Summary

Chapter 18

Rama forgives Modou for his betrayal. She now prays for him daily, hoping God will listen. Modou’s brother Tasmir visits Ramatoulaye and informs her he will take her as a wife. This erupts Ramatoulaye out of her 30-year silence. Her words attack Tasmir with a vengeance, challenging his love for his brother, to be thinking of his own wedding during mourning, and trying to lock in his position before Mawdo tries to stake his claim. Rama rages on: “You forget I have a heart, a mind, that I am not an object to be passed from hand to hand. You don’t know what marriage means to me: it is an act of faith and of love…”

Ramatoulaye is not done yet. She reminds Tasmir his three wives all have to work as he cannot support the three families he already has, while...