The Description of Samba Diallo and Demba's fight
"He was no longer conscious of anything, except that his body, like a butting ram, had catapulted itself upon the target, that the knot of the two entwined bodies had fallen to the ground, and that there was under him something which was struggling and panting, and which he was hitting. His own body, now, was not vibrating any more, but, marvelously supple, was bending and unbending with the blows he was striking, and the mutiny of his body was calmed somewhat with every blow, as every blow restored a little clarity to his benumbed intelligence. Beneath him, the target continued to struggle and pant and was perhaps also striking, but he felt nothing, other than the mastery which his body was progressively imposing upon the target..." (Ambiguous Adventure, 22).
In this description, we are able to perceive an image of a boy engrossed into a fight with another struggling beneath him, overwhelmed by blows. As the two boys fight each other, it becomes apparent in the reader's subconscious that the overwhelmed as the other unceasingly fights him.
The Image of the Knight (Samba Diallo's Father)
"He was a tall man, something which one noticed at once, even though he was seated. The boubous he wore were white and full-cut. Under his clothing one sensed a stature which was powerful without being fleshy. His hands were at once large and finely molded. His bearing helped to give a hieratic posture to his head, which one would have said was cut out of gleaming black sandstone..." (Ambiguous Adventure, 50).
This vivid description of the Knight (Samba Diallo's father) from the point of view of Jean Lacroix, also, an acquaintance of Samba's paints a rather vivid image of a well built black man of Muslim descent. Jean Lacroix even compares him to an image of a knight of the middle ages from an engraving in his history book.
The Description of the night following Samba Diallo's encounter with Jean Lacroix
After Jean and Samba meet with both their parents at the office of Paul Lacroix, the two later go on a walk. After their walk, later Samba Diallo and his father leave for their home. This night is described vividly and paints a graphic image of the evening as the Knight and Samba walk home. The writer uses this description as a way of enhancing the setting of that particular scene:
" The sun was setting in an immense sweep of sky. Its rays, which are golden at this time of the day, had been dyed purple in their passage through the clouds that were setting the west afire. Struck diagonally by the light, the red sand was like seething gold" (Ambiguous Adventure, 52).
This description plays a pivotal role in presenting the ambiance of the evening to the reader in more conceptual and visionary terms.
Description of the time before Samba Diallo's prayer
"The golden rays had thinned out a little, and the purple had turned to pink. Along their lower edges, the clouds had become a frozen blue. The sun had disappeared, but already in the east, the moon had risen, and it, too, shed a light. One could see that the ambient light was made up of the paling rose from the sun, the milky whiteness from the moon, and also the peaceful penumbra of a night which was felt to be imminent" (Ambiguous Adventure, 53).
In this vivid description, the reader is able to perceive the surroundings of the place where this particular scene. Additionally, the imagery builds on the mood of the scene which the reader can presume as being peaceful.
The Knight's hallucination
After the Knights reflections, he has "something like a hallucination" which is described perceptibly to the reader, a vision of a burning globe:
"A spot on our globe was burning with a blinding brilliance as if a fire had been lighted on an immense hearth. At the heart of this fierce light and heat, a swarm of human beings seemed to be giving themselves over to an incomprehensible and fantastic mimicry of worship. Emerging from all sides, from deep valleys of shadow, floods of human creatures of all colors were pouring in; and in the measure of their approach to the hearth, these beings took up, insensibly, the rhythm which encompassed them, while under the effect of the light they lost their original colors, which gave way to the wan tint the filled the air roundabout" (Ambiguous Adventure, 62).
