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The Return
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Sundiata, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling and Memory
Fate and Destiny
Heroism
Family, Community, and the Mali Empire
Magic and Religion
Summary
Analysis
Soumaoro and his forces return to Sosso, while Sundiata recruits soldiers from every village he passes. Rebellious kings gather at Sibi with Kamandjan, who is now the king of Sibi. Fakoli also continues to gather troops. As they travel, Sundiata begins to recognize trees as being native to Mali. The armies gather on the savanna, and Mamoudou Kouyaté lists the gathered groups.
Trees begin to transition from symbols of Sundiata’s destiny to symbols of a specific place and what happened there—a memory device for oral storytelling. By listing the different groups, the narrator again gets to connect with and pull in listeners who may be related to one of the kings.
Themes
Sundiata's cousin, Siara Kouman Konaté, is there, along with Faony Diarra, the king of Do and Sundiata's uncle. All the "sons of Mali" are in attendance and when Sundiata arrives, drums start beating. Sundiata salutes the sons of Mali and vows to the assembled to take back Mali. The griots sing Balla Fasséké's “Hymn to the Bow.”
