Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol

Ocol has begun an affair with Clementine, a woman who has also adopted European mannerisms and customs. Lawino reflects that she used to be impressed by Ocol learning to speak English and reminisces about when they were close as a couple. She says that Clementine is trying very hard to look like a white woman but that these attempts only make her look strange; red lipstick and white powder do not suit Clementine’s complexion, making her look “sickly” to Lawino. Lawino claims that she is not trying to personally attack Clementine by making these observations but that she simply feels sorry for Clementine whenever she sees her. She thinks that Clementine is trying too hard to appear younger than she is by wearing a bra and remaining skinny. Ocol, on the other hand, accuses Lawino of being too old-fashioned.

Lawino insists that she does not mind that Ocol is seeing another woman (polygamy is a normal part of Acholi tradition) and has no hope of Ocol ever losing desire for other women. She believes that she will be able to compete for Ocol’s attention by cooking well and keeping him entertained. What she is frustrated by is his insults against her, her family, and their entire culture. Furthermore, she thinks that these insults are pointless because it will be impossible to destroy such strong ancestral traditions.

Lawino admits that she does not understand how to dance like a white person because she grew up learning and dancing traditional Acholi dances. She enjoys the feelings of freedom and pride that Acholi dances give her. She enjoys that the dances occur in full daylight and are vigorous and that the dance costumes are revealing, such that “All parts of the body / […] Health and liveliness / Are shown in the arena!” (43).

By contrast, Lawino does not like European dancing customs. She does not like how evening ballroom dances require unmarried men and women to hold each other closely, even men and women who are related to one another. She does not like how heat, sweat, and cigar smoke accumulate in the crowded ballrooms or how the restrooms become filthy over the course of the night. Even though Ocol mocks her for not knowing European dances, Lawino refuses to learn them because they disgust her so much.

Lawino recounts how, as a young woman, she was appointed the “chief of girls” in her community because of her upstanding demeanor (47). She is particularly proud of her breasts at that age, recalling how they garnered the attention of both Ocol and other men. She is bewildered that Ocol has now completely changed his opinion about her appearance, calling her ugly when he once thought of her as a great beauty. She compares Ocol to a “beggar” because he has desperately adopted the culture of Europeans, as if he did not already have the perfectly good Acholi culture. She believes that this rejection of Acholi culture is motivated by Ocol’s low self-esteem and by shame over not achieving the social recognition he wants through traditional Acholi means.

Ocol calls Lawino “dirty” and “backward” because she styles her hair in a traditional manner. Lawino defends herself, explaining that it is impossible to style her hair like a white woman’s because it has a fundamentally different texture, and she reminds Ocol that he used to find her hair desirable. She explains some Acholi customs surrounding women’s hair: During mourning periods, women leave their hair uncombed and unadorned out of respect for the deceased, and during dances, women cover their hair and skin in pigments that match their clothing. She exalts the beauty of Acholi women and their ability to attract men.

Yet Ocol continues to insult the way Lawino presents herself and is particularly convinced that Lawino’s hair and skin are dirty. He remains convinced that Clementine is a superior beauty, but Lawino thinks that the way Clementine straightens and curls her hair to make it look like a white woman’s does not work since it goes against her hair’s nature. Instead, she thinks that Clementine’s processed hair looks “listless and dead” (54). She also finds it strange that Clementine never washes her hair, uses perfume to cover up her body odor, and even wears wigs. She recalls how Clementine’s wig fell off one night at a dance; Clementine fell to the floor in shame. Lawino concludes that she is proud of her own hair and would never try to make her hair look like a white woman’s since that endeavor is as futile as a giraffe trying to turn into a monkey.

Another one of Ocol’s complaints about Lawino is that she does not enjoy or cook European cuisine. Lawino retorts that she does not like European cooking tools such as the charcoal stove and is much more comfortable using traditional Acholi cooking implements, like clay pots. She admits that she is afraid of being electrocuted by the European stove and is too afraid of it to learn how to use it. Furthermore, she thinks that the stove is not designed to cook Acholi food, and she would prefer to use tools that are. She finds European food bland and particularly dislikes canned and frozen foods.

She reminisces about her mother’s kitchen and the ingredients and cookware housed in it, paying particular attention to the grinding stones that are used to break down grain, legumes, and sesame (simsim). Lawino misses using the grinding stones alongside her sister in their mother’s kitchen. She turns her attention to the different kinds of firewood stored in the kitchen, all of which have different uses. When eating at her mother’s house, Lawino does not use plates but rather gourds and other dishes that are suitable for serving Acholi food. She thinks that European plates are beautiful but ultimately finds that beauty useless since it is covered by food; moreover, the glazed ceramic causes Acholi food to lose its heat and perspire. She does not understand why Ocol calls Black foods “primitive” and insists that Lawino must begin eating raw eggs because they are good for her bones. Lawino suspects that whatever is good for her bones in the raw eggs must also exist in some of the foods she prefers, and she wonders if they cannot both just eat the foods they like without judging each other.