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Essay Conflicts in the novel Segu

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Controversies and conflicts are many ways to emphasize key characters and plots in many novels. Authors such as, Maryse Conde use change and the effects of change, to help the reader better understand the underlying themes. In the novel Segu, Conde does just this. The controversy of change in religion creates a fairly large civil conflict amongst the Bambara people. This same civil conflict eventually boils over into the controversy of change in people and trade. The effect of this change would later be described as the world’s lowest point of society.
“On the other hand, Islam was dangerous: it undermined the power of kings, according sovereignty to one supreme god who was completely alien to the Bambara universe” (41).
Was Islam the…show more content…
Islam used its powers and privileges to the fullest extent. It threatened and terrified the morale of inferior religions.
Tiekoro used the Islamic religion to his advantage. Although his people disliked his decision, he somehow managed to make a bad situation into a perfect one. The idea that first intrigued Tiekoro was the idea of learning how to read and write. Learning to read and write was an opportunity to become more social and involved in the affluent society. He saw this as a way to expand his horizon and someday leave the country of Segu. Tiekoro’s true motivation came in the form of a man. This man was his father.
“…Tiekoro looked up to his father as a god. He had admired him much more then the Mansa. When had he started to think of him as a barbarian and an ignorant drinker of dolo? It was when the achievements of the Muslims had begun to acquire importance in his life. But the fact that he’d stopped admiring his father didn’t mean he didn’t love him anymore…Tiekoro suffered from a conflict between his heart and his head, between instinctive feelings and intellectual reasoning” (22).
Tiekoro saw his father, and the way he lived. From that point onward, he told himself that he would not turn into a man like that. He told himself that he would turn into a respected and well-rounded man. Eventually, Tiekoro did just that, becoming a saint to those who adored him in the Islamic community. Even though he
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