God's Bits of Wood Book Review -Francophone Literature

God?s Bits of Wood is a allegory ab issue a railway line imp puzzle out took say in Senegal which related to the strike in 1947 in history. The briny cause of strike is the dissatis eventions of the over travel condition and employee benefits. The strikers necessitateed the aforementioned(prenominal) benefits as a railway sprainer in Europe. They try to win back their benefits, such as the annual give vacations, family allowances and the pensions from the European employers (wmich.edu). Through the oppose between the Afri end strikers and their European bosses, this novel visualizes the awakening of the immature nationalism of West Africa flock and foreshows the independent of Senegal. One cardinal occasion I want to point forth from the novel is the actions between tradition and treacly development in the order of magnitude, besides the unlike opinion for the natural applied science between the elders and new genesis during that time. low is the tillage conflict, Niakoro, the female elder who has neer accepted any matter from the west. In her opinion, the conflict between the Bambra and the cut is touch on through oral communication. She express in the book, ?I contemplate in never envisiond of a white soldiery who had contained to discourse Bambara, or any some other verbiage of this country. But you vagrant volume depend lone(prenominal) of acquirement his, while our language dies.? She is the prime(a) person in the book to make a weft between African and french cultures. According to Aguiar, ?Her determination to plow whole Bambara exemplifies twain her traditional pride and her anticolonialist stance.? An modelling of this is when her granddaughter wheel spoke one word of French, and she was mad and disappointed. Besides the culture difference, the different attitudes toward the new technology and the appliance of the two extension ar overly a nonher grand issue. regular in kindle of appear ance the older generations, different opinio! n occurred. Elders wish considerably Niakoro, did non like the changes in the society and some other Elders like Mamadou Keita, is diffident whether the new cable car is sincere or not. However, the difference is that Fa Keita believed that citizenry should learn new thing and he accepted the fact that the fibres of elders ar changing in the society. He said to Niakoro in the book, ?Even we old people moldiness learn, and recognize that the things people discern today were not born(p) with us. No, knowledge is not a hereditary thing.? What he meant is that, learning new things is not a bad thing because e rattling one born without knowing anything, once we learned, we own. In addition, I want to communion close to the opinion of the junior generations, which represented by the attractor of the strike, Bakayoko. He and the people who serve with him think that they should learn more nigh the machine because they think the new machine is the hold out hope. He said in the book ?The kind of humans we were is dead and our only hope for a new manners lies in the machine, which knows uncomplete a language nor a wash? (76). In Bakoyoko?s mind, the new machine is the only thing they can work with that did not c atomic number 18 somewhat their guide and color. other railway worker Tiemoko also said: ? except the engines we run demonstrate the truth, and they dont know the difference between a white man and a black (8). This truth is the equivalence of freedom with objectivity rather than liberation through racial solidarity. The machine, which treats everybody the same, is also determinen as a symbol of resistance a impinge onst colonialism in the strikers mind (Aguiar). Bakoyoko also stated that,?We are driving a claim garbage down the track, and ahead of us we think we see an obstacle which makes us afraid. Are we going to founder the match and say to the passengers, I cant go any farther; I think in that location is something up ahe ad that frightens me? No?we are responsible for the ! drop behind, and we must go forward and bugger off out if the obstacle authentically exists.? (175)In my opinion, Bakoyoko wants to tell other people the future(a) is lying ahead on the tracks. Even though they did not know what is going to find oneself in the future, it is the only line up that they can find it out by learning and employ the new machine. That is why the younger generations see the new technology and the machine as a good thing and limit their hope into them. Another thing which I think is important to discuss about is the relationship between the train and the French language. First, the arrival of the train is very similar to the French language that came with the colonizers. Same as putting French in the raising system and rip student to learn the language in separate to study, the workers gift to learn about the new machine in govern to find a job. Besides, both the train and the language were from the west, which are new to the people compare to wha t they have originally known. On another hand, there is a jumbo difference between the language and the train. Like Bakoyoko stated early, machine did not know the difference of race, color or language, still the language did show the difference of nationalities and race. Finally, I want to public lecture about women?s role in the novel. According to Gyasi ?It can be said that if the strike is the brainchild of the laborer Bakayoko, the women are very the motivational force behind its success?. In this novel, the strikers gain powerful allies from the women. Without the helps of women, this strike won?t be succeed. In the beginning of the novel, the women did not know the flesh out of the strike, they were only supporting the man by staying home to meditate care of the children and to find victuals.

Only the Adjibidji, the daughter of Bakayoko?s decedent brother have shown interest in the strike and blast her grandfather to take her to a meeting. However, later in the story, the women became more and more involved in the strike due to ? yearning out? plan from the French management. The French administrators decided to snap the strike by cutting off the local lecture of water and food. Therefore, women became a more important role in the family since they are the one usally go out to find food and feed the families. Soon after the ?starve out? plan, the women started to act in the strike and to see themselves as an active strikers. It is the outgrowth time the women knew that they can make a difference not only in their own lives, and also in their society. It is also the first time they began to make themselves as a part of the decision making processes in their communities. Among the women, Maïmouna, the sendup cleaning lady, who always sings and give advice to the other women. In my opinion, she is a very important character in the story. According to Gyasi, ?She is the only woman who appears throughout the novel: she appears early and is the last function we hear at the end?. The novel described her as this, ?Even the men were beginning to complain. Only Maïmouna, her tyke strapped crossways her back, walked steadily, humming one of her endless refrains.?(200). She has the strength from both privileged and outside. Even though she is not the leader of the women?s march, her render give the courage to the women to keep going, and not send away until the concluding victory. In the story, Oumane shows the role change of women in the society and near of all, he show people ?a dry land in which women will be seen? (Gyasi). In conclusion, I discussed the respectful conflict in the story, the dif ferent opinion from the two generation and the role o! f women in the society. This is not a novel about an singular man or woman?s strengths and achievements, but the federation as a whole. From the people involve in the strike, we learn that we can achieve anything if we working hard and work together with each other. Work CitedAguiar, Marian . Smoke of the Savannah. MFS new(a) prevarication Studies 49(2003): 284-305. Gods Bits of Wood. colonial and Postcolonial. JULY 2001. Western Michigan University . Gyasi, Kwaku . From Gods Bits of Wood to experience Charcoal. French Colonial History 5(2004): 173-191. Ousmane, Sembene. Gods Bits of Wood. Heinemann, 1995. Scott , Cynthia. Gods Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane. Colonial and Postcolonial. 18 September 2006. Associated Content. . If you want to get a effective essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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