Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali

In the epic Sundiata dedication, courage, and motivation played a huge role in heroic character life. Hero qualities were most evident in the courage that Sundiata displayed. Part of Sundiata courage laid in the fact that he was fearless, and fear enters the heart of him who does not know his destiny, whereas Sundiata knew that he was striding towards a great destiny. He did not know what fear was. Sundiata courage was on display “when Sundiata astonished the whole army with his strength and with his dash in the charge.” Most people would be stricken with fear in their first battle, but Sundiata was immersed into the battle without any fear. After Soumaoro’s disappearance on the battle field, any other warrior would question themselves. “In the life of every man there comes a moment when doubt settles in and the man questions himself on his own destiny, but on this evening it was not yet doubt which assailed Djata, for he was thinking rather of what powers he could employ to injure Sosso-Soumaoro.” He didn’t ever fear is enemy, but was steadfast in Soumaoro’s destruction. Sundiata took on a challenge that very few wanted to take on personally, and the others recognized this when the battle was over. “We are at peace. May God be praised. But we owe this peace to one man, by his courage and his valiance, was able to lead our troops to victory… which one of us, alone, would have dared face Soumaoro? Ay, we were all cowards.”
Many of the people of Mali were too quick to reject Sundiata as a hero because his growth was not normal, “only the growth is not as quick as you would like it; how impatient man is.” Sundiata’s bad circumstances lead directly to his development as a hero because he became a sturdy and his misfortunes made his mind wise.
Sundiata’s destiny was to become a hero, and “neither the jealousy of a cruel stepmother, nor her wickedness, could alter for a moment the course of great destiny.” As a hero he was admired and when he left