The belly of the ocean

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The belly of the ocean , originally Le Ventre de l'Atlantique , is the first novel by the Senegalese author Fatou Diome . It was published in 2003 by Anne Carrière. Brigitte Große's translation of the novel was published in 2004 by Diogenes Verlag, Zurich.

The novel deals with the dreams of young Senegalese emigrating.

The work has autobiographical traits, as the locations and the career of the narrator coincide with those of the author.

Table of contents

Europe is not a paradise, not even for immigrants from Senegal. Nevertheless, Salie's little brother Madické wants to go to France to become rich and famous as a footballer. However, the dreams that are conceived on the small island in the middle of the ocean encounter an obstacle: reality.

The people

The main characters

Salie: Salie is the narrator of the novel. A narrator with an internal focus. She was born in Senegal from her mother's first marriage. When her mother remarries, the stepfather rejects little Salie. Torn by this situation, the mother tends to abuse her child. Salie is slandered by a benevolent neighbor and welcomed by her grandmother, with whom she develops an intimate relationship. Although Salie is not enrolled in the school in the village, she is curious and secretly goes there. The teacher soon realized her potential and asks her grandmother's permission to enroll her. Salie is particularly interested in literature. She later falls in love and marries a white man from France. You leave Senegal, but the man's family is racist and does not want a black woman to become part of the family. Hence, they are getting divorced. All of these events are communicated to the reader in an analeptic narrative fashion. Salie currently lives in France, especially in Strasbourg, where she works part-time as a cleaning lady to finance her studies. It describes, especially for young Africans, how to prepare for a life in France. In this way, she tries to convince her brother that France is not the place where his dreams come true, both by telephone and during her visits to Senegal. During this time she tries to hide her writing from the contemptuous gaze of others. This also fails because of the testimony of the "man from Barbès", who declares that Salie will be on French television if she publishes a book. So the connections between the fictional character and the writer Fatou Diome are getting stronger. This makes the novel appear in the light of an autofiction.

Madické alias Maldini: Madické is Salie's half-brother, born from his mother's second marriage, he still lives in Senegal. Madické loves football and supports the Italian national team and especially the player Paolo Maldini, which earned him the nickname Maldini in his village. The young man has the dream of becoming a professional footballer in France, a country he only knows from television. And it is precisely in this one television set that he sees his African colleagues play in the French national team and how they are celebrated without forgetting the astronomical salaries they are paid. Television is also a bond that always unites brother and sister despite the distance. Madické always calls Salie to ask her to give him the results and the summary of the games during the many glitches that the Senegalese neighbor's television has. The further the book advances, the more urgent the brother's requests to go to France become, despite the admonitions of Teacher and Salie, especially during their trip. When she returns to France, she decides to save several months. The amount she collects is equivalent to a plane ticket from Senegal to Paris. Then she explains to her brother that she has saved all this money for him and that she gives him the choice of either flying the money to Paris or using it in Senegal. After all, Madické doesn't go to France and uses his sister's money to open a shop. The reader later learns that Madické, who today leads a comfortable life in Senegal, no longer has the dream of becoming a professional footballer in France. The last scene in which the character appears is at his own house where he invites his friends to watch a soccer game (Senegal-Sweden) on his own television.

Ndétare: The teacher at the village's non-Koranic school studied in France. He's the one who made it possible for little Salie to enroll in his facility. Parallel to his work as a teacher, he became a football coach for the youth of the village, including Madické, who drew his attention to his sister. This is then devoted to a laudatory description of the teacher to whom she owes her educational path and the knowledge she enjoys today (page 65). Salie and the teacher are very good friends, even though Salie lives in France. During one of her visits to Senegal, the young woman will spend most of the time with this friend. During this time they will join forces to put an end to the so-called "myth of Europe". The teacher, who still lives in Senegal, fights daily and often reminds the budding soccer players of the story of Moussa. Eventually, Ndétare has a real love affair with a young woman from the island, Sankèle, who is unfortunately destroyed by the power of the traditions and rules that women have to live by in their country.

L'homme de Barbès: The television set in front of which Senegalese youths gather to watch football matches finds an ally in the character of the man from Barbès. He legally emigrated to France and lives a hard life, most of the time doing difficult and arduous work as a contract worker. He does not own a home and lives in the same situation with other Africans. That is why he saved his salary for years before returning to his home country. There he boasts of the enormous amount of money he raised for Senegal. He wants to prove his wealth by building several houses for himself and his parents, but also by marrying several women. So he presents France as an Eldorado for young Africans and decides to hide the story of his painful experiences. We also learn that his status allows him to marry any woman he wishes in Senegal. However, his family has chosen for him one of the most beautiful women on the island, who is none other than Sankèle, who we have already talked about. However, Sankèle's heart is already taken: she is against it.   

