Teacher Guide

The Dark Child (The African Child) Lesson Plan

Introduction to The Dark Child (The African Child)

Camara Laye's The Dark Child (which has also been published as The African Child, depending on the translation) is a 1953 French-language memoir about the author's childhood in Guinea. The son of a protective mother and a mystical-minded blacksmith and goldsmith father, Laye writes with affection about Malinke-Muslim traditions while showing how his pursuit of a French-language education draws him away from his people and toward a European lifestyle and career.

The memoir begins with Laye as a child observing the goings-on in his father's forge in Kouroussa, French Guinea. Laye learns his father has a snake as his totem, and the snake visits his father in dreams to inform him of future...

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