SOCIOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE AND AESTHETIC VISION IN
SEMBENE OUSMANE’S GOD’S BITS OF WOOD AND XALA
BY
PATRICK OLAJIDE BALOGUN
Department of Modern European Languages,
University of Ilorin.
Abstract
The issue of “Art for Art’s sake” was a dominant feature of world literature
in the classical period. A departure from the above persuasion is expressed by
the sociological study of literature, which addresses the question of what
literature could offer a society. The focus of this article is a discussion of the
relationship between literature and society and the influence of the former on the
latter. The relationship between literature and the African world is one of the
major concerns of African literature. African literature in its written form
becomes more popular with the African colonial and postcolonial experiences. It
is not a controversy to submit that the decolonization phenomenon and the
consequent independence of African states were accomplished through African
literature. This article examines Sembene Ousmane’s God’s Bits of Wood and
Xala within the purview of the sociological approach to validate our position on
the viability of African literature in moving Africa forward.
Introduction
It is possible to do a critique of African literature within the context
of diverse literary approaches. Such approaches could be archetypal,
sociological, psychological, moralist, anthropological etc.
The reference to African literature here is in the context of its written form.
African literature explores the realities of human condition in Africa
in totality and it speculates what is and what is not to be. In so doing, the
minds of the people are sharpened and sensitized towards qualitative
2
change. To achieve the above, the sociological approach to literature
otherwise referred to, as the sociology of literature becomes the most
plausible option. It is preferred because it embraces other approaches
earlier mentioned in this introductory paragraph. In other words, from
whichever perspective a critic analyses any work of art, the reference will
always be social. No society can survive without art. The artist is the
conscience of the society, he ensures the transmission of the sociocultural values and ascertains that the society does not degenerate and
disintegrate.
Thus, this article aims at identifying the features or characteristics
of the sociological approach to literature as epitomized in the two texts
being studied. Our intention is to discuss in practical and realistic terms,
the efficacy and potency of literature in transforming the society. In other
words, we are particularly interested in pointing out the relationship
between art and the society and the impact of the former on the latter.
To achieve this, we will discuss the social contradictions visible in
the Senegalese African setting as revealed by Sembene Ousmane in God’s
Bits of Wood and Xala. Again, the choice of the two novels is informed by
the fact that they both represent different epochs in the political history of
that socio-cultural milieu. Besides, those social conflicts revealed in the
texts cut across Africa during the political epochs they both represent. As
critics, we should not shy away from the social reality of the contemporary
African socio-political development and this is why the two texts are very
viable for this discussion.
Our focus in this article is a discussion of history and alienation in
God’s Bits of Wood and Xala”. This discourse in the context of these
concepts is also aimed at textual analyses of our texts of study. Our
emphasis is meant to validate the happenings in Senegal in particular as
exemplified in the two texts and in African socio-political setting in general
as exemplified in African literature.
3
Commenting on the viability of the women folk in revolutionary
literature, Ade Ojo (1986) in an unpublished paper sees the role played by
the women in the Dakar railway workers’ strike of 1949 in Senegal as
commendable and memorable in revolutionary aesthetics. It must be
noted that the strike was the historico-political event that gave birth to
God’s Bits of Wood. Interestingly and remarkably too, this same event
ushered in the political independence of Senegal. Validating our
submission, Ade Ojo observes that Ousmane uses the women’s trek as a
historic method of causing psychological embarrassment to a constituted
authority in a strike action. Consequently, political emancipation and
recognition of ethnic moves and values become inevitable.
In his own criticism of Xala, Bayo Ogunjimi (1985:129) sees ritual
archetypes as Ousmane’s aesthetic medium in the novel. He succinctly
observes that:
In Xala Ousmane employs ritual archetypes as
aesthetic means of exploring social physiognomy of
the age of imperialism and at the same time providing
a dialectical praxis against the manifest bourgeois
culture.
