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Ambiguous Adventure Essay Ambiguous Adventure, written by Cheikh Hamidou Kane, compares traditional Islamic education with the new western education that was introduced through colonization. The novel follows the journey of Samba Diallo whose home of Diallobe was conquered by the French and was being colonized. Ambiguous Adventure demonstrates the traditional Islamic education in comparison to the new western education and ideals throughout Samba Diallo’s journey. Samba Diallo grew up in Diallobe in an elite family. Diallobe was recently colonized by the French and his town is having a hard time assimilating to the French ideal and education. Diallo describes this colonization that â€Å"we have nothing left - thanks to them - and it is thus that they hold us. He who wants to live, who wants to remain himself, must compromise† (pg. 9). Diallo spent most of his childhood in the Glowing Hearth, a koranic school, being taught by his koranic teacher Thierno. Thierno believed that Diallo has a divine gift, and is especially hard on Diallo in order to drive him to achieve greater things. Thierno believes that Diallo will become the next koranic teacher of Diallobe. Diallo becomes a religious disciple, however right before he is about to learn how to apply his knowledge of the Koran, he is pulled from the Glowing Hearth to be sent to the new western school. â€Å"I had interrupted my studies with the teacher of the Diallobe at the very momen t when he was about to initiate me at last into the rational understanding of what up to then I had done no more than recite† (pg. 143). The Most Royal Lady is Diallo’s older cousin, and sister to the chief of Diallobe. She calls a community meeting and decides that in order to fight back against the coloni... ...t rather learn how to fight back. On the flip side, the Modern education represents the Modernist point of view during colonization. They want to learn how to incorporate parts of French culture and philosophy into their traditional Islamic ways. Samba Diallo makes the transformation into a modernist throughout the book, however he was never fully able to show his new philosophical knowledge because he was killed. If Diallo had completed his koranic knowledge, then he might of been rooted stronger in it and wouldn’t of been so torn between his Islamic roots and the new western ideas. Ambiguous Adventure shows how the traditional Islamic education and the new western education played a big role during the process of colonization. By: Ashley Fleetwood Word Count: 1,416 Kane, Cheikh Hamidou. â€Å"Ambiguous Adventure†. Melville House Publishing. Brooklyn, New York. 2012