"Early the next morning the workmen began to gather in front of the gate to the workshops and the yards, preparing to return to work. out of the old habit, they grouped together almost automatically, according to their various trades and their separate crews. There were still many who were not there, those who had not yet returned from the villages, but the old atmosphere, the familiar framework of the past, was swift in re-establishing itself. A noisy, celebrating crowd thronged the adjoining streets and squares; the cohort of beggars, thinner than before, waited for the daily distribution of soup; and the flies and the dust were back. The great iron gates were still closed, and there were two soldiers standing guard, but no one paid any attention to them"(Pages 243-244).
In this paragraph we can see that life is returning to the past. The men, the workmen are ready to return not only to work, but to their previous ways of living. The strike progresses and the French management decide to cut off the men that are on strike from the local access to water and they pressure the local merchants to not sell them any food as well. This shows that the men who were once the providers for their families must step aside and they must rely on their women. In the above paragraph we see the men finally going back to where they feel they should be, working to provide for their families. The men are eager to start working and are eager for their women to return to their traditional roles. But the growing hardships that the families faced only strengthens their resolve, especially that of the women. Some of the husbands that considered faltering are forced into resoluteness by their wives. In fact, it is the women who defend themselves with violence and clash with the French, not the men. The men were not willing to put up the good fight as the women were, all they want is for the past to re-establish itself but with better treatment and with better wages.
I believe the men were afraid of how much more strength the women had than them. The women realized that they were the ones that were able to stand up to the white men who were carrying guns and they were the ones who were able to assert themselves in their homes and villages, and make themselves a part of the decision making process in their communities. The awaking process begins with the strike, and it enabled the women to see themselves as active participants in their own lives and they saw the influence they possessed in their society.
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3 comments:
Interesting what you said: "I believe the men were afraid of how much more strength the women had than them." I wondered about that through much of the novel. The men don't come right out and acknowledge the women's strength, but clearly they're aware of it and uncomfortable with it. A good example of that is when the men at first protest the women's march. I find it interesting, too, that Bakayoko openly respects and encourages the women's strength in front of the other men as if to open their eyes to a new future.
Also, I wonder what will happen after the strike is over and the men and women resume their traditional roles. The women have changed so much. How will that change their relationships with their men, with society, with each other? I wonder how their newfound strength, too, will change the way they parent their female children.
Keli,
I also wonder what will happen after the men go back to work. Will the women go back to their traditional roles? These women are ready for change and the strike only shows us that the strength these women have. I do believe that things will change for these women in the future, the men have to accept that their women have voices and that their opinions matter in their society.
What do you think it means to the community that the women take such a place of power? I was surprised that Sembene didn't more specifically address this aspect of the strike. It is true, the women take on the role of the providers. It is the women who find the food and water and who ultimately take to their own form of a strike in their long march. I took this as a response to Western society. Our culture values the men as the providers. In a stereotypical story about Western culture, if the men were not able to provide there would be huge issues to overcome. Here, however, it seems almost natural that the women would take over. In fact it seems almost for that very reason that Sembene doesn't address this issue. Perhaps his point is that this is accepted in the African culture. It would be interesting to read this novel again as a critique of the Western family system. Another point in favor of this reading is Isnard's wife who commits suicide. Clearly the Western culture has no place in Africa. Perhaps Sembene is arguing that it has no place at all.
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