In the novel, Ousmane skillfully blends various cultural motifs. In effect,
this enables his creativity to prevent the society from collapsing.
‘Xala’ which is the source of the dialects and center of attraction in
the novel is loaded with variety of contents. Ritualistic – archetypal
subjects and cultural motifs like marriage customs; sex relationships,
religion and other social norms provide the novel with aesthetic force.
In Ogunjimi’s view, the adoption of ‘xala’ by Ousmane to provoke
dialectics in the novel is deliberate. The impotency (xala), which provokes
the conflict in the novel, is metaphorical. It paralyses the effort of the
individual in a dependently independent society like Senegal. It depicts an
aborted independence which neo-colonialism encompasses.
4
Hadji Beye’s impulsive desires and egoism produce the conflict,
which centers on him. In the novel, the ‘xala’ is single handedly suffered
by him because of his greed for wealth at the expense of the masses.
Though Beye’s experiences are pathetic, they are desirable in order to
transform the society.
Our position is strengthened by the belief that African literature
evaluates the African society based on the moral code derive from the
existing practices in the African world. For the purpose of emphasis, our
position in this article is that art and African literature in particular
should be committed to practical social realities. This view is aptly put in
the concluding two lines of Niyi Osundare’s unpublished dialectically
presented poem (1983). He says “Art shorn of the human touch is art for
ass sake”. This implies that literature is a depiction of social dynamics in
art form. The artist pictures his experiences in writing. Through this, he
educates his society. Adolfo Sanchez Vazquez (1973:113-14) says: “Art
and society are necessarily connected. No art has been unaffected by
social influences and no art has failed in turn to influence the society”. In
the same vein G.G. Darah (1987:7) opines: “the fact should be borne in
mind that in so far as literature is crucial in shaping the mentality of a
people, it is crucial in shaping their identity. Literature therefore, has a
role to play in shaping people’s consciousness”. Thus, literature should be
instrumental to the reformation of the society.
History, Alienation and Conflict in God’s Bits of Wood and Xala
The fundamental problem in these novels could be traced to
colonialism
and
neo-colonialism.
The
two
concepts
are
historical
contradictions, which emerge from capitalism. These contradictions
emerge owing to the capitalist motive of their peddlers. Also, they are allies
of imperialism and imperialism is capitalism in practice. It was the quest
for wealth and power in the world economy and politics that motivated the
nineteenth century European colonialism in Africa.
5
God’s Bits of Wood and Xala are concerned with the happenings –
social, political, economic, cultural, and even aesthetics in Senegal and
the novelist creatively exposes the experiences of people in that part of the
world to allow us judge whether or not art and the society are related. His
expositions here buttress the gospel being preached by the sociological
approach. Since these novels are representing different literary and
historical epochs, we shall analyse them one after the other in this article.
The two novels have their settings in the francophone Africa.
Assimilation or acculturation, which is an aspect of French colonial
administration, is glaringly displayed in God’s Bits of Wood. This historical
element is revealed to us through Ad’jibid’ji Beaugosse and N’Doye Touti.
They are both educated. The kind of education they receive makes them
abandon their native languages. These characters hardly communicate in
any of their languages. The young Ad’jibid’ji in conversation with her
‘grandmother’ (Niakoro) does this in French. This shows her level of
assimilation into the French culture. No wonder then, the old woman
satirises her kind of education. Ousmane (1962:59) says Ad’jibid’ji in
conversation with Niakoro observes that:
Learning – learning what? Niakoro demanded, and
there was both mockery and sadness in her voice.
If I call you I am told not to disturb you and why?
Because you are learning the white man’s
language. What use is the white man’s language to
a woman?
(Unless otherwise stated, all quotations from this edition
shall be by page only).
Beaugosse also reveals this cultural assimilation of the blacks by the
whites. He laments, as they (blacks including himself) never spoke in
Oulof throughout their conversations in the novel.
