Numerous factors impact the expression of gender roles in the novel: Islamic traditions, the teachings of Catholicism, and the internalization of French social mores. Sembène illustrates how El Hadji’s position as an upper-middle class businessman influences his need to project masculine power and strength, and that he relies on his wives to buoy his sense of prowess.

Each of El Hadji’s wives symbolizes a feminine prototype. Adja Awa Astou is the pious one who, in giving up her sexuality in exchange for her chaste image, has earned a revered status both within her family and her community. In a nod to her original Catholic faith, she is a holy mother figure akin to the Virgin Mary and a devoted partner in her Islamic faith, as Khadijah was to Muhammad. Oumi N’Doye is, arguably, the Mary Magdalene to Adja’s “Madonna.” Oumi is sexually ravenous but more with a mind toward pleasing men and exploiting her physical appeal to them than in exploring her own pleasure. Finally, N’Gone is the naïve young woman caught up in the machinations of her elders, whose concerns about dispossession and displacement are beyond her ken. The focus, too, on N’Gone’s virginity as the only facet of her identity that gives her value underscores the sexist culture that demands that she trade on her sexuality to have a secure life.