Ourika by Claire De Duras
Ourika by Claire de Duras is a short novel that was originally published in 1832 in France. The novel follows the story of a Senegalese woman who was born into slavery, but then adopted by a wealthy french family pre-revolution. She was raised with an upper-class education and brought up in french society. It is not until the age of about 12 that Ourika notices that she is different from her adopted family. She overhears a conversation and finally realizes that she has different skin than all those around her. She begins to think that she is ugly and understands herself in a completely different way. As she continues to get older, she hopes that the Revolution will change that way people see race. However, it does not. Ourika realizes that she will never be happy in french society. She will have no way of fulfilling her hopes and dreams. Then she joins a convent, and dies there of depression and melancholy. The novel was originally published anyonymously and was quiet ground-breaking for its time, as it was the first European novel with a black protagonist. It was also the first where a white author tried to live inside the mind of a black character and share a narrative of their experiences.
Ourika And Epistemic Violence
Ourika beings with a doctor informing the audience that he has been treating a nun in a convent who is very sick. This nun is Ourika, and she tells the doctor about the story of her life. She speaks of her childhood and her upbringing. She tells the doctor that she was originally from Senegal as a slave, but the governor of that colony took pity on her and bought her. He gave her to his aunt, Madame B. Ourika then explains that she had a very happy childhood. She says “Dressed in Oriental attire, I would sit at Mme de B.'s feet and listen to the conversation of the most distinguished men of that time without understanding it yet. I was not boisterous like most children; I was thoughtful before I could reflect; I was happy by Mme de B.'s side: love, to me, meant being there, hearing her, obeying her, and, above all, watching her. I wanted nothing more” (4). Ourika explains that she was happy in many ways, but also there is a slight undertone of disdain for her commodification. Though she is treated relatively well, she is still used more as a prop by Mme B. As a girl, she was dressed in “oriental attire”, rather than french attire. She was expected to sit at the feet of Mme. B and be obedient, and this paints a picture that she as more a pet than a part of their family.
Ourika continues to explain her childhood by saying “When I reached the age of twelve, it still had not occurred to me that there could be a different way of being happy” (4). Throughout her young childhood, she believes that she will have a future in which she will be happy. She does not realize that there should be more to her life. She believes that she can always live like this, and that there will be a future ahead of her. She says, “Had I had a future, this inclination would have been dangerous; but I had no future, and I did not know it” (4). Blissfully unaware of her difference, Ourika believes that someday she will have opportunity for a full life in French society. She does not realize at this point that she is very different from those around her and that they do not see her as an equal.
When it comes to education, Ourika receives the very best. Mme B. wants her to “have every talent” (5). Ourika receives a top-notch education for a wealthy french person. She said “I had a good voice, the most skilled masters trained it; I had a disposition for painting, and a famous painter, a friend of Mme de B., undertook to direct my efforts; I learned English, Italian, and Mme de B. herself supervised my readings. She was guiding my mind, forming my judgement” (5). While Mme B. seemed to want Ourika to excel in her education, one has to wonder why she wanted to educate her. It would seem that having her be educated and talented was another means of adding to the value of her “prop”.
Though Mme B. was always very kind to Ourika and cared about her deeply, the fact remains that Ourika was not the same as her adopted family, and they did not view her to be an equal. She was bought and used as an ornament for entertainment. While Mme B might have been kind and nurturing to her, it does not negate the fact that Ourika was not fully a person in her mind.
One of the most pointed examples of epistemic violence in the novel comes in the story Ourika tells about the ball Mme B. holds for her grandsons. The theme of the ball was a “quadrille of the four parts of the world” (5). Ourika was to perform a dance with a partner to represent Africa. Ourika says that her partner wore a covering over his face, but Ourika did not have to because of the color of her skin. Though she did not realize it at the time (5). It is quite clear that Mme B. was showing her off to other people, using her for entertainment. Ourika seems to believe the best in Mme B. and never really says anything terribly negative about her. However, Ourika then overhears a conversation that changes her forever. She says the conversation “opened my eyes and ended my youth” (5). A few days after the ball Mme B is speaking with one of her friends. Her friend asks her what Ourika’s future will be. Mme B says “I love her as if she were my own daughter; I would do anything to make her happy; and yet, when I think of her situation, I cannot find a remedy. Poor Ourika! I see her alone, forever alone in life” (6). Mme B. admits that she does not see any kind of real future for Ourika.
In overhearing this quote, Ourika is forever changed. She says “It was as swift as thunder; I saw it all; I saw myself a Negress, dependent, despised, without fortune, without support, without a human being of my own kind with whom I could join my destiny; until then I had been but a toy, an amusement for my benefactress, and I was soon to be cast out of a world in which I could not be admitted” (6). It was at that moment Ourika realized her situation. She realized she was different. She realized that she had been raised into a world that she could not find true happiness. The moment is then made worse by the conversation between the two women continuing. They discuss her ability to marry, which would be virtually impossible. The friend says to Mme B. “Ourika did not fulfill her destiny; she has entered society without its permission; society will have its revenge” (6). She is implying that because Ourika was not raised to be a slave, like she was supposed to have been that she has not fulfilled the destiny that was intended for her. Instead she was raised in an upper-class french society, one to which she does not belong. Because she does not belong to this society and never will, the revenge she speaks of will be Ourika’s unhappiness.