N’Doye Touti’s separation from her people explains the solitary life
of the whites. Communality is the pattern of life adopted in Africa. For
N’Doye, education means breaking this pattern. She prefers to live
6
separately from her people in the pattern of the Europeans. The narrator
observes that:
She lived in a kind of separate world; the reading
she did, the films she saw made her part of a
universe in which her own people had no place,
and by the same token she no longer need a place
in theirs. (p.63)
It is of note at this point to highlight the linguistic implications of
the sociological study of African literature. As displayed in the novels
being studied, the French colonial government pursued to a great extent
the colonization of Oulof – one of the indigenous languages of the
Senegalese. The philosophy of the French colonial government was to
make all Africans in her colonies French citizens and speakers to the
detriment of their native languages and culture. In other words, her focus
was on linguistic domination of her colonies. This is exactly what
Ad’jibid’ji and N’Doye Touti symbolize in God’s Bits of Wood.
The educated characters in the two novels do not use their new
language acquisition to enhance a healthy and benevolent interpersonal
communication with their uneducated counterparts. This is why the old
Niakoro’s sarcastic reaction to Ad’jibid’ji is sharp, rebuking and corrective.
Ousmane occasionally introduces characters that communicate in
Oulof in the two texts. Furthermore, he identifies completely with the
masses and their cause. His desire is to speak for the ‘voiceless’ masses.
Thus, his language in these novels is simple, straightforward and devoid
of hackneyed and jaw-breaking expressions. He avoids long sentences to
afford the reader an easy grasp and comprehension of the message
intended. He uses short sentences to build up atmosphere of tension. Let
us consider this: “You weren’t sleeping? Doudou asked.” No Dieynaba,
Penda and Maimouna came to see me” (p. 143). His language is calm but
equally cryptic.
7
As displayed in the novel, people’s classes could be distinguished
through the way they communicate. Arane who is stark illiterate speaks
differently from N’Doye Touti who is literate. Though the two of them are
contemporaries, they belong to different social classes and we know this
through the way they speak. Let us assess Arane’s style of communication
here. “In Madame Caspar … Arane! You know perfectly well that it’s not
Madame Caspar – it’s Madagascar.” (p. 59). From the above utterance, it
could be established that Arane is not a coherent speaker, but the novelist
focuses her to validate the philosophy of linguistic colonization discussed
earlier.
On the basis of Ousmane’s language usage in these novels, it is
crystal clear that he uses his linguistic model to sensitize his heroes to
effect a drastic and meaningful change in the society. To achieve this, he
speaks the language they could hear, comprehend and apply.
From the foregoing discussion, socio-linguistics and sociological
study of literature are inseparable pairs in discourse analysis. While socio
linguistics could be referred to as the sociology of language, sociological
study of literature could be referred to as the sociology of literature. The
two fields of literary studies have some common grounds. In particular,
the two of them are at work in the two novels being evaluated.
On a different note, political assimilation is also at work in God’s
Bits of Wood. The legal system established in Senegal validates this fact.
In the novel, the characters frequently make reference to the French law.
This portrays the ambition of the colonial government to destroy the
traditional political structure. Let us consider this:
That book was written by toubabs, Fa Keita said
scornfully. And the machines were built by the
toubabs! The book belongs to Ibrahim Bakayoko,
and right here, in front of you, I have heard him
say that neither the laws nor the machines belong
to any one race (p.87). She had learned at school
about the workings of the law, and she had been
8
taught that no one had the right to take the law in
his own hands. (p.87)
The narrator consciously makes reference to the French law to
expose the assimilationist motive behind its establishment. Arane one of
the characters in the novel faces intimidation in the district military office
because her marriage does not follow the pattern of the toubab’s law. By
all standards this is assimilation in process. Therefore, it is a basic
concept in the French colonial policy. In the novel, the Imam recognizes
this fact. He sees the toubabs as God-sent to redeem the blacks.
