Summary
When union workers grow tired of unequal treatment by the toubabs, they stage a strike. But will their newfound protest last amid starvation and tragedy?
Overview
I want to start by saying that while reading this book, I found it both enjoyable and highly enlightening because of its historical depth. The characters were also amazing. Sembène Ousmane uses a rare yet powerful style of writing by centering his story around different characters instead of one main protagonist. Each character represents unique abilities, struggles, and realities within colonized Senegal and under the oppression of the toubabs. They each show how their efforts, no matter how small or big, shape the story and contribute to the final outcome of the strike.
By writing in this style, Sembène Ousmane brings out the African communal way of life—how people lived collectively, the challenges that came with that, and the undeniable strengths of such a way of living. This is what, in my opinion, sets this book apart from other African literature I have encountered.
However, I was disappointed that some of the characters I thought deserved more room were only shown between the lines or in a few paragraphs. These characters embodied harsh realities of colonialism and its effects.
Particularly N’Deye Touti, who embodies the conflict between identity and the effects of colonization. She is a young Black woman trying to find her own place in her own home. She is deeply conflicted and battles her dislike for what she sees as the “savage” behaviors of her own people because of their lack of what she has come to understand as civilization.
There is a scene where women squat in the open to relieve themselves, and while the toubabs watch in disgust, N’Deye Touti watches in shame. She lives in a world she wishes to be far removed from because the people in her own home do not understand her, and neither does she understand them. Nothing in her community seems to interest her.
“Now, as she approached the gate in the wall around N’Diayène,
she suddenly remembered the day when she had experienced for
the first time what she called her own ‘approach to civilization’. It
was during her first years in school, at a time when she used to keep
a diary, which she had long since torn up, because ‘nothing really
interesting ever happens here’.”
Another major conflict within her is one of the heart. She wants to be Bakayoko’s second wife, and the thought of him awakens her desires. Yet Bakayoko is a Black man who does not believe in polygamy, and N’Deye Touti repeatedly tells herself that she cannot share her man with another woman.
In this emotional conversation with Beaugosse, the contradiction in her desires becomes clear:
“Now, wait a minute – let’s not go so fast! I told you I like you,
and I do. You’re a very handsome boy … but let’s wait a little while.’
‘Wait for what? Until he comes back?’
‘You’re being stupid … but I have to see him again.’
‘To find out if he wants to marry you?’
‘He is against polygamy, too.’
‘Well, then … is he going to leave his wife?’
‘From what I know of him, it would surprise me very much if he
did.’
‘But if he doesn’t want to leave his wife and he doesn’t want to
have more than one wife, and you won’t share him with anyone else
anyway – then what? You are really confused!’”
This scene represents a major internal conflict that I thought the author should have explored more deeply.
Another character who kind of vanished along the way, despite starting out strong, was Ad’jibid’ji. She is a bold young girl with a great zeal to learn. I was eager to see what would happen to her throughout the story, especially because she is bold for her age, reasons like an elder, and yet remains respectful.
Ad’jibid’ji’s interactions with Niakoro are both devastating and thought-provoking. Here is one part:
“‘Learning – learning what?’ Niakoro demanded, and there was
both mockery and sadness in her voice. ‘If I call you I am told not to
disturb you – and why? Because you are learning the white man’s
language. What use is the white man’s language to a woman? To be
a good mother you have no need of that. Among my people, who
are your father’s people, too, no one speaks the white man’s
language, and no one has died of it! Ever since I was born – and
God knows that was a long time ago – I have never heard of a white
man who had learned to speak Bambara, or any other language of
this country. But you rootless people think only of learning his, while
our language dies.’”
This part of the story was powerful because it exposed the harsh realities of the struggle between the toubabs’ language and native languages like Bambara and Wolof. Children in school are taught foreign ways and languages, causing them to abandon their own, yet the reverse is never expected.
On another level, I very much enjoyed the book overall. Characters like Bakayoko, who emerges as the central force of the novel, instill hope in the reader, as he did in me. He drives the strike, and his resilience and boldness inspire the union workers to keep going despite tragedy, starvation, and the cutting off of water in the district.
The women of Thiès are also central to this story. When some stop singing, others join in, resuming or beginning the songs so that they almost forget where they started or ended. They do whatever they can to fend for their children while the men are on strike. But when there is no more chicken to hunt or rice to cook, the women, led by Penda, are born into a new idea: they will march to Dakar.
The question of who will stay behind with the children becomes central, highlighting the role of women in both resistance and caregiving. When a solution is found, the women begin their journey—a journey filled with hardship, confrontation, new truths, friendships, hope, and a realization of human endurance. However, as they enter Dakar, they meet resistance, and tragedy strikes.
Through his chosen characters, Sembène Ousmane captures important truths in God's Bits of Wood. Penda, though labeled a whore, stands out because she refuses to succumb to the labels placed on her. She challenges the other women toward a greater cause and leads them in the same. This shows that human beings have weaknesses, but instead of wallowing in them, leaning into one’s strengths can reveal just how powerful a person can be.
The author also lays bare the universal truth that oppression, though rooted in fear, can sometimes turn fear into resistance. This is well portrayed through the character Isnard and the events that unfold in his house.
Overall, this book is wonderful, well written, and a true page-turner. I could not stop reading as each character smoothly seeped into the next.
Recommendation
Do read God's Bits of Wood if you are interested in political liberation, the struggle for human dignity, and powerful female characters. This book reshapes the narrative around colonization and the price Africans paid for better treatment for themselves and those who came after them.
