Ashley Mitchell 10/2/12 Discussion Topics- The Abandoned Baobab Kens Relationship With Women Ken Brugals relationship

with women in the novel The Abandoned Baobab is two-fold, with a dividing line between her relationships with African/black women, and her relationship with white women. Although she loves all women, as seen through many of her introspective thoughts throughout the book, most often her most transparent interactions occur with women that are of European descent. While I do believe this may have more to do with her feelings towards ethnical differences rather than any perceived gender differences, It is still something that gives us as the reader another layer to unfold within her female relationships. We were women and surely had the same nightmares, those that only women know(pg. 43). Ken truly believed, is spite of all the she was going through and the soul searching she embarked on, that women were meant to go through life with each other, and that the love of a man was secondary to the love women should have for each other. She longed for that kind of companionship, and reminded me very much of Pilot in Morrisons Song of Solomon who assured Ruth that every woman needed a bosom friend, something she didnt have. Ken also frequently bemoaned the western women (which is almost always synonymous with white) for their cattiness, jealousy of her and others, and for not banning together as women should. It upset me deeply and only strengthened my conviction that western womens relationships with one another and with all other women were in decay (89). The irony of this statement lies in the fact that though she truly believes that western women are lost in the ways of communicating with and creating ideal relationships with other women, almost all her most important female relationships are with European, western woman. Is this because of their lack of lasting relationships, or in spite of it? Her relationship with white women almost always have a separate context than that of black women, one that can be seen as sensual, and sometimes sexual, instead of the strictly emotional bond you would expect from two female friends. Although we only see one explicitly sexual relationship embarked on with a women whose name was never given, a significance in its own right- there are many instances in which the sensuality and sexual connotations do exist, however subtle and flippant they may be given to the reader. Lenore, Laure, all were women who have been important to Ken, and can be seen by the reader as lovers, or something of that nature, with Ken. Whats so significant about this is that Ken is very blas herself about the sexual relationships she has embarked on with these women. In her explicit sexual relationship, Ken states this relationship as the only one that she embarked on that touched on the false homosexuality of the times. I dont believe this is true, as all her relationships with western women were of a sensual nature, but I do believe that what she was experiencing with these women was not in her eyes homoerotic. Just like those in Greek times embarked on homosexuality but led

fruitful lives with wives and children, so did Ken seem to think that such sensuality between women was a natural progression and portion of women relationships, separate from the desire to truly be with a woman. Kens relationship with black women was a complete 180 from the freedom and sensuality she experienced with women of European/Western descent. In black/African women, she found a connection to home, the familiar, the necessary grounding in a journey away from it all. However, this relationship exhibited a much more love-hate dynamic than those with her white female counterparts. While she needed this grounding, this tie, she seemed to resent it as well, and felt that often times these African women understood so little about the real world and her need to find a place within it. Here was the big sister; she was talking just as the oldest one at home would have. Ah Africa, despite everything you resist! ...I received my due, which big sister took away from me and put in her pocket, by what right I dont know. In Africa, the oldest one would have behaved the same way (pg. 103). In the same sense that she appreciated her sister-friends words, even actively solicited her advice for her issues, she hated her African approach, her big sister role that reminded her so much of home, reminded her perhaps of what she lacked. Kens Relationship with Family Ken Brugals relationship with her family is quite interesting to me, simply because it is an unexpected dynamic for me as a reader. While it may be quite ignorant of me, I wholly expected Ken to have a healthy, close-knit relationship with her family, as many of my friends of African descent have with theirs. In my experience, those of foreign descent rather than those who are born and raised by multi-generational Western citizens often exhibit tight knit family units. This black girl lost feeling seems to come as a surprise to Ken as well, who sees all around he the many ties that bind Africans to each other. Her feelings towards Africa and her home country, which seem to be synonymous with her feelings towards her family, are evident within the first chapters of her autobiographical story. I was born in a tiny village in a region of Senegal they call Ndoucoumane. It is always warm there and always cold (pg. 21). Last child of her father and his second wife, not everyone was present for her birth, a longstanding tradition within her village. It is to this that she attributes her eventual ostracism within the village and her constant search for home; bad omens and bad luck.