Therefore, the blacks have to treat them (whites) with reverence. The
Imam sees the rebellion of the blacks as the greatest disservice to the
whites.
Another historical element displayed in the novel is the European
theory of paternalism. Paternalism sees the presence of Europeans in
Africa as an effort to render humanitarian and philanthropic services to
mankind. The Europeans see their relationship with the Africans as that
of a father to a son. In fact, they see the Africans as palpable children.
Dejean says: “they, the blacks, are children who want to walk themselves,
it is up to us to give them a hand” (p.29). Dejean’s perception of the EuroAfrican relationship asserts that the Africans are mere children. Dejean
categorically confirms this in the following words; “that I know them, I
assure you, they are children.” (p.29) Isnard has this same impression of
the Africans. The narrator confirms this in the following words; “the
simple question perplexed Isnard. He never thought of negroes as
anything but children-often contrary children, but easily enough managed
if you knew how” (p.159). This relegation contributes to the classification
of people into the lower classes and the consequent impoverishment. With
this
relegation,
the
blacks
in
the
novel
become
psychologically
maladjusted. Consequently, they formulate strategies to combat their
problem. In fact, this psychological maladjustment of Africans is
9
complicated when the white men in the novel view that N’Doye Touti could
be wooed to bed with a couple of pounds of rice. The European
paternalistic mentality is a strategy towards the achievement of economic
exploitation. As we shall see later, economic exploitation is responsible for
this undermining perception of the African race.
Besides the theory of paternalism, divide and rule is a major
political strategy employed to exploit the Senegalese in the novel. In order
to achieve their economic domination, the whites place Africans against
one another. Privileged Africans are used as instruments of oppression
against their fellow Africans. Instances of this strategy are glaring in the
novel. Diara is charged with collecting ticket in the railroad. This helps to
facilitate colonial exploitative tendencies. This position is designed for the
whites, but is entrusted to Diara to cause confusion among the Africans.
In fact, this facilitated Diara’s betrayal of his striking colleagues.
Also, the positions occupied by the Imam and El Hadji Mabigue are
designed by the whites to cause crisis in the novel. Ramatoulaye’s
comment about them validates our position on this. She says: “they
(Imam and Mabigue) would kiss the behind of the toubabs for a string of
medals, and everyone knows it.” (p.126). The whites intentionally put the
blacks in certain positions to cause disunity among them (blacks). This
disunity eventually negates the aspirations of these people. On the other
hand, it serves the exploitative motive of the whites. Because of the
economic objective, the whites intensify the use of divide and rule. Dejean
recognizes the use of this political apparatus when he suggests that the
(whites) could buy off some of the Senegalese influential leaders.
Abdoulaye is the chief executive of the regional office of the French trade
Union Federation – the C.G.T., not on merit. The whites to fulfill their
ambition of disuniting the blacks place him there The result of placing
Abdoulaye against his colleagues soon became visible. He interrupts
Beaugosse: “You always seem to be grumbling. I can never come into this
10
place without hearing somebody talking about this strike. Aren’t you
satisfied with the help you’ve been getting from the CGT in France?”
(p.120).
Similarly, the position of Mayor-deputy validates our position on the
European divide and rule strategy. Mayor-deputy, a Senegalese, works
against the interest of his fellow blacks by protecting the interest of the
whites. His speech at the Dakar meeting portrays him as a colonial
stooge. He observes that:
When a child climbs to the top of a tree, he tells no
one what he is about to do, but if he falls, he cries
out and everyone comes running to help. That is the
way it is with this strike. When the workers on the
Dakar-Niger decided on it, they did so with no
thought of the consequence of their action. And now
you see the results. There is no water and no food in
our homes, and the shopkeepers refuse to give us
credits. (p.215)
Besides the above Isnard offers three million Franc bribe to woo
Doudou to go against his colleagues. Doudou resists this by refusing the
offer. Isnard’s attitude is no less manifestation of the colonial divide and
rule policy. Isnard’s bribe proposal to Doudou is an aspect of the white
hypocritical approach to fundamental issues in the colonial epoch. Thus,
this is an irony of the European mission of civilization and white man’s
burden. If not for Doudou’s dynamism, the efforts of the oppressed to
liberate themselves could have been thwarted by Isnard. We have to
emphasize again that, the aftermath of these historical contradictions is to
produce people who are relegated and subjugated.
