Female Figures in Sembène's Xala: Between Social Submission and Critical Lucidity

Abstract: This paper examines the representation of female figures in Ousmane Sembène'snovel Xala (1973) through the prism of sociocriticism and relativized functionalism. Theanalysis demonstrates how the Senegalese author constructs a system of female charactersoscillating between social conformism and critical resistance. By juxtaposing three wives ofdistinct social positions like N'Goné, Oumi N'Doye, and young N'Goné, alongside the rebelliousdaughter Rama, Sembène exposes the inherent contradictions of postcolonial Senegalese society.The apparent submission of women masks a critical lucidity that manifests differently accordingto their positioning within the social structure. This study mobilizes sociocritical theories toreveal how the literary text functions as mediation between socioeconomic structures andideological representations of gender.