Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Doubleday Anchor Books (1970), Paperback, 296 pages
Description
In 1947 the workers on the Dakar-Niger Railway came out on strike. Throughout this novel, written from the workers' perspective, the community social tensions emerge, and increase as the strike lengthens. The author's other novels include Xala and Black Docker.
User reviews
LibraryThing member charbutton
Sembene's most well-known work, God's Bits of Wood is set during the 1947-8 strike by the Dakar-Niger Railway workers who were demanding better pay, family allowances and pensions. We follow the men, women and children affected by the strike as the authorities' cut off their food and water
Sembene was himself a union organiser and member of the Communist Party in France. Because of this I expected a lot of politicised speeches from the book's characters. However, he tackles his subject in a much more subtle manner - the injustices of the colonial system are effectively conveyed without heavy-handed diatribes.
What struck me most was how the role of women in society changed during the strike because of the extreme situation they were in. At the beginning a girl is chastised by the women for going to the meetings where men were discussing the proposed strike, an unseemly place for a woman to be. By the end of the book, women were leading protests and riots and seem to have been much more active than men in organising militant action. I think this is because the privations of this time affected women much more - despite the food shortages they were still expected to provide for their families, and they were constantly confronted with the sight of their starving children or by not being able to produce enough milk for their babies.
The book also illustrates the ambivalence experienced by those who are colonised. The colonial power is hated, yet its language and customs are appropriated often by young people for whom they represent sophistication and a way to get ahead. A young woman in the book is proud of her ability to speak French but it ultimately leads to her humiliation as she can understand the lewd comments made about her by French officials.
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supplies. Ultimately the strikers were successful in forcing the railway company to negotiate.Sembene was himself a union organiser and member of the Communist Party in France. Because of this I expected a lot of politicised speeches from the book's characters. However, he tackles his subject in a much more subtle manner - the injustices of the colonial system are effectively conveyed without heavy-handed diatribes.
What struck me most was how the role of women in society changed during the strike because of the extreme situation they were in. At the beginning a girl is chastised by the women for going to the meetings where men were discussing the proposed strike, an unseemly place for a woman to be. By the end of the book, women were leading protests and riots and seem to have been much more active than men in organising militant action. I think this is because the privations of this time affected women much more - despite the food shortages they were still expected to provide for their families, and they were constantly confronted with the sight of their starving children or by not being able to produce enough milk for their babies.
The book also illustrates the ambivalence experienced by those who are colonised. The colonial power is hated, yet its language and customs are appropriated often by young people for whom they represent sophistication and a way to get ahead. A young woman in the book is proud of her ability to speak French but it ultimately leads to her humiliation as she can understand the lewd comments made about her by French officials.
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LibraryThing member cameling
An historical novel about the railway workers' strike on the Niger-Dakar Railroad, of the struggles between the railroad workers against their French colonial employers. Showcasing the poverty and oppression of the African workers and their families, the workers realize that they need to unite if
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they are to successful gain economic and social equality for themselves. This is a really powerful and lyrical work that is both disturbing as it is inspirational. Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
This novel is about the six month long strike by the workers on the Dakar-Niger railway in 1947-48. The narrative splits among three locations, Dakar, Thies, and Bamako, and is told from the viewpoint of multiple characters. We come to love these people and empathize with their suffering.
What is
While the book obviously makes a political statement, it does not rely on diatribe or polemic. It tells the story of a variety of individuals, their suffering and their courage. It makes for compelling reading. Highly recommended.
What is
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interesting about the novel is how the role of women in society evolved over the time period of the strike. Initially, the women have no role to play; as the food and money runs out, however, it is left to the ingenuity and skills of the women to provide for their men and their families. Ultimately, it is the march of the women from Thies to Dakar that causes the railroad company to concede to the demands of the strikers. While the book obviously makes a political statement, it does not rely on diatribe or polemic. It tells the story of a variety of individuals, their suffering and their courage. It makes for compelling reading. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member eairo
God's bits of wood (Jumalan puupalikat in Finnish) is set in 1948, in French Western Africa, now Mali and Senegal. It tells a realistic story of the strike of Dakar-Niger railroad workers. They are poor in the beginning, and their powerty turns into misery during the six month strike. But they
The story is set in three places, Bamako, Thies and Dakar, and it is told from the points of views of several characters. Their different situations and different attitudes to the strike. While most are wholeheartedly for the fight and the strike, some have their doubts and moments of weakness. Some of the don't even think the fight is right. They all are humans. This is convincingly conveyed. Mostly so: Bakayoko, the strongest of the strike leaders, becomes nearly a mythical hero; and the white characters are just bad or stupid, or both.
The role of the women is interesting. While the(ir) men play with big things and fight the big powers, the women still have to provide them and their children - food, support and an orderly home to come to. The harder this comes the stronger they become. They take their place and they make their voice to be heard: both the men in strike and the people with power are made to listen, loud and clear. Their long walk from Thies to Dakar to confront the company leaders finally becomes the act that turns the tide. Ather the march other worker's unions join the strike and finally ends it in their favor.
Everything doesn't turn good overnight, but in the end it is obvious that the first steps to the right direction have been taken.