This revelation essentially sends Ourika into an identity crisis. She is miserable as she tries to make sense of what the conversation she overheard means for her. She says, “It was as if my soul had closed in on itself. Only the favors that the heart can repay are sweet to accept: My heart was filled with too much bitterness to open up. Infinite combinations of the same thoughts occupied all my time; they kept coming back under a thousand different forms: my imagination gave them the gloomiest colors; I often spent my entire nights in tears.” (7). Ourika begins to lose her sense of self-worth and she does not know how she fits into this world anymore. She continues by saying, “I could pity only myself; my face filled me with horror; I no longer dared look at myself in a mirror; when I looked at my black hands, I thought they were those of a monkey; I exaggerated my ugliness, and this color seemed to me the sign of my reprobation. Only my color separated me from those of my kind, only my color condemned me to be alone, forever alone!” (7). Though she once thought of herself as beautiful and graceful, now that she realizes the implications of her skin, she likens herself to a money. She cannot hardly stand to look at herself because she now hates that her skin will define so much of her life. But this is a social construction, one that she has only just learned.
As unhappy as Ourika will be in the society in which she grew up, she also recognizes that she will not be able to belong anywhere else. Ourika points out that she would be just as lost if she chose to seek another life by saying, “I thought of asking Mme de B. to send me back to my country; but there again, I would have been isolated: who would have heard me, who would have understood me? Alas! I no longer belonged to anybody; I was a stranger to the entire human race!” (7). If she tried to return to Senegal, she would be an outsider there too, having been raised as an educated french woman. Her hybridity is the quality that hinders her the most.
However, at this point Ourika still believes she has one hope: the Revolution. She hopes that the revolution will change the way people see race. She explains “I thus foresaw that, in that great chaos, I could find my place; that all the fortunes overthrown, all the distinctions of ranks dissolved, all the prejudices having vanished, would perhaps bring a state of things in which I would be less of a stranger” (8). She hoped will all the people talking about equality and liberty, that she might have a different future ahead of her. Ultimately, Ourika’s dreams were not realized when the revolution was over. She began to fall more and more into despair. She watched as her only childhood friend (Mme B’s grandson Charles) found love and got married. This pretty much broke Ourika’s heart, and she says that her “sadness increased daily” (15). She watched as her adopted family fit back into their society after the revolution, and she cannot return to that life of heartache.
Ourika’s story ends with her dying in a convent. She decides to join the convent because she does not want to live with Mme B. anymore. She dies wondering if she would have been happier as a slave. She wonders why she could not have lived the life she was supposed to live, “So what if I had been the negress slave of some rich colonist; burnt by the sun, I would have farmed the land for another, but I would have had my own humble hut to go to at night. I would have had a companion to share my life and children of my color who would have called me "Mother!" They would press their little lips on my forehead without disgust; they would rest their head on my shoulder, and they would fall asleep in my arms” (16). While she might not have been entirely happy as a slave, she would have had a different experience in life. Ourika seems to believe that this would have been better. Having no will to live, Ourika dies in the convent. The doctor states that she falls “with the last leaves of Autumn” (18).
http://slavery.uga.edu/texts/literary_works/ourikaenglish.pdf
Ourika continues to explain her childhood by saying “When I reached the age of twelve, it still had not occurred to me that there could be a different way of being happy” (4). Throughout her young childhood, she believes that she will have a future in which she will be happy. She does not realize that there should be more to her life. She believes that she can always live like this, and that there will be a future ahead of her. She says, “Had I had a future, this inclination would have been dangerous; but I had no future, and I did not know it” (4). Blissfully unaware of her difference, Ourika believes that someday she will have opportunity for a full life in French society. She does not realize at this point that she is very different from those around her and that they do not see her as an equal.
When it comes to education, Ourika receives the very best. Mme B. wants her to “have every talent” (5). Ourika receives a top-notch education for a wealthy french person. She said “I had a good voice, the most skilled masters trained it; I had a disposition for painting, and a famous painter, a friend of Mme de B., undertook to direct my efforts; I learned English, Italian, and Mme de B. herself supervised my readings. She was guiding my mind, forming my judgement” (5). While Mme B. seemed to want Ourika to excel in her education, one has to wonder why she wanted to educate her. It would seem that having her be educated and talented was another means of adding to the value of her “prop”.
Though Mme B. was always very kind to Ourika and cared about her deeply, the fact remains that Ourika was not the same as her adopted family, and they did not view her to be an equal. She was bought and used as an ornament for entertainment. While Mme B might have been kind and nurturing to her, it does not negate the fact that Ourika was not fully a person in her mind.
