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?

Women Driving the Fast Trains

The part of the book that has really caught my attention is gender roles. In class we have talked about how as the strike progresses that the gender role will also change. This becomes very prominent during the conversation between Ad’jibid’ji and her grandfather (the old one).

“‘Why do you always want to go to these mettings?’

‘I have to start learning what it means to be a man.’

The Old One had laughed until the tears came, shaking his head at the child. ‘But you are not a man!’

‘Petit pere says that men and women will be equal someday’”

This quote shows two things, that the roles of men and woman are changing, and that the younger generation is aware of it. Ad’jidid’ji is wants to do what is considered to be the role of the man, and she isn’t scared to be out of her comfort zone to do so.  In the future I can see her acting as a woman’s activist. Something that I thought was important to notice was her grandfather’s opinion on the subject of equal rights. Since he is part of the older generation, the idea that one day the gender of someone is not important is almost barbaric.

 What did you think about this conversation between Ad’jidid’ji and her grandfather?

Do you think that my generalization of the idea of the Grandfather is a stretch or realistic?

Children are 'God's Bits of Wood'

Authors choose their titles very carefully. The better known books have lightly obscure tittles. In American literature I think about: To Kill a Mocking Bird, Catcher in the Rye, or Animal Farm; all of these books have a title that is a little bit ambiguous to what the meaning has to do with the title of the book. God’s Bits of Wood is the same, where it’s not clear why Sembene Ousmane chose that title. In chapter four the reader learned the meaning of the title. This comes in context on page fifty-one when Houdia M’Baye is talking about her relationship with her husband and her kids (this goes back to gender roles). The narrator says, “She (Houdia M’Baye) had brought nine of ‘God’s bits of wood’ into the world, and her successive pregnancies had made her dull and listless.” (51) Through this passage the reader finally learns what the title means. ‘God’s bits of wood’ has to do with children. I find this analogy very fascinating because children are the way the world lives on and are so banal that one rarely pays attention how they (kids) are a gift from God.  I now also understand the cover of the book, which is of a Senegalese woman holding her baby. Before you read what the title meant what did you think it was about? What are some other books that come to your mind when you think ambiguous titles?

Gender Roles

In my previous post I looked at the similarities and differences between God’s Bits of Wood and Une Si Long Lettre. In chapters three and four I noticed some gender roles and how they have changed through the strike.  On page thirty-three, it talks about how in the Senegalese culture most of the time men have multiple wives. “In this country, the men often had several wives, and it was perhaps because of this that, at the beginning, they were scarcely conscious of the help the woman gave them”. This is the same as Une Si Long Lettre, I enjoyed seeing how two books from a culture very different to my own has similar story lines. The quote continues to say, “… he would seek the arms of his wife, without thinking or caring, whether she was the first or the third. Burdened shoulders, the listless walk, the woman become conscious that change was coming for them as well” (33-34). The chapter finalizes with a clarifying statement about the change about to arise; “And the men began to understand that if the times were bring forth a new breed of men, they were also bringing forth a new breed of women” (34). This final statement foreshadows evens that will occur in the upcoming chapters, what of, I don’t know yet, but I am looking forward to seeing the gender roles change as the time shall change.

Racism, Nationalism, and Pride!

As  I jumped into the reading of God's Bits of Woods I had some prior understanding of Senegal, and thier works (of writing). In the beginning ofthe year I had to read Une Si Long Lettre for French. Une Si Long Lettre focused on the thoughts of a middle aged woman and her feelings after the death of her husband. The social issues faced in the book were woman's roles in society, and polygamous relations.
Form the very start  it was known that the social issues being addressed in God's Bits of Woods are the racial tension, segregation, and hate (a very different issue in Senegal than of Une Si Long Lettre addressed). This hate is first seen on  page five when Ad'jibid'ji resonds to her Grandmother useing the french word, alors. Niakoro became angry and said, "alorss, aloss!... ...You speak to me, to your father's mother, and you say aloss! The white men say "aloss" when they call their gods, and my granddaughter talks to me in the same way!... ... I speak to you in Bambara, and you answer me in a language of savages!" This passage expressed Niakoro's abhorrence towards the French people, for they (the french) had taken her son and husband from her. The begginning of God's Bits of Woods gives a taste of the feeling that will arise throughout the book.
I am looking forward to seeing how the racism will prevode the native people of Senegal.