The Ultimate Tragedy

The first novel from Guinea Bissau to be translated into English, it is set during the years leading up to the armed revolt against the Portuguese. This time of budding political consciousness and desire for action in the 1950s is the backdrop for a love triangle between a young woman, a local leader, and a semi-assimilated teacher. Each of the three narrates part of the story.

Ndani is thirteen when she follows the advice of her father's fourth wife and moves to the city to become a housemaid. She had been warned that Whites were not like Blacks and lived very differently, and the first couple of chapters are her attempts to understand them. The point of view then shifts to the Régulo, or minor king of a village, and his interactions show more with the White administrator of the region. He develops ideas about peaceful resistance against the Portuguese colonizers. The point of view then shifts again, this time to the Black teacher, educated by Portuguese priests to be a native mouthpiece for Christianity, and his relationships with the other two. The last chapter brings the reader back to Ndani.

Although the allusions are a bit heavy-handed at times, overall this was an interesting snapshot of a particular moment in Guinea Bissau's history. The evolution of perspective of the Portuguese colonizers is represented by the White woman for whom Ndani works. She goes from denigrating Blacks to wanting to convert them to starting schools to create native teachers who can evangelize on their behalf. Ndani is at first in awe of her White employers, but quickly learns that they can be cruel and capricious. The Régulo initially has a mutually beneficial relationship with the administration, but that rapidly deteriorates. The teacher was educated to believe in Catholicism, but realizes that his own people espouse similar ideas, without the hypocrisy displayed by the Portuguese colonizers. Everything is in flux as the country moves toward a fight for independence. show less