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don't bend (or at least they don't break).The story is set in three places, Bamako, Thies and Dakar, and it is told from the points of views of several characters. Their different situations and different attitudes to the strike. While most are wholeheartedly for the fight and the strike, some have their doubts and moments of weakness. Some of the don't even think the fight is right. They all are humans. This is convincingly conveyed. Mostly so: Bakayoko, the strongest of the strike leaders, becomes nearly a mythical hero; and the white characters are just bad or stupid, or both.
The role of the women is interesting. While the(ir) men play with big things and fight the big powers, the women still have to provide them and their children - food, support and an orderly home to come to. The harder this comes the stronger they become. They take their place and they make their voice to be heard: both the men in strike and the people with power are made to listen, loud and clear. Their long walk from Thies to Dakar to confront the company leaders finally becomes the act that turns the tide. Ather the march other worker's unions join the strike and finally ends it in their favor.
Everything doesn't turn good overnight, but in the end it is obvious that the first steps to the right direction have been taken.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
God's Bits of Wood has multiple layers. At face value it is a story of a Western African 1947-8 railroad strike. The story focuses on several key players but the most important individuals are Ibrahima Bakayoko, a locomotive engineer who becomes the union leader during the strike, and on the other
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side of the conflict, Dejean, the French colonial manager. Because the story takes place in several different areas (Bamako, Thies and Dakar) the overall impact of the strike is generalized to a population. The story reaches past an African railroad strike in order to analyze clashes that go beyond worker/employer relations. The social economic and political contexts are analyzed and illustrated. It is more than a description of the initiatives of the railroad workers versus the initiatives of the colonial administration. Feminists have a field day with re-imagining gender relations as the women of West Africa transform themselves into powerful members of society - the social function to the story as it pertains to Sengal and Africa as a whole. Show Less
LibraryThing member banjo123
[God’s Bits of Wood] by Sengalese writer [[Sembene Ousmane] was first published in 1960. It is about the Dakar-Niger railway strike on 1947-48. The book has a political message, but is more than that.
I read this book for the Francophone theme in the Reading Globally group. It was written in
“It was an afternoon in med-October, at the end of the season of rains, and as was the custom at this time of day the women of the Bakayoko house were gathered in the courtyard. Only the women. As they went about their household tasks they chattered constantly, each of them completely indifferent to what the others were saying. Seated a little apart, with her back against the hard, clay wall, was old Niakoro. “
I enjoyed reading this book. The style is accessible and I grew to really care about the characters and the outcome of the strike. This book enhanced my respect for early labor leaders: the suffering for the strikers and their families was intense, but they were able to persevere.
The role of women in a traditional Moslem society is one of the major themes of this book. Women and men live in parallel worlds, which is one of the reasons, I think, that polygamy can work. As the story unfolds, we see the women taking more power and becoming more active in the strike.
I read this book for the Francophone theme in the Reading Globally group. It was written in
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French, but feels less “French” and more African compared to some of the other books I have read from this challenge. Ousmane’s style reminds me of Achebe, with it’s focus on community norms and the community story, and in the concrete story-telling mode. For example:“It was an afternoon in med-October, at the end of the season of rains, and as was the custom at this time of day the women of the Bakayoko house were gathered in the courtyard. Only the women. As they went about their household tasks they chattered constantly, each of them completely indifferent to what the others were saying. Seated a little apart, with her back against the hard, clay wall, was old Niakoro. “
I enjoyed reading this book. The style is accessible and I grew to really care about the characters and the outcome of the strike. This book enhanced my respect for early labor leaders: the suffering for the strikers and their families was intense, but they were able to persevere.
The role of women in a traditional Moslem society is one of the major themes of this book. Women and men live in parallel worlds, which is one of the reasons, I think, that polygamy can work. As the story unfolds, we see the women taking more power and becoming more active in the strike.
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LibraryThing member jonbrammer
God's Bits of Wood paints a complex picture of a society in upheaval. The French colonists in West Africa try to hang on to their power and crush the railroad strike of 1948. The young men and women of Senegal rebel against both the French and the traditional ways of their elders.
My one complaint
My one complaint
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is that the French seem to be nothing more than caricatures, and Isnard's wife's Lady Macbeth moment at the end of the novel is needlessly melodramatic. Show Less
LibraryThing member Gypsy_Boy
The plot—a lengthy strike by railroad workers on the Dakar-Niger railway in the late 1940s against French colonial power—initially struck me as a story I couldn’t work up much interest in. I am extremely pleased to say that I was totally wrong. This may be the best of what I have read of this
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prolific author, a recounting of personalities, the day-to-day costs of a strike both psychologically and physically. Time and again, Ousmane brilliantly describes the struggle of the strikers’ families to eat, the political discussions of the strike leaders…even the behind-the-scenes plotting of the French. It is not a short work and yet I found myself sorry to turn the last page, wanting to know more about the stories of the people and of their lives. Ousmane’s writing is strong and his characterizations—particularly of the many women who play significant roles in the story—are excellent. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
French
Original publication date
1960
Physical description
296 p.; 6.9 inches
ISBN
0385044305 / 9780385044301