Ever since they left Thies, the women had not stopped singing. As soon as one group allowed the refrain to die, another picked it up, and new verses were born at the hazard of chance or inspiration, one word leading to another and each finding, in its turn, its rhythm and its place. No one was very sure any longer where the song began, or if it had an ending. It rolled out over its own length, like the movement of a serpent. It was as long as a life. –192 Semben Ousmane God’s Bits of Wood
Throughout God’s Bits of Wood, the position of women shifts from the acceptance of their traditionally oppressive roles and culminates into a unified battle against this oppression, which this passage depicts. Though their battle is not for the struggle of women alone, their activism in the face of oppression unites and unifies their strengths, which the men on either side of the fight (the Europeans and the Africans) can no longer deny.
Contextually, the placement of this passage is significant and can be found as the women are marching for days and nights without end to Dakar in an effort to fight alongside the strikers for the equal rights that the Europeans have unfairly denied them. It is in the face of hardship, hunger, thirst, and exhaustion that the women “had not stopped singing”.
The nature of the singing is symbolic of a fight for change and the fight for the recognition of the humanity that has long been denied to their people. Though the women were often thought to lack strength enough to fight for themselves, their continued singing while facing these hardships challenges these restrictive and oppressive boundaries. The singing not only presents their strength, but also represents the faith they have in each other as a unified front, that with “one word leading to another and each finding, in its turn, its rhythm and its place,” the fight for equality would never die, only be “picked up” by another. It is the song itself, representative of their activism, that Ousmane describes to be as “long as a life” that will ultimately live to challenge and disassemble the patriarchal system imposed upon them by the Europeans (which they are outwardly fighting) as well as the systems of oppression that exist within their own culture.
Though there are moments in the novel where the singing is subdued or even stops, it is always picked up again. In fact, the novel ends with Maimouna, the blind woman, singing. Ousmane ends the novel in this way to present the fundamental changes that have taken place. By the end, not only have the woman challenged the patriarchal system and redefined their roles, but will also continue to do so perhaps with “new verses” and new songs to sing.
Notice that it's a woman on the cover >>
Hey Crissy! I found your post to be really interesting and it just made me think of a few things. I had never really noticed the singing before. When reading your post I could not help but think about the power of song, and how it made so much sense that the revolutionary women in the novel would turn to singing when feeling down or rejoicing.
ReplyDeleteI know that when people are feeling a little panicky or are scared they tend to turn to singing to slow down their heart rate and calm themselves. At same instance when one needs to find a way to be empowered and get themselves pumped up they also sing. Therefore, singing really is a cure all. In addition, when singing I know that one gets much of the power to belt out a good note from way within the stomach which I think really paralleled with where the women had to find their strength in their tumultuous times. They had to look deep within themselves and find their strength. So technically by singing they are calling out for their strength. I just found that super interesting and really clever of Sembene to sort of put that in the background.
Crissy, I also agree with your post. Another instance of singing that was pretty strong to me was in Sia: The Dream of the Python. I don't remember the exact location of the scene but it was when the lady who was cooking soup(?) started singing about the injustices that the higher powers bring down on the village such as sacrifice of the young, abuse of power, civil unrest, etc. It was very powerful because we saw images of the daily lives of the villagers in contrast to the soldiers marching around in their manhunt for Sia. To me, it was also a fight for recognition of humanity. Sia is forced to give up her life just because of the whims of the cult of python god cult. And the python god turns out to be non-existent! I also saw how singing could bring out unity among the people. Society dictates that they are weak or powerless. So though it may be hard to sing during times of struggle or pain, the songs have a power to bring people together to one cause and challenge the oppression. I like how they "picked up" each other through song. Even though most people that witness it might just see people casually singing together, it is much deeper. It's a very simple phrase but in this case, it speaks volumes.
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