The assimilationist theory could be equated with alienation. The
French desire to assimilate the Africans is not with good intentions. It is
meant to foster the whites’ exploitation of the black race. In the pursuance
of
this
theory,
the
whites
established
the
superstructure.
This
superstructure reflects the various forms of alienation discussed earlier.
11
In fact, the assimilationist policy itself is another facet of alienation. All
the different phases of alienation are displayed in the novel.
Economic motive is the driving force of imperialism. This is why
Lenin (1939:40) sees imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism. Thus,
the base-superstructure syndrome is basically at work in the novel. The
economic motive of the French colonial power is executed through racism.
Therefore, both racism and capitalism are weapons of oppression. The
colour differentiation – ‘I am white, you are black syndrome’ is reflected in
the conditions of service of the different working class groups in the novel.
This racial differentiation is what Tiemoko objects to when he observes
that:
We are the ones who do the work, the same work
the white men do. Why should they be paid more?
And when they are sick why should they be taken
care of and why should we and our families be left
to starve to death? Because we are black (p.149).
These insulting discrepancies in wages and conditions of service of
the White and Black workers performing similar functions are racial in
outlook. It is this concept of racism that Isnard, the foreman conveys
when he tells Doudou to make himself white if he wants to enjoy the
privileges the white man enjoys. Racism facilitates all forms of alienation
in the novel. Although, racism is basic to our understanding of the
situation in the novel, it is not an end in itself. Rather, it is an
infrastructure for consolidating base.
In the novel, economic alienation is practised in the railway
company. The railway industry exposes the crisis inherent in capitalism.
In Senegal as revealed in the novel, the railway is a special aspect of
colonialism. The workers’ strike is a revolt against the social, political and
economic structures in the railway company. The protest banners of the
strikers expose the degree of economic alienation in the novel. They read:
12
WE DEMAND FAMILY ALLOWANCES. Behind
them came the mass of the strikers, led by the
members of the committee. They too, were
carrying banners. FOR EQUAL WORK EQUAL PAY
OLD AGE PENSIONS, PROPER HOUSING and
others (p.117).
Furthermore, Mamadou Keita exposes the workings of alienation in
the novel when he says:
It is true that we have our trade, but it does not
bring us what it should. We are being robbed. Our
wages are so low that there is no longer any
difference between ourselves and animals (p.212).
Also, exposing the misgivings in economic alienation, the narrator
draws our attention to the relationship between Isnard and the workers in
the railway company. As shown in the novel any black that comes late to
work would forfeit the day’s pay. This is alienation at work. The railway is
a technological symbol for the economic alienation of man. In fact, the
railway symbolizes exploitation, western civilization, alienation, physical
and psychological pollution. The railway is the most indispensable means
employed by the French colonialists to achieve their economic interests. It
was used to evacuate raw products from the hinterland to the port and to
empty finished imported products into every corner of the country. It also
served for the movement of people especially labourers. In the traditional
economic system, these people are supposed to remain in their
homelands. The impact of the railway on the people of the Sudan depicts
it as an instrument of capitalist expropriation, appropriation and colonial
alienation.
This condition of alienation encourages the emergence of and breeds
the class structure inherent in the capitalist system. The inabilities of the
workers to attain those conditions that make them comfortable affect their
13
wives, children and dependants. The wives’ supports for their husbands
reflect their composition. This implies that, they are more affected by the
relegation of their men folk by the whites. They directly bear the
consequences of the poor conditions of service of their men folk. Thus,
they constitute themselves into a revolutionary vanguard against the
whites.
