God's Bits of Wood (AWS African Writers Series)

In 1947-48 the workers on the Dakar-Niger railway came out on strike. Sembene Ousmane, in this vivid, timeless novel, evinces all the color, passion, and tragedy of those formative years in the history of West Africa.

As the strike progresses, the French management decides to "starve out" the striking workers by cutting off local access to water and applying pressure on local merchants to prevent those shop owners from selling food on credit to the striking families. The men who once acted as providers for their family, now rely on their wives to scrape together enough food in order to feed the families. The new, more obvious reliance on women as providers begins to embolden the women. Since the women now suffer along with their striking husbands, the wives soon see themselves as active strikers as well.

The strategy of the French managers, or toubabs as the African workers call them, of using lack of food and water to pressure the strikers back to work, instead crystallizes for workers and their families the gross inequities that exist between them and their French employers. The growing hardships faced by the families only strengthens their resolve, especially that of the women. In fact, some of the husbands that consider faltering are forced into resoluteness by their wives. It is the women, not the men, who defend themselves with violence and clash with the armed French forces.

The women instinctively realize that women who are able to stand up to white men carrying guns are also able to assert themselves in their homes and villages, and make themselves a part of the decision making processes in their communities. The strike begins the awakening process, enabling the women to see themselves as active participants in their own lives and persons of influence in their society.

This book is wonderful yet sadly under-appreciated. Ousmane's handling of issues such as the politics of language, indigenous resistence, the cultural costs of forced industrialization, and the changing role of women really has the power to change the way people think. And yet, maybe the book's reach and resonance are the reasons that God's Bits of Wood is not widely read and taught in schools.


"God's Bits Of Wood" a Transcendent Novel of Excellence   April 15, 2003
13 out of 16 found this review helpful

In Sembene Ousmane's "God's Bits Of Wood" there is a detectable apect of human rights that surpasses all distinction. He points out the dilemmas of a neo-colonial state without giving them the weight of the novel. This novel utilizes this historical event to show humans at their best. The book shows the power of humankind to become humane without compromise. He displays well his ideas on race, gender, and human rights but by the end of the book we are led to an even more enlightening state of thinking and existing, which is to live without hate, even those who hate you, "[...] you must not let hatred enter your heart" (191). This is truly a great message to give while expressing such a triumphant story and event.
The novel also seems to contain a little intertextuality with the poetry of Muyaka (a 19th century poet who composed orally in his native tongue of Kiswahili and never saw the effects of colonialism). This relationship is most notable after reading his famous poem "Seeing Is Believing" (Ua La Manga)
-I've seen a hyena and a goat keeping good company.
-Also a hen and a hawk bringing up their chicks together
-And a blind person showing peopl the way;
-This was not told to me, I obvserved it with my own eyes.
I see the relationship throughout this poem but specifically with the third line, since one of the leaders of "Gods Bits Of Wood" is a blind woman named Maimouna, "All of the women seemed to want to walk behind Maimouna [...]" (201).
Ousmane also confronts the question of African Literature, and whether it can exist any mediums other than indigenous African languages. Throughout the book, which was originally, written in French, Ousmane will say such and such said in French when the novel clearly is already in French, "and then, holding out his hand to the two whit men, he added in French, 'Good morning, gentlemen" (125). By doing this throughout the novel Ousmane implies that the original is truly not in French but only exists that way (and in its English form) to cater to us, almost in an act of charity. The lines from one of the main characters embody this greatly, "That is all I had to say, and I have said it in French so that he would understnad me, although I think this meeting should have been conducted in Oulof, since that is our language" (177). He has written his novel in French for the same reason that Bakayoko speaks in it, because unlike Bakayoko,(and Ousmane) the French despite being surrounded by Oulof never picked it up.
All in all Ousmane accomplishes creating literature that is worthy of the world reading it. Like so much of African Literature it is masterful, new and refreshing, but sad because it is not enjoyed as widely as it should be.


An epic, tense description of a struggle for recognition   April 6, 1999
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

A book of protest, made all the more relevant by the fact that it concerns workers from a universal vocation - the railworkers' industry. Epic in scope, yet founded in community values and beliefs, Ousmane articulates the protest brilliantly. What is also special is his portrayal of women as a force for change - especially considering the chauvinistic politics of Africa today.


Artistically masterful, politically profound.   February 24, 2001
Johannah Star Cutler (Binghamton, New York)
9 out of 13 found this review helpful

Truly one of my favorite novels. Sembene Ousmane vigorously engages the complex politics of post-colonial revolutionary struggle, while maintaining a humanistic artistic base of pure poetry. Also, Sembene Ousmane is one of a precious few male authors who creates dynamic, thinking, feeling female characters. Read this book--it's a gem.


Not really that long ago....   May 20, 2000
Melvin Strange (United States)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

"God's Bits of Wood", which turns out to be what the women of this seiged west african community call their newborn children, is a vivid and well written novel detailing a strike of african railroad workers around 1947. The French controlled the entire western part of Africa at this point and had established a stronghold of French Colonialism based out of Dakar on the west coast of Africa. The problem getting supplies and such to their more eastern regions. The west african railroad was built to allow them to do this. Workers were virtually enslaved natives. This novel concentrates on the entire sequence of events surrounding the workers revolt particularly emphasizing the role of the women in the upkeep of the workers families during this time.