The minor characters

La grand-mère: Salie's grandmother took her in when she was a child. The two women build an intimate relationship. A number of poetic lines of thought in the book deal with ancestors.

Moussa is a ghost figure we only know the story of. A very good football player, he is discovered by a French coach named Jean-Charles Sauveur who proposes that he be brought to France so that he can train there to become a professional and be able to play in France / a professional to to become a soccer player in France. Moussa is obviously pleased and announces the news to his parents. They see him as the next "Barbès man" who will bring large sums of money back into the country and enable his family to have a better life. Once in France, Moussa only has access to the training center and his dormitory. The athletic advancement turned out to be a challenge for the little boy. Although Moussa has food and accommodation, he does not receive a salary and continues to be treated in a racist manner by his teammates. His family is very angry with him because he arrived a few months ago and they did not receive any money. When Moussa sends a picture of himself and his team, he only incurs his father's anger. The latter accuses him of rejecting the dress traditions of his country and of acting selfishly by not supporting his family in Africa. After a few months, his coach explained to him that he could not keep him on the team because of his lack of level. He then informs him that he has to reimburse all expenses the coach has invested in him and informs him that he has made arrangements with a boat captain who employs illegal immigrants. The coach tells him his entire salary will be paid back to him until he pays it back, agrees Moussa. One day when the boat docks in Marseille and the workers have free time, Moussa decides to visit the port, having never seen anything other than his training center in France. The police arrested the young man during an identity check, which of course he no longer has. Moussa explains that he works on a boat. The police want to confirm the statements of the young man and question the captain of the boat, who claims not to know Moussa. The latter is taken to the police station for a few days and then to prison, where he waits for his IQF (invitation to leave France). Upon receipt, it will be taken to the airport to return to Senegal from there. There he was rejected and despised by everyone. Since he can no longer bear all this, he commits suicide and jumps into the Atlantic.

Sankèle: a young woman from the island who is particularly coveted for her beauty. She is in love with the teacher Ndétare. However, her father rejects this relationship, especially as the family des Barbès' husband declares that they want Sankèle to marry their son. So Sankèle's father is determined that Sankèle marries the latter. However, the young woman becomes pregnant with her partner and the couple is happy. On the evening of the birth, Sankèle is at her parents' house, her mother helping her with the birth. While the birth went well and Sankèle's mother went into the courtyard to fetch water, the father grabbed the child and suffocated it in a plastic bag. He justified his act with this single sentence: "An illegitimate child cannot grow up under my roof" (page 134). He disposed of the child in the Atlantic. Sankèle immediately flees and seeks help from her lover. She knows she has to leave the island. Ndétare will help her by disguising her and finding a way to escape. As a result, none of the characters will have any more news about the young woman, only rumors will be spread.

Le pécheur: The fisherman is an older character who mingles with the young people who are in front of the TV to watch the football matches. His presence is portrayed as strange throughout the novel. Madické finally solves the mystery by analyzing the questions the old man asks him. In fact, the latter kept asking the young man about the results of many games, explaining that he did not support any particular team. Finally, Madické notes that often a team returns from which one of the players was born in Senegal and, more precisely, in the region where he himself lives (Niodior). Then we learn that the fisherman was very successful with the ladies when he was young and that one of his conquests had become pregnant. However, when she brought the news to him, he explained that she had to take care of herself and that he would not recognize the child. The young woman then went to town, where she could find a good job with a wealthy family. “Thanks to her beauty” she married another man “despite” her first child, whom he raised as a son and adopted under his name. The son was discovered because of his talent as a soccer player and recruited for a European club. However, his sire will never stop seeing him on the Barbès man's TV .......

subjects

Marriage in Africa

Fatou Diome tells the story of Sankèle, the daughter of an old fisherman. Sankèle is known for her beauty and intelligence and falls in love with Ndétare, the primary school teacher. However, her father has already chosen the man from Barbès as a candidate for marriage. Ndétare and Sankèle then meet regularly in secret and Sankèle eventually becomes pregnant. Your child is a disgrace to the family and her father kills the child by suffocating it with a plastic bag, especially since "there is no room for a bastard in a house [...]."