Economic alienation produces social alienation. Also, this is
displayed in the novel. This form of alienation is typified by the
polarization in the locations of the residential apartments of the races in
the novel. The feeling of superiority pushes the whites to arrogate special
privileges to themselves. The black man’s home is dirty, stinking, sparsely
and poorly furnished, overcrowded and unconducive for living. The
narrator describes the black man’s home in Thies in the following words:
Hovels. A few rickety shacks, some upturned tombs, walls
of bamboo or millet stalks, iron barbs and rotting fences.
Thies, a vast, uncertain plain where all the rot of the city
has gathered stakes and cross ties, locomotive wheels,
rusty shafts, knocked in jerricans, old mattresses springs,
bruised and lacerated sheets of steel. And then, a little
farther on, on the goat path that leads to the Bambara
quarter, piles of old tin cans, heaps of excrement, little
mountains of broken pottery and cooking tools,
dismantled railway cars, skeletons of motors buried in the
dust, and the tiny remains of cats, of rats, of chickens,
disputed by the birds (p.13).
The Vatican is Thies typifies the white man’s home in the novel. It is
located in the special government reservation area. It is neat, clean,
bright, well laid out, well lit and decorated with beautiful flowers and
grasses. In the Vatican, each house is solidly built. Also, it is perfectly
furnished. The Vatican is a place of pleasure. It is free from any painphysical, psychological, etc. This is fundamentally alienation in practice.
This dichotomy between the blacks and the whites is what Fanon
(1965:20) refers to as compartmentalization in the colonial setting.
14
Economic alienation leads to social deprivation. The worst form of
frustration of the blacks in the novel is the non-supply of food and water
to the strikers. They are also denied the railway services. Ramatoulaye
sarcastically confirms as she laments that there is no milk for that baby
called strike. She goes further to lament the non-availability of rice and
water for their consumption. The black’s situation becomes more
complicated as the infant N’Dole sucks her finger thoughtfully, pondering
over the prevalent situation. While the white man feeds well, plumy and
fresh looking, his black counterpart feeds on dirt. In the novel, the peak of
social deprivation is the situation where children compete with vulture to
feed from the dustbin. This is pathetic indeed. This condition of
malnutrition makes the black grim and haggard looking.
To actualize their oppressive tendencies, the whites establish the
police, the military, the prison and the court. This political alienation is
produced as a result of the attempt of the French to consolidate their
hegemony. About forty workers including Fa Keita and Konate are thrown
to prison. The narrator tells us of this in the following words:
But, look it – at one of the stations they’ve just
thrown a lot more people into prison; and besides,
we’ll starve to death if it goes on (pp.60-61).
Apart from throwing the blacks into prison, they suffer untold
hardships in the hands of the soldiers and the police. There are several
instances of open intimidation from this arm of government to the blacks.
The
white
soldier
man
and
police
use
their
position
to
cause
pandemonium in the novel. With this detail analysis of God’s Bits of Wood,
we now want to shift our discussion to Xala.
The situation obtainable in Xala is not better than God’s Bits of
Wood. In fact, we could say that the human condition in Senegal as
revealed in Xala is worse than that of God’s Bits of Wood. The reason for
this is obvious. The condition in Xala is occasioned by two devilish forces,
15
which bastardize human existence in this setting in particular and in the
human society in general.
Colonialism in Senegal metamorphosed into neo-colonialism. It
aggravates the exploitation of Senegal. In African literature, the term neocolonialism is an African coinage that is traceable to the 1950’s. Barango
Yalem (1980:5) begins by saying that neo-colonialism was formed to
describe the growth of colonialism to another stage. In Neo-Colonialism
and
African
Politics,
he
argues
that
neo-colonialism
is
a
post-
independence development. In fact, neo-colonialism is a phenomenon
adopted by foreign forces to indirectly manipulate and dominate Africa
politically and economically. Though, the colonial powers granted the
African colonies independence, how independent are they? Thus, Barango
comments that:
By neo-colonialism, we mean the practice of
granting a sort of independence with the concealed
intention of making the liberated country a client
state, and controlling it effectively by means other
than political ones.
