Black Girl

When watching Black Girl, Sembene’s anti-racial ideologies are evident in the way the French family treats Diouna. Throughout the film, the woman of the house constantly yells at Diouna and tells her that she is dressed too nicely for the job. Diouna was lied to about her responsibilities while they were in France and it appeared that she did not receive any money until the very end. Another point to consider is when the dinner guest made a comment about how he had never kissed a black woman, then kisses Diouna. Although Dakar was free from French rule, she was not treated as well as she should have been.

            I think the mask Diouna gives to her employers is symbolic of her loyalty, admiration, and respect for them. She believed that they were going to be able to give her a better life where she would be able to send money back home to support her family. When she was home in Dakar, she picked up the mask and began dancing and singing with it while telling everyone that she was going to France. I got the sense that the mask was significant to her and that she gave it away showed that she was devoting herself to her employers. Throughout the film, it is clear that Diouna loses respect and admiration for the family, especially the mistress. When she takes the mask back, she is making a point by taking back what was rightfully hers. Not only that, but it also shows a burst of defiance that she lacked early on in the film. Her taking back the mask symbolized her taking back all that was lost from her: her family, her home, and her hope.

            In one aspect, I don’t understand why Diouna killed herself. She already had her possessions packed, took back her mask, and the man of the house finally gave her the wages she had earned. It would have been so easy for her to use that money to travel home and go back to her life with her family. She spent time in her room looking at the photographs she had, which leads me to believe that she missed her family, so it is tough for me to see how suicide would have been a choice for her. On the other hand, I understand about justice and making a point. It would have been easy for her to go home, but after all she had gone through, taking the easy route would not have made such an impact. By killing herself, it made her employers look bad. Her death was noted in the newspaper so it casted an ugly light on the French families treating their black maids in this way. I think her suicide was dramatic for the film because I did not see it coming. I saw her bags packed and assumed that she was going home. As much as I would have liked to see Diouna reunited with her family, I don’t think that this film was meant to have a happy ending, especially when Dakar was going through turmoil. Although Diouna never made it home, a piece of her did when the mask that she cherished was returned to her family.