Question: The love of a mother for her son, as expressed in the Epic of Sundiata.

Sogolon’s love for her son

Sundiata, the name of Sogolon’s son, was foretold that he would be a great hero to the people of Mali and would even surpass alexander the great in his might. Sassouma Berete, the king’s first wife, hates Sundiate the child of prophecy because he can’t walk and continually mocks Sogolon and her son. When the king dies and leaves a decree that Sundiata would be the rightful heir to the kingdom, Sassouma and the elders go against this wish and crown Dankaran Touman king (Sullivan).

Sogolon loves her son so much that she feels greatly offended when the queen Sassouma insults her. Sogolon challenges Sundiata to walk in order to stop the mockery they experienced and this becomes the turning point of Sundiata. He requests her mother to get him the best iron rod from the blacksmith and vows that he would uproot the baobab tree and plant it at her door step. He amazes onlookers when he bends the iron rod and uproots the baobab tree. This shows how much he loved her mother and wanted to make her the envy of the town. Also the mother cares for her son’s safety and advices him to flee as Sassouma was planning vengeance against him of which they later elope (Sullivan).

Sogolon impacts wisdom in his son after she teaches him how to identify weaknesses and strengths of animals. This teaches him not to flaunt his strength over the weak and this saves him from the witches that had been sent to kill him when he showed them kindness. Also Sogolon teaches patience to his son as his destiny would one day come and the patience enabled him to learn many crucial lessons later in life. Due to the great love for her mother, Sundiata persuades the king Moussa Tounkara with the threat of waging a war so that he would bury his mother before proceeding to free Mali from its oppressor (Sullivan).

Sogolon teaches his son humility despite his physical strength and wisdom and this enables him to be recognized as a great king. In this tale, the unending love of a mother to her son pushes the son to his greatness despite the criticism they had to endure (Sullivan).

Works cited

Sullivan, Margaret Lo Piccolo. “The Epic Of Sundiata: Using African Literature In The Classroom.” Social Education 62.4 (1998): 201.Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Sept. 2012.