During the interactive oral sessions, the novel evolved in my eyes from a narrative of the 1948 railroad strike in Senegal to an in-depth description of the colonial African society undergoing decolonization and transformation. These sessions led me to admire the thoughtfulness of the author, Sembène Ousmane, who expressed the conflicts between gender and classes in the society through various literary aspects. The causes for the success of the strike and the effect on the traditional African society are expressed through characterization, structure and description. Although the structure of the book is confusing because the chapters switches between characters and places, I learn that the vast amount of characters presented let readers understand the extent of the strike, and how characters with different cultural background are considered in the context of a society undergoing structural change.Discussion with peers and teacher on individualism in the novel marks the transformation of the African society because individualism is not a traditional ideal in African culture; rather a household is considered to be a unit in the society.
The structure of the novel reinforces this idea as the chapters are named after specific characters in different locations. Protagonists in the novel form a collective identity as the novel revolved around the railway, which serves as an element to unify and link different characters in the novel. I haven’t entertained the idea that the strike itself came to an end with some characters recognising and accepting their ancestral roots is to parallel the modernisation that took place in the society. And I have underestimated the amount spent describing women characters and their actions in the novel, which actually reflects their impact on the strike – the strike progresses as they continually fight for their families against the French. Thus, I now understand between how the conflicts between African traditional values and Western culture are depicted through the description of characters developing throughout the strike.
From the discussions, I understand more about individualism and the progress of achieving real freedom in relation to the author’s cultural background. The strike is a way for the workmen to protest against the French colonials’ control of technology, but they don’t resent Western ideology completely. Instead, the transformation of the society is in some way incorporating Western culture into their mind set.(Word Count: 382)The significance of N’Deye Touti’s identity in God’s Bits of WoodWritten AssignmentSembène Ousmane’s God’s Bits of Wood depicts the change in the French colonial African society where the oppressed Africans stood up and challenge the privileged, French. The characters and their interactions lead to the society’s transformation, especially the female characters’ role. Ousmane manipulates the character of N’Deye Touti to parallel her development from being westernized to finally accepting her African roots, to the society’s modernization of social structure.
They are both passages of discovering self-pride and identity, and Ousmane chose to express the idea of African and Western cultures coming together through a careful character construction of N’Deye Touti.Ousmane uses symbolism of clothes and books to epitomize the character N’Deye Touti’s change in opinion on African culture throughout the strike. The clothes and books mark her difference with the other women in the neighbourhood to be a Western educated woman with individualist aspirations. N’Deye Touti’s efforts in maintaining a polished outlook underlines her wish to resemble the clean and tidy French—“leaving the topmost buttons of her blouse opens, and pushing the sleeves up above her elbows, she adjusted her skirt and considered her sandals critically. They were too large for her small, well-shaped feet. She lifted her shoulders in resignation and picked a green, polka-dot foulard to wear on her head, knotting it carefully beneath her chin.
” [1]Her sophisticated and impeccable appearance contrasts sharply with the other women in the household, like Ramatoulaye whose “handkerchief around her head was soaked with sweat, and sand clung to her feet.”[2] Ousmane introduces her as a character with a striking Western appearance, and uses her prided book collection to symbolize her thirst for knowledge and reverence for western culture. “She had pinned snapshots and photographs from magazines everywhere…the table was littered with books.”[3] Not only is she westernised in her image, but also in her mind as well—“the reading she did, the films she saw, made her part of an universe in which her own people have no place.”[4] Ousmane contrasts N’Deye Touti’s colourful room decoration with the shabby compound N’Diayene, creating a clear division between her and the other characters in the household, with the books and clothing barring either party to enter the other’s world.
Ousmane develops the character N’Deye Touti through the deterioration of her fancy clothes, and burning of her books. The destruction symbolizes how she finally understands her efforts to be westernized is futile and eventually accepts her African roots. When N’Deye Touti overhears some white officers degrading her to be a prostitute, she is “ a strange sight. Her normally well-combed and braided hair was in wild disorder her eyes glittered angrily, and her clothing was disarranged and covered with dust.”[5] The incident indicates that she can never join the upper, French class in the society as a Black French woman. After Bakayoko rejected her to be his wife, she is “carelessly dressed and wearing a pair of old sandals and a hat that had long since lost its brim”[6] making her “…unrecognizable.
