Revolutionary consciousness in Ousmane Sembene’s God’s bits of wood

Abstract

The contemporary African novelist has accepted the responsibility of projecting the realism of a world torn by class antagonism and inequalities in access to property. The revolutionary literary work of art is a depiction of the contradictions inherent in a world dominated by class structure and capitalist exploitation in which so much is expected from the working class in exchange for so little. Unlike the traditional African characters portrayed in pre-colonial novels in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, who are easily broken up due to lack of solidarity, Sembene demonstrates in God’s Bits of Wood the emergence of a new African labour force committed to a cause, the cause of economic and social liberation.

Key Words: solidarity, revolutionary, capitalism, Marxism