One of the most pointed examples of epistemic violence in the novel comes in the story Ourika tells about the ball Mme B. holds for her grandsons. The theme of the ball was a “quadrille of the four parts of the world” (5). Ourika was to perform a dance with a partner to represent Africa. Ourika says that her partner wore a covering over his face, but Ourika did not have to because of the color of her skin. Though she did not realize it at the time (5). It is quite clear that Mme B. was showing her off to other people, using her for entertainment. Ourika seems to believe the best in Mme B. and never really says anything terribly negative about her. However, Ourika then overhears a conversation that changes her forever. She says the conversation “opened my eyes and ended my youth” (5). A few days after the ball Mme B is speaking with one of her friends. Her friend asks her what Ourika’s future will be. Mme B says “I love her as if she were my own daughter; I would do anything to make her happy; and yet, when I think of her situation, I cannot find a remedy. Poor Ourika! I see her alone, forever alone in life” (6). Mme B. admits that she does not see any kind of real future for Ourika.
In overhearing this quote, Ourika is forever changed. She says “It was as swift as thunder; I saw it all; I saw myself a Negress, dependent, despised, without fortune, without support, without a human being of my own kind with whom I could join my destiny; until then I had been but a toy, an amusement for my benefactress, and I was soon to be cast out of a world in which I could not be admitted” (6). It was at that moment Ourika realized her situation. She realized she was different. She realized that she had been raised into a world that she could not find true happiness. The moment is then made worse by the conversation between the two women continuing. They discuss her ability to marry, which would be virtually impossible. The friend says to Mme B. “Ourika did not fulfill her destiny; she has entered society without its permission; society will have its revenge” (6). She is implying that because Ourika was not raised to be a slave, like she was supposed to have been that she has not fulfilled the destiny that was intended for her. Instead she was raised in an upper-class french society, one to which she does not belong. Because she does not belong to this society and never will, the revenge she speaks of will be Ourika’s unhappiness.
This revelation essentially sends Ourika into an identity crisis. She is miserable as she tries to make sense of what the conversation she overheard means for her. She says, “It was as if my soul had closed in on itself. Only the favors that the heart can repay are sweet to accept: My heart was filled with too much bitterness to open up. Infinite combinations of the same thoughts occupied all my time; they kept coming back under a thousand different forms: my imagination gave them the gloomiest colors; I often spent my entire nights in tears.” (7). Ourika begins to lose her sense of self-worth and she does not know how she fits into this world anymore. She continues by saying, “I could pity only myself; my face filled me with horror; I no longer dared look at myself in a mirror; when I looked at my black hands, I thought they were those of a monkey; I exaggerated my ugliness, and this color seemed to me the sign of my reprobation. Only my color separated me from those of my kind, only my color condemned me to be alone, forever alone!” (7). Though she once thought of herself as beautiful and graceful, now that she realizes the implications of her skin, she likens herself to a money. She cannot hardly stand to look at herself because she now hates that her skin will define so much of her life. But this is a social construction, one that she has only just learned.
As unhappy as Ourika will be in the society in which she grew up, she also recognizes that she will not be able to belong anywhere else. Ourika points out that she would be just as lost if she chose to seek another life by saying, “I thought of asking Mme de B. to send me back to my country; but there again, I would have been isolated: who would have heard me, who would have understood me? Alas! I no longer belonged to anybody; I was a stranger to the entire human race!” (7). If she tried to return to Senegal, she would be an outsider there too, having been raised as an educated french woman. Her hybridity is the quality that hinders her the most.
However, at this point Ourika still believes she has one hope: the Revolution. She hopes that the revolution will change the way people see race. She explains “I thus foresaw that, in that great chaos, I could find my place; that all the fortunes overthrown, all the distinctions of ranks dissolved, all the prejudices having vanished, would perhaps bring a state of things in which I would be less of a stranger” (8). She hoped will all the people talking about equality and liberty, that she might have a different future ahead of her. Ultimately, Ourika’s dreams were not realized when the revolution was over. She began to fall more and more into despair. She watched as her only childhood friend (Mme B’s grandson Charles) found love and got married. This pretty much broke Ourika’s heart, and she says that her “sadness increased daily” (15). She watched as her adopted family fit back into their society after the revolution, and she cannot return to that life of heartache.
Ourika’s story ends with her dying in a convent. She decides to join the convent because she does not want to live with Mme B. anymore. She dies wondering if she would have been happier as a slave. She wonders why she could not have lived the life she was supposed to live, “So what if I had been the negress slave of some rich colonist; burnt by the sun, I would have farmed the land for another, but I would have had my own humble hut to go to at night. I would have had a companion to share my life and children of my color who would have called me "Mother!" They would press their little lips on my forehead without disgust; they would rest their head on my shoulder, and they would fall asleep in my arms” (16). While she might not have been entirely happy as a slave, she would have had a different experience in life. Ourika seems to believe that this would have been better. Having no will to live, Ourika dies in the convent. The doctor states that she falls “with the last leaves of Autumn” (18).
http://slavery.uga.edu/texts/literary_works/ourikaenglish.pdf