Her face was haggard and drawn, her clothing was plastered to her body with sweat.”[7] The clothes’ deterioration is a statement to the struggle N’Deye Touti goes through to realize her African identity, ultimately leading her to do household chores willingly. Ousmane brings out the theme that one should embrace their background, but also it is possible for the Western world and African cultures to come together. N’Deye Touti might be well educated about the Western world, but she can also fulfil her role as an African woman with her unique knowledge.
Thus, her transformation from adopting Western culture as her own to recognizing her African roots is symbolized by her state of clothing. This idea is further developed when she gave out the books to be burnt as a light source at the end of the strike. The burning process is a metaphor to burn her past ideals and start anew with an integrated identity.Ousmane does not consider N’Deye Touti a separate unit in the plot, but one that positively contributes to the unfolding of actions. Being educated gives N’Deye Touti the role as a public scribe: “it was hard to fill out tax forms, and write letters applying for jobs, and even love letter, for all of your family and friends without beginning to feel more and more remote from them”[8].
Although she is educated, she keeps her knowledge away from her own people because she feels incompatible with their ways of thinking. The books symbolizes her “colonized” mind which knows “far more about Europe than she did about Africa… never read a book by an African author—she was quite sure that they could teach her nothing.”[9] It is her means to isolate herself from the society, illustrating her dismissal and scorn for African culture. However, she negotiates between French and African women as translator, prompting her to reconcile with her own culture as she realizes she could never be on the French side. Ousmane reminds readers that she cannot deny her ethnic identity and is drawn into the strike like everybody else in the society.
N’Deye Touti holds African civilization in contempt because of “the lack of civilization”,often feels “a mixture of rage and shame” about “the level of these dwarfs”, and despises the polygamous marriages in the African society. This sentiment is magnified when she takes in pleasure in her neighbourhood being burnt down. However, she wants to pursue a polygamous marriage with Bakayoko over the bachelor Beaugosse. She is a vesicle for Ousmane to express how polygamous relationships provide communal energies of resistance and solidarity to the strike. This is evident when the entire African community comes together and strives for the common welfare.
The other women’s interdependence during the strike proves traditional polygamous relationship is an asset born from tight ties within the big, communal family, rather than an embarrassing custom. Ousmane demonstrates the strength of women characters in a male-dominating society through their march from Thies to Dakar, and their resolve in the face of hunger. They rise up to adversity with unknown determination, marked themselves as the men’s equals, and changed the social structure. Women are seen as resilient and a submerged power breaking through conventions, helping to change the political landscape in the African colony. The transition of the society contrasts with the journey taken by N’Deye Touti, who goes back to her African roots.
Ousmane deliberately drew parallels between the main plot and N’Deye Touti’s experience, conveying his idea that although society moving forward is necessary for improvement, people should not forget their origins.N’Deye Touti’s relationship with Bakayoko embodies the theme of education should be for the good of the society. Bakayoko stands for modernization and knowledge—“titles of book and names unrolled before her eyes and stopped for a moment at that of Bakayoko.”[10] Yet, his rejection of her proposal is an education for N’Deye Touti –she learns that as an educated person, she should contribute back to the society, instead of making it a barrier to her family. Bakayoko used knowledge to encourage positive change in the society, while N’Deye Touti use it to prevent her community from fending for its rights when asked to give her opinion on the strike.The rejection is a lesson of humility, but also a lesson for her to make self-validating and fulfilling life choices out of her knowledge.
N’Deye Touti’s dismissal of Beaugosse’s advances shows beyond doubt that she is not a materialistic person like Beaugosse. The fever symbolizes her retreat and self-reflection after being rejected by Bakayoko, acting as an emotion purge for her to overcome her self-pride and finally embrace her African background. The rejection paradoxically has a positive impact on N’Deye Touti, allowing readers to re-access the character as a person growing out of individualist aspirations to a selfless African woman who fetch water stoically for the household. Now,“everyone still called her ‘mad’mizelle’, but now there was admiration and affection in their use of the word.
”[11]In conclusion, Ousmane develops N’Deye Touti’s character to reflect changes in women characters’ roles in the West African society after the strike. Her process of embracing African identity is visualized through metaphors and symbols. She is an odd figure that contrasts with the other women characters: Ousmane presents her to be an educated, westernized character that seems to have no place in the traditional African society, but manipulates N’Deye Touti’s identity to make a narrative argument on integration of Western knowledge in a decolonizing society for the common welfare. He makes clear that one’s ethnic and cultural background can co-exist with their ideals and education, paralleling N’Deye Touti’s journey of self-discovery to the transition of the society from agricultural to industrial.
