46 pages • 1 hour read
Ousmane SembèneGod’s Bits of Wood
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1960A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “BAMAKO Ad’jibid’ji”
The book begins with the introduction of Niakoro, the frail, elderly mother of the protagonist, Bakayoko, the union leader at the timeof the 1947 railway strike in French colonial Senegal. While Bakayoko does not appear until later in the novel, he is alluded to consistently, and the significance of the other characters correlates directly to the intimacy of their relationship with him.
Niakoro is possessed of a countenance that “had the serenity which comes to those […] at the end of a hard and virtuous life” (1). She is an ethereal presence, observing the chatter and activities of the younger wives residing in the compound; while she absorbs everything, she comments infrequently.
Niakoro is concerned about talk of a railway strike by the husbands of the young women, and she recalls that the last strike led to the deaths of her husband and one of her sons, as well as the physical relocation of another son, Ibrahim Bakayoko, due to his union activities. Niakoro ruminates upon her present state, upset that none of the younger people have called upon her wisdom regarding the advisability of a strike. She attempts to remain occupied, and Assitan, Bakayoko’s wife, heats an iron in the fire, so that Niakoro can decorate designs on gourds.
Assitan’s daughter, Ad’jibid’ji is an intelligent, strong-spirited young girl who reveres Assitan and the work of her stepfather in the union movement. Ad’jibid’ji attends meetings with the men contemplating the strike. Niakoro, who considers herself to be of noble descent, is upset when the child speaks to her in French, the language of the white man. She recounts the suffering and shootings involved in the last strike and implies that a young girl should be tending to domestic tasks rather than political activities; nonetheless, the enthusiasm of the young idealist Ad’jibid’ji remains undeterred.
Fatoumata, a wife in the clan, sends Ad’jibid’ji to the union meeting to obtain money, at which time the child observes a speech made by Mamadou Keita, a revered elder, in which he counsels thoughtfulness and tolerance on the part of the workers prior to any impulsive decision-making. She also witnesses Tiémoko, an aggressive union organizer, who days that “We’ll take care of the traitors!” (10).When Ad’jibid’ji and her step-grandfather, Mamadou Keita, return home, he advises her that the strike will be short in duration.
Chapter 2 Summary: “THIÈS The City”
This chapter opens with a description of the general deterioration and decay present in the Thiès, a poverty-stricken city, and juxtaposes it with the better living conditions afforded those able to obtain obsolete railway cars as shelter. It is clear that the railway reigns supreme, impacting every area of life, including the air, as the “land itself lay buried in a thick coating of black dust spewed out by the locomotives” (13). The railroad workers experience trepidation as a result of their decision to strike. Samba N’Doulougou, a pro-strike office worker, advises the group that it is now too late to reverse their decision. Bachirou, an office worker who opposes the strike, counsels that further consideration of the repercussions of a strike might be wise, and the two men argue.
Sembène provides a description of the marketplace that the men pass en route to work. Dieynaba is a patient, philosophical character who merely waits for workers to buy her porridge-filled gourds. The neighboring stall is occupied by Maimouna, a young, blind woman who is the mother of infant twins and sings old ballads while awaiting customers. Some sense of prescience alerts her to the presence of Samba, and she advises him against touching the children. This foreshadows the tragedy that occurs by the end of the chapter, when one of Maimouna’s twins crawls away and is killed in a strike-related fracas between the soldiers and the workers. More controversy occurs as the men approach the worksite, and the tension builds. Sounkaré, a watchman, opposes the decision to strike, while Samba continues to stoke the crowd. Boubacar, a pro-strike worker, threatens the anti-strike Bachirou, stating that “If you ever try anything, I’ll kill you” (20).
In the background, a “thudding of boots and clash of metal” (20) signals the arrival of the soldiers sent to squelch the workers and melds with Maimouna’s singing. The union delegates arrive and the troops attack, resulting in “cries of rage, of pain and of fear” (22). A soldier pursuing Bachirou crushes the head of Maimouna’s missing toddler. Dieynaba, the serene porridge vendor, seeks to hand the anti-strike Bachirou a rock with which to assault the militia; however, he runs from the crowd.
Chapter 3 Summary: “THIÈS Maimouna”
The striking union members reunite after the clash with the militia. Doudou, the union organizer, is apprehensive, and resists making a statement to the workers, realizing that the union is now established, and worrying about “how it would function” (25). Railway management makes it clear that they will not negotiate, and the conflict the day before has resulted in eight deaths and a significant number of wounded. No trains are running, so Bakayoko will not arrive in the city within the near future.
The author paints a poignant image of the blind Maimouna groping her way through the market to search for her missing child, while clutching her remaining child. She is unaware that the missing baby’s body was removed with the other dead victims. A young man, Magatte, arranges an escort for the blind woman to Dieynabe’s house, where a temporary infirmary is set up. Dieynabe cleans her wounds and cares for the remaining infant.
The chapter shifts to the office of Monsieur Dejean, regional director of the railway. Dejean, a former clerk, achieved his promotions as a result of having crushed an attempted metalworkers' strike in 1938. His promotion to director is the result of his having cooperated with the Vichy government during World War II. He responds to questioning in a phone call with a superior in Dakar by denying that any deaths occurred in the riot, advising against the railway supplying family allowances and implying that the best weapon available to the railway is starving the native workers and their families. In a meeting with subordinates, Dejean learns that Leblanc, an idealistic young manager, feels that “many of the natives didn’t approve of the strike” (31). In contrast, Isnard, a corrupt manager, suggests either buying off the union leadership or supporting the formation of a rival union.
The strike starts in Thiès, and hunger abounds. European workers arrive to drive the trains, and soldiers man the stations. The workers seek emotional support from their wives, who are central to the survival of the family during the siege. The women are increasingly important to the story: they mature, evolve and overcome their traditionally-acquiescent attitudes in order to procure food for their children.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
The railway workers wield far more power than they may realize. The Dakar-Niger Railway connected the port city of Dakar with the Niger River, and was imperative to the economic functioning of the colonial powers and native Africans alike. The social repercussions of the strike exceed the economic consequences to the area, as African women rise up to engage in physical confrontations with disloyal workers, as well as members of the military sent to quell the revolutionary spirit.
Sembène uses his female characters adroitly, and in order to synthesize the social upheaval that is taking place at this time. Specifically, he introduces Niakoro, a grandmother who rejects social change and feminine autonomy; Assitan, wife of the revered union leader Bakayoko, who maintains her unassuming, modest presence; and Ad’jibid’ji, Assitan’s forward-thinking, intellectually curious young daughter, who both reveres tradition and seeks to escape its confines.
The development of the plot revolves around the characters and their involvement in the strike, which creates both heroes, such as the eloquent and measured Mamadou Keita, and cowards, such as Bachirou. Recurrent images pertaining to the desolation of the landscape, the ever-present sense of hunger, and the spiritual depletion of the area are used to convey a sense of hopelessness. Harsh colonial railway administrators such as Dejean are juxtaposed with the strong, philosophical Maimouna, the young blind mother who loses a child to the violence of the strike.
