The conflicts between faith and culture relate primarily to Islam and Senegal, on the one hand, and Christian-influenced humanism and France, on the other. More broadly, however, the cultural imperialism of French colonialism is a central issue, along with the difficulties of practicing Islam in France. Coinciding with the era of decolonization in the 1950s, the novel places one character’s dilemmas at the center of those larger processes.

The young Samba Diallo studies Koran in his native Senegal, where he hopes to follow in the footsteps of his teacher, Thierno. Even as his spiritual devotion motivates him to continuing with his religious studies, he is also shaped by his elite family’s ideas about leadership of their people, the Diallobeé. They expect to find benefits for their people in the French enterprises, especially in education. His aunt and uncle decide that he should attend a new French school, where, along with language, he is indoctrinated in French colonial ideologies of Western superiority, stemming in part from Christianity faith, and forced to question the values of his own culture, including their Muslim faith.

The next stage is more alienating, as Samba goes to France for further study. While being an African student at home in a colonial school was challenging, now he faces the additional burden of his rare position in Paris. Not only does he meet French students and foreign students from other colonies, he is exposed to radical politics for the first time. Questioning the received wisdom of the hierarchy in which his own family was considered elite, he grapples with Marxist perspectives that would eliminate both French rule and inherited privilege that he himself represents.

His anxieties and alienation are not relieved when he returns home. His old teacher, Thierno, has died, and at his grave as Samba realizes that prayer no longer comes naturally. The fool, a devout follower of Thierno, first believes Samba has become the teacher, and then fatally stabs him. In the largest sense, his death stands for the impossibility of solving the problems created by colonial rule, even as it comes to a close.

The conflict of faith vs. culture in Ambiguous Adventure is technically correct; however, that is a very general way to describe it. One can be a bit more specific by saying the conflict is one of religion vs. greed. An even better (and more specific) description would be to say it is a conflict between Senegalese Islam vs. European (specifically French) materialism. 

As the main character, Samba, learns more about his Islamic faith from his teacher Thierno, it becomes harder for Samba to reconcile his faith with the destructive forces of French colonization that have ravaged Senegal. The reader learns this mostly through dialogue between Samba and many philosophers in his native Senegal. Samba is passionate about his call to become a teacher of Islam, but he is surrounded by a throng of French schools that counteract Islamic teaching. The Most Royal Lady (who is actually Samba’s aunt) eventually insists Samba attend one of these schools. Continuing his passion for his studies, Samba excels at school and eventually studies in Paris. Unfortunately, through his success, Samba becomes more distant from Islam. The schools, of course, are designed to get the Diallobe ready for the comforts of materialism encouraged by European greed. In my opinion, the conflict can best be exemplified by a quote from Samba’s father (the Knight), who admits Samba is drifting away “because of this egoism which the West is scattering abroad.” The Knight eventually calls Samba back to Senegal only to find Samba is alienated from his original culture due to Western attempts at assimilation.   

The novel is an “ambiguous adventure” because there is no resolution of the conflict. Because Samba dies (at the hand of a mentally ill man who thinks Samba has offended his former teacher by not praying at his gravesite), Samba can no longer help the Diallobe determine the importance of faith vs. culture.