God's Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène was one of the first Africa-related novels I read. Prior to that, the foreign novels I read were mostly by European or Asian authors. In these cases, the stories belonged to science fiction, fantasy or historical drama genres. Even when they fell into the latter category, none of them were as powerful as this particular one. True, I had merely been evading the other genres from these regions as opposed to not finding books with similar tones there. Whatever the case, I was pleasantly surprised to find a story with such a passionate tone of voice.

First things first, I must mention Ousmane Sembène. He is a bit of a legend in African literature. He wrote a number of stories that centered around colonialism and human rights abuses. His stories were particularly significant given that most of them were published during turbulent times in Africa. What was interesting about his novels was his treatment of the themes. The stories were always about the people and how they shape a country's soul. An when he talks about worker's rights and other such topical issues, he always connects this to the viewpoint of the people as opposed to taking a preachy academical angle.

GBoW is Sembène's most renowned book. The entire plot of the novel centers around a railroad strike in Senegal. The time period is 1940s and thus, the country is still under French control. Incidentally, the story is roughly based on a real life strike, one that was witnessed by the author. In fact, he took part in that movement and caught a glimpse of the various forces that were in play. In this way, this book covers the strike but is also an exploration of the various types of relationships that exist within this complicated community. Most importantly, it was a comment on the types of authority present in an African nation under colonial rule.

And that, to a large extent, explains how he presents his story. It leads up to the strike, one that will be groundbreaking for the people and their identity. To this effect, the movement is not just about frustration with one particular incident (i.e. discontent with the railroad works) but rather, was a culmination of a lot anger and bad feeling from a number of past grievances. Thus, the story follows the footsteps of a number of people. Many of them are local folk, particularly ones who are workers for this railroad project. There are of course others who are linked to these character and they are ones who reveal much about the social hierarchy present within the that community. All these folks are the bits of wood who join together or encourage one another for change. In this case, the strike epitomized the change.

What is most interesting about Sembène is his view of authority figures and social norms. Like I said earlier, he doesn't make preachy comments about what is right and wrong. What he preferred, instead, was analyzing the external and internal influences of various people. Thus he wonders how an African who is educated abroad would view his culture. He also prods at the generation gap between young and old folk where younger ones are more lenient about traditions whereas the older ones are more strict. Then again, he notes how the former is more open to change given how they have seen newer trends whereas the older ones have almost built-in need to respect authority. And, to some extent, he also questions the gender norms that are present in African societies.