The anger is clear in this response, serving as a messenger delivering to the reader the defensiveness and fear from part of the African world; Ad'jibid'ji's attempt to learn French and reach out to the white world reveals her acceptance, whereas Niakoro's perfectly human reaction annihilates it. It is curious that the termination of Ad'jibid'ji's attempt is created by the obvious generational gap, since the same situation occurs in Scarlet Song.
In Ba's piece, the main characters are Mireille, daughter of a French diplomat, and Ousmane, son of a poor Muslim family in Senegal " both seen as representatives for their kind, struggling for the acceptance of their love. Love, having its roots in empathy, makes their connection the ultimate display of humanness. The attempt at destroying such mental and emotional "racial walls- is strongly presented in this love story; their attraction for one another goes against all odds and expectations of the time. This is represented in Mireille's father's despair when he reads his daughter's letter in which she tells of her decision to move with her black boyfriend and marry him, pursuing a taboo love. While reading the letter, the father says, "Of course one can fraternise with a black man, but you don't marry one- (Ba 76). This portrays the falsity in his so called attempt to integrate blacks and whites " the fazade of being "politically correct- only when convenient. Furthermore, other than breaking boundaries, Mireille fights fiercely for her right to make her own choices in life: .
You think you're superior because you're white. But just scratch yourself. You'll bleed the same red blood, a sign that you're the same as all people on earth. You've got a brain and liver that do the same job as Ousmane's brain and liver. Tell me, in what way are you any better? (29) .
This lack of tolerance is a theme that comes to light several times, in both pieces.
