God’s Bits of Wood

This phrase is both the title of the book and a reference to individual human beings. The term is used to describe Houdia M’Baye’s nine children, rendered fatherless when their father is killed in strike-related fighting. The author tells us that bringing nine of “God’s bits of wood” into the world had “made her dull and listless” (51). The imagery lends itself to a number of interpretations. From a spiritual perspective, one might consider the metaphorical representation to involve God as the primary life force, the living tree from which all future generations are born. Physically, trees would have been as depleted by lack of access to water as the human population is over the course of the strike; therefore, the production of future births, or “bits of wood,” would be less likely.

Baobab trees figure heavily into the narrative of the young apprentices, three of whom die after being shot by the railway manager, Isnard, in what he perceives to be an act of self-defense. When the young men are initially left without work due to the strike, they congregate in a spot outside the village shaded by a baobab tree. It is there that they devise the idea of using slingshots to hunt lizards, and eventually use them to smash glass in the French community. Conversely, cade trees stop some of the women on their march to Dakar, as superstition associates them with suffering and death. 

The ram, Vendredi, is the pet of Mabigue, Ramatoulaye’s egotistical, self-absorbed brother. Mabigue refuses Ramatoulaye’s request for assistance in obtaining store credit to feed her family, at which point she says that she will kill the ram if it enters her house again. When the animal does so, and destroys the meager food stores left for the children, Ramatoulaye kills him and boils the meat to feed the children. The battle between the woman and the animal is as vicious as that of the French colonial forces and the natives: “Vendredi […] charged. His horns and head seemed to bury themselves in Ramatoulaye’s body” (67). The fact that the self-sacrificing woman prevails in this conflict is a harbinger of the eventual victory of the strikers. The dichotomy between the care and affection lavished upon the ram by Mabigue and his ability to ignore the starvation of children is dramatic. The superficiality of Mabigue’s character is emphasized by this pet, as is the fact that the ram’s actions lead to destruction, rioting and death.