Link To Prezi on Penda

http://prezi.com/vqepd93sqno9/penda/

We All Sell Ourselves One Way or Another

I made a separate post because there was another part of the book that I really liked. In the beginning of the second chapter we had to read when N’Deye Touti asked about Penda.

                “ ‘They say that the only thing that was never on top of her was the railroad. I just wondered how…?’

                ‘You will probably never be worth as much as Penda. And I know what she was worth. She was a real friend, and she lost her life because of it. There are great many ways of prostituting yourself, you know. There are those who do it because they are forced to – Alioune, Deune, Idrissa and myself all prostitute out work and our abilities to men who have no respect for us. And then there are others who sell themselves morally…’ ”

I really liked this except because it true, we all sell something of ourselves. Maybe we sell a part of our passion (sports, music, etc.) to do well in school. We spend our time doing homework, writing these blogs, and studing instead of doing what makes us happy. Then are we selling ourselves? One could argue you make those choices and that it’s for a greater outcome, but I don’t know. Just something to think about.

United We Stand

These past two chapters the untidiness of the Senegalese was astounding to me. In the beginning of the chapter, ‘DAKAR: The Meeting,’ the description of the Senegalese truly proves the hardships of the people.

                “Their bodies grew weaker and the lines in their faces were etched more deeply; but for many of them the ordeal they were passing though was taking on an even greater significance than the rites of initiation to manhood that they had undergone in their youth.”

I liked this passage because this expresses the importance of the strike to the Senegalese. This observation gets even more supported by the banners that the women were carrying;

                “EVEN BULLETS COULD NOT STOPS US”

This particular banner proves the determination of the Senegalese. As seen the God’s Bits of Wood, the bullets have yet to stop them. 

This strike has even more united the Senegalese by creating a strong society. Normally, when terror is present people unite by help thy neighbor. In God’s Bits of Wood Grandmother Fatou Wade told Bakayoko that she would be his mother because his died.

                “From today on, then, I will be your mother”.

These are just some of the places where I noticed the coalition of the Senegalese.

If you care to read another post from these two chapters I made another one because I wanted to talk about his quote that made me think.

I Guess I'm a Little Dissapointed....

Today in the discussion we obviously brought up the return of Bakayoko. During the discution someone brought up that Bakayoko had almost like a Jesus Christ persona. By that I mean this God like figure shows up and everyone is saved from their misery. (I am not sure if that is what Jesus is supposted to do, but I’ll go with it). Anyways, this observation was kind of like an “AHH HA!” moment for me because I was a little disappointed in Bakayoko’s return. I’m not sure if anyone else felt this way but I saw the chapter title: The Return of Bakayoko; I was so excited that this mysterious character was going to be revealed, this character who was mentioned so many times in the book as this amazing person. But, in the whole chapter he really didn’t make any profound remarks that left me going, ”yeah! I agree! GO PEOPLE OF SENEGAL”.  I think I was hoping for more of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech. Instead Bakayoko shows up at his uncle’s house and go to sleep and wakes up early in the morning. The meeting comes around and more or less he is told to shut him mouth, and then he gets violent. I was also kind of hoping for this really deep conversation with “A” because I always really liked what she had to say and he is her step-father. Oh also to sum up our reading, Penda dies, like really? One of the most amazing character in the book dies. More or less, this is really just me ranting on how disappointed I was. It wasn’t that I was expecting fireworks, but I was expecting SOMETHING (not totally sure what though :-/ ).

We Are The Future!

The book is well titled God’s Bits of Wood; in the beginning of the book we learned that God’s Bits of Wood are the children. A common phrase has always been, ‘Children are the future’, and it seems quite wise to have a book about change have a title having to do with children. Think of it this way, when the strike is going on, the Senegalese men (women too) are the front runners and the children are in the background. But the change that the men and woman are working for is for the children. In this chapter we finally get to see how the children are impacted by the strike. First they enjoyed the freedom because their parents were overwhelmed; they played in the trees, collected snakes, and talked about movies. But, as the mom begins to notice she casually recommends stealing the chickens. This is where the children take on more responsibility to help out the society. I always enjoy trying to connect things back into my life because then it became personable. The lack of parental guidance reminds me when my parents are just so overwhelmed with what to do, so as long as I didn’t ask for anything I could pretty much roam free. Eventually they realized that I could be helpful so they causally recommended that I try to help out. This sense of responsibility is important for it helps create the next generation of ‘God’s bits of wood’.

The Blind Woman and the Whore

Chapter eleven and twelve were quick chapters, but there was one scene that I found most interesting; the scene between the blind woman and Penda. First the characters are unique, because Penda is known as the town whore, whether she is or not is unknown. She is a tough cookie she has her attitude and does what makes her happy. The blind woman has a child, so she has to deal with the hardships of being a blind single mother, also being blind obviously has its challenges. But being blind lets someone create their own view of the world maybe that makes the world a slightly better place.  I think she sees the world in a brighter lighter because of her optimism. This is illustrated in the scene where Penda is trying to learn who the father of her kid is.

“…and then she [Penda] added angrily, ‘Men are all dogs!’

‘… Maimouna said, ‘I don’t think they are all dogs.’

‘If you could see their faces after they’ve had their fun with you, you would know.’

I don’t think that this comment makes her naïve, which one could have that impression. I think that makes her world a little bit more colorful. The dynamic of the two makes for an interesting scene. I enjoyed reading all of their conversations.

Fire, Water (and Rugby?)

The elements of fire and water have had different meaning for each society and group. When we were discussing how it represented it in God’s Bits of Wood. In God’s Bits of Wood fire was almost a way of survival, the fire was to impede the horses; therefore pacifying the French white men. Unfortunalty, this did quite the opposite effect, the French white men became enraged. The French men are treating the native Senegalese poorly, but as people always say; one can’t fight fire with fire, (as literal as that may be, currently). Water is one way that the French torments the Senegalese. In chapter nine it was interesting to see how fire and water was used to manipulate one’s needs.

When I was reading the book and we were discussing fire and water in class I thought about what I think about with fire and water; two things came to my mind. First, I thought about “Avatar: The Last Air Bender”, and simply how these elements control their livelihood. The main thing I thought about was my old Rugby team. Two of our plays were fire and water, the fire was the backs – swift and can travel quickly; water, the forwards – can push anything out the way and can be a tsunami when needed.

How do you picture fire and water in your mind?