Stop picking on women! In Ruined, the biggest victims in the Congo civil war are the women. Sophie was “ruined” by being raped with a machete, shattering her internal organs. Salima was raped by multiple soldiers in a field against her will, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, when she finally got home, damaged and bloody, her husband beat her, kicked her out of the house and called her a slut, as if it were her fault and she invited the rape!
Thankfully, Mama Nadie had a brothel that kept women safe, provided they become prostitutes. Sophie and another girl, Salima were lucky enough to join Mama’s brothel because of Sophie’s uncle, who had to beg, plead and negotiate with Mama Nadi to take them into her brothel. Clearly if Sophie’s uncle pushed so hard to get them into the brothel, it must have been a good place to be.
In normal times of course it wouldn’t be ideal or lucky to join a brothel, but in wartime that is exactly what it was- lucky. Mama’s brothel saved their lives. She protected them and cared for them the best she could- for example, since Sophie was ruined, she acted as the singer instead of one of the prostitutes who sleeps with the soldiers. Mama Nadi also has a rule that the soldiers have to put down their weapons before coming in. The only time Mama Nadi forces the girls to do something they don’t want to is to avoid a dangerous situation, such as when a soldier was getting angry that Sophie wouldn’t sleep with him and Mama made Sophie give him oral sex to placate him and diffuse the situation.
I think it is much better for them to have joined the brothel because this is the safest they will ever be during war time. And yes, they’ll still be forced to have sex with the soldiers, but at least this time they’ll get paid and there are civil rules, such as no weapons or machetes. If they weren’t in the brothel, they would still be having sex with the soldiers anyway- they would be raped against their will with weapons and machetes, just like what happened to Sophie originally.
I also strongly disagree with people who criticize Mama for being an opportunist and taking business from soldiers on both sides. First of all, why shouldn’t she? It’s a business, and a customer is a customer, regardless of which army he is part of. Also, if Mama had been loyal only to one side and refused the other, she and her whole brothel would have been killed. She was only looking out for her and the girls’ safety. Especially during the wartime there were no men to care for and protect them, so the women needed to protect themselves and I think Mama Nadi did a remarkable job.
The only man who I felt a little bad for in this play was Fortune, Salima’s wife. Yes, he kicked her out of her home and cursed her after she was raped, but he genuinely seems to regret it and want her back. I know its not an excuse, and if I were Salima I would NOT go back to him, but I still felt bad for him as he stood waiting outside of Mama Nadi’s brothel for a few days in the rain, waiting to see Salima. He seemed to really love her and want her back. Unfortunately, there in no going back. And that’s one of the worst consequences of war. War changes everything- it changes people, it changes relationships and it changes families. Most families break up during war, and that’s what happened to Fortune and Salima. I do think it is partially Fortune’s fault, but he is partially a victim of war as well. He didn’t singlehandedly break up their family; war did.
The ending of Mama Nadi and Christian dancing together was this play’s version of a happy ending. Of course it wasn’t a completely happy ending- the war was still going on, Salima was dead, Sophie didn’t get her operation and Mr. Harari ran off without Sophie or Josephine (who always fantasized that she would run away with him). What made the ending “happy” is that it showed that things were looking up. Mama Nadi and Christian were dancing together and Mama Nadi found love even though she herself is ruined. This gives us hope for Sophie- yeah, Mr. Harari ran off with the diamond that was meant to pay for her operation, but she isn’t doomed. Now we can hope and imagine that Sophie will one day find love and happiness just like Mama Nadi, who is also ruined, did.
As a side point- although all this raping and discarding of women makes them seem insignificant and unimportant-meant to be used and discarded- it actually highlights how important women truly are. In the Congo they are matrilineal, which means that lineage depends on the mother- if your mother is part of a certain tribe, then the children are of the mother’s tribe. By the soldiers spending so much time trying to ruin the women, it shows that women were the most important and therefore they were the ones who needed to be destroyed. Once the women were destroyed, the tribe can be destroyed, but as long as the women are still alive and can reproduce, the tribe will live on, showing how important women are to the tribes’ survival.
