The Epic Story of Sundjata, also known as Sundiata, is a short story which a griot or Jali narrates. A Jali is an oral historian in West Africa. The story, Sundjata, talks about the ruler of the Mali Empire in the 1200s. The passage under analysis is the words of the Old Woman from the short story and elucidates the theme of choice and its consequences.
The passage is about the significance of choices. The passage starts with the Old Woman citing that when people of Do have assembled, and the hunters are presented with the beautiful maidens, they should look for the ugliest to their imagination sitting on observation platform and take her as a wife. Here, the Old Woman’s choice of words is significant. The Old Woman’s use of the directive word “must choose” implies that the hunters have to abide by the condition otherwise there will be some consequences. Additionally, the word “ugly” is used by the Old Woman to point out Sologon Kedjou from the other beautiful maiden. Thus, the consequence of being ugly alienates her from the rest of the beautiful maidens. Moreover, in the third sentence, the word “hunchback” brings out Sologon Kedjou as an outlier. Furthermore, while the use of the words “ugly” and “hunchback” indicates Sologon Kedjou’s physical unfitness, the Old Woman uses “extraordinary woman” to imply that she is bound for greatness.
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Besides the development of the theme of choice is the aspect of acceptance. Despite the Old Woman use of words that implies that Sologon Kedjou is less significant in the eyes of people of Do, she accepts her as her spiritual double or wraith. Consequently, the Old Woman shows that she possesses enough experience to know that choices have consequences and that is why she emphasizes that the hunters should not take the choice lightly. She indicates that a choice can be the difference between two different paths of life. For instance, if the hunters fail to choose the ugly maiden, it implies that the great king Sundiata will not be born.
Overall, the passage from “The Epic story of Sundiata” is very educative and thought- inspiring since it makes a strong point on the theme of choices and their consequences. Reading it enables one be able to make decisions consciously while analyzing their potential consequences.
