The Irony of El Hadji's Marriage
El Hadji's third marriage is supposed to catapult him even further into the sphere of the wealthy, since the distinction of a third marriage marks one as a "captain." However, marrying N'Gone is truly the beginning of his economic and personal downfall. Were he not to have married N'Gone, it is unlikely that the consequences of his impotence would be so great and so public; certainly, he would not have needed to neglect his business and family in vain attempts to try and cure his xala.
Postcolonial Irony
One of the text's central ironies relates to the postcolonial condition of nominal independence from a foreign power, while still remaining chained to that power economically and politically. Though El Hadji and his friends are able to rise to wealth and power as natives within Senegal, a self-admitted issue with their rise to power lies in the fact that they are still dependent on foreign money and power for many things (e.g., lending and borrowing money). This relative impotence of Senegal's native bourgeoisie then solidifies the double meaning of the text's title—not only is it a tale of El Hadji's own impotence, but it is also a story of the impotence of the new Senegalese elite to advance the material conditions of their nation's poor.
The Irony of Gender Roles in the Novel
Another ironic component of Xala are the relationships that define gender roles in the novel. While El Hadji is seen domineering his wives and daughters in some regards, we also see that he is immensely passive and vulnerable in others. He physically hits his daughter at one point, but later he is seen opening his wallet at a whim for his other children. He is able to treat his wives like property, but his failure to satisfy N'Gone leads to his dissolution. Yay Bineta is also an interesting case study in the novel, since in many ways she superficially abides by the traditional Muslim tenets of womanhood, but she also is a witty and authoritative person who is able to manipulate El Hadji into marriage and out of his property.
The Irony of the Beggar
The presence of the Beggar in the text constitutes another key irony in the novel's narrative arc. Though El Hadji takes little notice of the Beggar throughout the novel—only pausing occasionally to mention how annoying he finds his song—we learn at the novel's end that it was really the Beggar who afflicted El Hadji with xala in the first place. This irony, once realized, then conditions us to consider the invisibility of the working poor and homeless in Senegal, showing us that, though we may not take notice of such people, they can pose a powerful threat to the elites of a nation who have no interest in helping them. Moreover, such irony shows us that elites are often not reflective sorts who think too deeply about their own pasts—after all, the Beggar is from the same clan as El Hadji, and El Hadji never recognizes him fully throughout the text.