Therefore, in literature, neo-colonialism is a phenomenon whose
aspects are mainly economic and political exploitation. It therefore has a
tone of economic and political oppression. As concluded by Barango
(1980:20) neo-colonialism is truly “a syndrome of political, economic,
socio-psychological and cultural domination and manipulation of the
developing countries by the industrial (mainly western) powers.”
The
aesthetics of neo-colonialism depicts nexus of relationship between the
wealthy and powerful nations and the poor, weak and powerless’ nations
of the developing world.
Neo-colonialism is another facet of imperialism that Ousmane
condemns in Xala. The anti-colonial struggle in Senegal revealed in God’s
Bits
of
Wood
aimed
at
political,
social,
cultural
and
economic
independence is negatively what it should have been. Senegal is still tied
16
to the apron string of her colonial power economically, politically, socially
and culturally. Therefore, Xala is a symbol of an abortive independence in
Senegal.
In the novel Ousmane creates a typical neo-colonial setting where
injustice, corruption and the scramble for wealth are prevalent. In fact, in
The Last of the Empire, (1981) Ousmane also condemns this practice.
Thus, the neo-colonial situation in Xala is visible in The Last of the
Empire. The novelist does not only expose these vices, he also provides a
revolutionary option. Besides, the theme of disillusionment is also
conveyed in the novel. The masses that join hands with the politicians in
the struggles against colonialism are betrayed. Therefore, the archetypal
motif of betrayal common in African literature of the colonial and neocolonial periods resurfaces. They (masses) become disillusioned with the
prevailing situations in the post independence Senegal. These are the focal
points of the novelist in Xala. Thus, the crises that bedevil Senegal in the
post-colonial era are basically rooted in the historical contradictions
created by colonialism.
Furthermore,
neo-colonialism
is
the
source
of
historical
contradictions and all forms of alienation depicted in Xala. In Senegal, the
disillusionment of the masses in their leaders after independence is of a
great concern to Ousmane. After independence, there is a crisis since the
leaders still depend considerably on France. In fact, the country remains
what she was before independence. The national middle class oppresses
the less privileged. The narrator says:
El Hadji thinks he is still living in colonial times.
Those days when he arranged the crowds with his
trickery are over, well and truly over. We are
independent now. We are the ones who govern. You
collaborate with the regime that is in power. (p.10)
The struggle in Xala is to negate what Fanon (1965:42) regards as
the shocking anti-colonial ways of the traditional bourgeoisie. The egoism
17
of the privileged class precipitates the crisis in the novel. El Hadji Abdou
Kader Beye’s inordinate quest for wealth depicts a contemporary class
antagonism. His profile reveals him as a one-time teacher whose ambition
is to acquire wealth. He subsequently gets himself up as a middleman
specializing in property transaction. Thus, it becomes possible for him
and the members of his class to monopolize the sale of rice for nearly a
year.
Through El Hadji Beye’s third marriage, Ousmane attempts a
criticism of traditional bourgeoisie. In order to take his third wife, El Hadji
Beye denies the people of rice, which is a staple commodity in the novel.
He diverts the three million francs for the procurement of rice from the
National Grains Board of the people to his marriage ceremony. His greed
for sex, unmerited arrogance and lust for power (all conditions of
alienation) are all responsible for the creation of the lumpen-proletariat.
This is the most predominant class in the novel.