The same fate could have met Salie, who was saved by her grandmother from being abused by her stepfather.

Fatou Diome describes marriage in Africa as follows: “According to the ancient laws of the ancestors, they made iron covenants in the interest of morals and sealed the fate of the girls. Not lovers were united, but families forged together. "(P. 132)

"In this corner of the world a man's hand lies on every woman's mouth." (P. 138)

The myth of Europe

For the people of Niodior , France is like a paradise. All the villagers who have already lived in France stand for social success: the husband of Barbès, the primary school teacher Ndétare and Salie. The residents are continuously exposed to the lies of the man from Barbès and the colorful advertising images on television:

“They also have a device for cleaning called a vacuum cleaner that simply swallows up all the dirt, so you go through the rooms once and hui everything is gone. Bssss! And how it flashes! "(P. 90)

"Everyone has their own car, which they drive to work and take the children to school, their own television that can receive all the channels in the world, and a refrigerator and freezer with lots of good things in it." (P. 89)

“Everyone is fine, nobody is really poor. If you don't have a job, you get a salary from the state, which they call the minimum wage. [...] And you can make money with anything, even if you pick up the dog shit from the street, you will be paid for it by the Paris city council. "(P. 91)

“They wanted to know everything about the fabulous place, how the dead slept in palaces. There the living surely had heaven on earth. ”(P. 89)

The reality is only described by former official Ndétare, who tells the story of Moussa to the children who dream of France in order to convince them to stay in Africa: “Don't be so sure, boy, it is not said. Stop dreaming, not everyone comes back rich from France. ”(P. 98)

The question of identity

Fatou Diome's work deals with the question of identity from different perspectives. The identity portrayed in the novel ostensibly represents the conflict-laden identity of the protagonist and narrator Salie. The narrator is torn between the two cultures - the French and the Senegalese. Above all, the gaze of the others lets Salie become aware of her alterity, so that she is always kept from feeling at home. The question of identity is also addressed by means of differences in cultural customs, such as with regard to diet: “This is how we speak of those who are far away, when we no longer know what they prefer to eat, which music they like to listen to, which flowers and what colors they like when you've forgotten whether they drink their coffee with or without sugar, all the little things that don't fit in a suitcase, but are responsible for whether you feel at home or not. "(p. 272)

Fatou Diome gets to the bottom of the differences between the two cultures by always juxtaposing the customs of the two continents, such as first names, cultural circumstances, birthdays, etc. Using a multi-faceted language, the narrator integrates proverbs from her home village into her story. These proverbs play an important role in African culture. They enrich the cultural identity of every family. In African literature, oral narration is more important than written. Oral literature in Africa refers to genres such as proverbs, fairy tales and eulogies, etc.

The narrator likes to quote her grandmother:

“Just as the dolphin's cub is not afraid of drowning, you who are born in the rain will not be afraid of getting wet even if they spit on you as you pass. [...] But you too have to come to the light of day. "(P. 76)

The African proverbs often allude to the imagery of nature, which plays a major role in African culture:

"But gradually he understood that the palave tree is a parliament and the family tree is an identity card." (P. 83)

Many of these proverbs also bring up the misogyny of African culture. In African society, mothers are assigned an important role in all areas of life, whether economic, political or cultural:

“Feeding daughters means fattening cows that will never give milk. 'Or: A shepherd without a goat ends without a skirt.' "(P. 153)

In this context, milk symbolizes money or at least the social success that can only be brought about by a man in order to secure his family for the future.

Narrator

The cover of the book mentions the first name of the narrator Salie and this is how she is called by the residents of Niodior in rare cases. In the 11th chapter, however, she says that her first name is one of the most common in Senegal, as the first-born Muslim girls are often called that. The first name is easy to pronounce, so development workers like to give their housewives this name. Rather, this applies to Fatou, the author's name ...

Literary prizes

The belly of the ocean won the 2003 Prix ​​des Hémisphères Chantal Lapicque . The award promotes and supports the diverse uses of the French language in the world. This award directs French readers to works that relate to people and situations found outside the greater France area.

In 2005 Fatou Diome received the LiBeraturpreis for this work .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diogenes Verlag - The belly of the ocean | Diome, Fatou. Retrieved February 7, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diome, Fatou .: The belly of the ocean: Roman . Diogenes, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-257-06445-4 , p. 140 .

Web links