination of these two dynamics has left El Hadji isolated and alienated from all of his households, denying him a stable "home" throughout the text. By looking at Yay Bineta and N'Gone's family, on the other hand, we see conversely how the traditional family dynamic is subverted in favor of acquiring wealth and status through marriage. Yay Bineta, though she is only N'Gone's aunt, is able to essentially take control of her brother's daughter and serve as her social and legal surrogate—again showing that, in postcolonial Senegal, the conventional boundaries of the family shift, becoming at times more entangled and at other times more loose in the face of material and social concerns.

How is imagery of the foreign and the local deployed in Xala to shed light on the postcolonial condition?

Xala paints a picture of a world in which elites spurn their local cultures and resources in favor of foreign goods and cultural imports. El Hadji, for example, drives only foreign cars, wears only foreign clothes, and refuses to drink anything besides imported mineral water. In the lattermost case, even when offered pure water at the home of Sereen Mada, El Hadji impetuously refuses to drink it.

It is not just El Hadji, however; in general, the nouveau riche types like Oumi N'Doye also venerate the foreign while failing to celebrate the local. Oumi reads foreign magazines, speaks French, and desires only foreign goods. At the same time, however, there are plenty of others—mostly of the middle and lower classes—who prefer or are trapped within the local, for example speaking Wolof and dressing in local garb. Adja Awa Astou is one such person, though he chooses this life voluntarily. In summary, the Dakar depicted in Xala is one in which an elite desire for the foreign is made to coexist with a common pull towards the indigenous and local. The unevenness of these cultural preference mirrors the failure of Senegal to become completely independent, even in the wake of France's formal exit from the country.