“You called me Fatou. Olga had just introduced us, yet you called me Fatou. Fatou is what the French colonists called their maids when they couldn’t be bothered to know their names. A name isn’t just a name. It’s my family, my dignity.”
Lola understands the unpleasant history of the name “Fatou.” She is still hurt that Len called her "Fatou" even after being told her name. She feels that it was disrespectful and snobbish of Len to call her “Fatou.” Being equated to a maid reminded her of how the French treated Africans casually and trivialized their identities by calling girls “Fatou.” Lola stands up for her dignity by telling Len to his face that he had wronged her. Names are crucial components of identity, so Lola prefers to be called by her name instead of being referred to using an offensive colonial-era term. Lola cannot take jokes that are ended to demean her.
“You could say I entered America while living in Senegal, by way of my American friends, one evening, in a house near the sea, filled with the smell of salt, flowers, alcohol, perfume, tobacco, breath, and pheromones. Americans had crossed my path, but never this many in one space."
Socializing and interacting with Americans breeds Lola's desire to leave Senegal to chase the American dream. The dream makes her anticipate a better life than she has in Senegal. The influence of Lola's American friends demonstrates that peers are powerful forces when it comes to shaping one's outlook and vision. The influence of the American friends on her surpasses Lola's mother's influence.
“Mindy mentioned a book she was reading titled the Women’s Room, which she said was about women in various stages of problematic marriages. I was about to ask if she’d read Rica Jong’s Fear of Flying, a book depicting a woman’s sexual frustration.”
Books are significant in Lola's life because she has aspirations of being a writer. The two books that Lola references in the passage above are predominantly feminist. They hint at her interest in female issues such as matrimony and sex. Lola is drawn into subjects that touch on women's experiences because she is a young woman who could come upon similar experiences during her existence.
