Seated at the end of a long path, almost completely concealed by a black veil, Ourika, a young black nun, awaits a doctor. She is dying - not from typhoid or any other contagious disease - but from a losing battle with lingering and sharp depression. Claire de Duras's novel, Ourika, relates the story of a black girl raised in French society by the Mme la Maréchale de B, an aristocrat. At a young age, she becomes abruptly conscious of her race when she overhears a conversation between Mme de B. and her friend. She falls into a depression from which she never recovers. The black veil outwardly and appropriately conveys the inner Ourika, who hides her troubles from those who would help her and likewise hides from her own feelings of adoration for Charles, the Mademoiselle's grandson. .
Until Ourika overhears the conversation held between Mme de B. and the marquise, she understands nothing about the social implication of being a black woman in a society of white people. As a little girl, she forms her identity and accepts her own worth based upon what is presented to her in her life - affection, education, and love by those surrounding her, namely Charles and the Mme de B. and her social circle. "I didn't regret being black,"" she says, "I was told I was an angel- (9). She has unrelenting faith in her mistress, and lives to please her. .
Ourika gives herself to those that influence her, including Mme de B. Without a strong sense of self-worth, she takes other people's estimations of her immediately to heart. She accepts others' words as truth and assimilates them into her own outlook on life. Her turmoil begins when she overhears the marquise ask Mme de B., "What do you intend doing with [Ourika]?- (12). Mme de B. responds, "I see the poor girl alone, always alone in the world- (12). For a girl of only fifteen years, such remarks are devastating. "Lightning does not strike more swiftly,"" Ourika laments, as she realizes that being black means being forever other than the rest of her societal world (12).