Furthermore, social and religious institutions like polygamy and the
purdah system of the Islamic religion are portrayed as sources of
alienation in Xala. El Hadji Beye under the disguise of Islamic tenets
employs this traditional institution to cheat and oppress others. He is a
practicing Moslem, who retrogressively confines Adja Awa Astou (his first
wife) to her villa. Adja Awa Astou, just like Ibrahim Dieng in The Money
Order is alienated from the goings within her family setting and total
social reality. She abandons her Christian religion for Islam to enjoy more
fully the pleasure of married life. Unfortunately; she is enslaved by her
new religion. She represents a typical African woman who in loyalty to her
husband suffers alienation to the core. Blindfolded by her religious belief,
she allows her husband to be misled. If she had disapproved of her
husband’s third marriage, the doom in the family might have been
averted. Rather, we see her rebuking Rama (her daughter) for objecting to
the third marriage. As a sign of dogmatism, she tells Rama: “Don’t talk
18
like that. Her mother interrupted her. ‘It’s true N’Gone is your age. But
she’s only a victim” (p.12).
However,
Ousmane
denounces
her
religious
obsession
and
fanaticism. That is why Rama her daughter tells her: “You are only going
because you’re afraid of what people will say.” (p.13). She objects to her
mother’s presence at the marriage ceremony. Rama is a smaller version of
Ousmane’s ideological position on the Islamic religion. He is disgusted
with the Islamic culture. The novelist is angry and unsparing. The scotch
of his anger falls on Islam. Ousmane sees it as the weapon employed by
the ruling class to adjust the minds of the masses to its exploitation.
There is indeed an unholy alliance between the ruling class and Islam. No
wonder, the Imam in God’s Bits of Wood condemns in clear terms the
strike action embarked upon by the workers. This in other words only
validates the Marxist criticism of religion as a means of exploiting the
masses.
In order to realize its goals, the privileged class employs a political
super-structure. This political super-structure is equally at work in Xala.
In the novel, there is the use of police, the court and the prison to oppress
the masses. It is suggested in the novel that the beggars are locked up for
– good. In the meeting of the businessmen, there is the reference to the
court as a way of punishing offending members. These are some of the
functions the agents of oppression are meant to perform. Thus, in Xala
like God’s Bits of Wood, the theories of alienation and neo-colonialism and
their attendant features boost the capitalist economy. They also produce a
class, which suffers bitterness.
Conclusion
From the foregoing discussion, art and the society are closely
related. Based on the facts available in this discussion and according to
Vazquez (1973:20), art could be employed as a weapon “for fighting
oppressive ideologies such as capitalism, fascism and other totalitarian
19
hegemonic structures”. Sembene Ousmane particularly in these texts and
revolutionary artists in general in their works attempt to identify crises
and contradictions in the society. Interestingly, these writers in the view of
Vazquez (1973:30) “do not merely testify to the conditions of social crisis
but offer a precise diagnosis.”
The aim of the artist in the society is to liquidate all forms of
oppression. To achieve this, he identifies with the oppressed. He
acknowledges the viability of the masses in reshaping their destiny. To a
great extent, the masses in the texts being studied act as the agents of
change. They are very effective in revolutionalising the colonial and post
colonial Senegal. The result validates the inevitability of art in the society.
20
References
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Darah, G.G. (1987) in The Punch. Lagos: The Punch Publishers.
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Lenin, V.I. (1939) Imperialism: The highest stage of capitalism. New York:
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Ogunjimi, B. (1985) “Ritual Archetypes, Ousmane’s Aesthetic Medium in
Xala” in UFAHAMU Vol. XX, No.10.
Osundare, N. (1983) “Arts for Ass sake” – An unpublished paper.
Ousmane, S. (1962) God’s Bits of Wood, London: Heinemann.
-------------- (1981) The Last of the Empire. London: Heinemann.
-------------- (1965) The Money Order. New Hampshire: Heinemann.
-------------- (1976) Xala. London: Heinemann.
Vazquez, A.S. (1973) “Art and Society” in Essays in Marxist Aesthetics.
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