Donner, recevoir et rendre : L’économie familiale chez Marie NDiaye

Abstract

Contrary to the transactional nature of capitalism, family inspires images of relationships that are selfless and without the expectations of reciprocity. Thus, the family construct is often symbolized as an altruistic space and gift to its members. By analyzing Marie NDiaye’s play, Papa doit manger, I show that not unlike capitalism, family as an institution, reproduces similar dynamics of exploitation. If family is ascribed as a type of gift economy, it is not, however, a pure gift free from ulterior motives or without agenda. Rather, I argue that family tends to operate more like the archaic gift as examined in Marcel Mauss’ ethnographical essay, The Gift. In NDiaye’s work, as in Mauss’s work, the gift is never free. In my analysis of Papa doit manger, I posit that family engages in a system of exchanges. Consequently, this system is suggested as more insidious than capitalism due to its covert nature and exploitation of family relations requiring sacrifices of its members.