International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume VII, Issue XII, December 2020 | ISSN 2321–2705

Images of Women in God’s Bits of Wood: The Perspective of Sex Role Stereotype

Dr. Jive Lubbungu
Department of Literature and Languages, Kwame Nkrumah Universitys

Abstract:-T his paper discusses the image of women in Sembène ‘s God’s Bits of Wood from the feminist standpoint. Sembène Ousmane (1962) posits that women can take up leadership positions in the midst of a male-oriented and dominated society. Sembène defies the stereotype that women cannot be leaders and do not possess organizational capacity through his presentation of female characters such as Penda. The author’s portrait of the revolutionary idea of the prostitute (Penda) as a political activist raises a degraded woman to respectability and dignity, in contrast to Ekwensi’s Jagua Nana, who does not rise above her degradation. Sembène is a resolute advocate of women’s rights and demonstrates that women are legitimate partners in the struggle for social justice. He supports the integration of women in the struggle against the exploitation of the masses. God’s Bits of Wood, therefore, is an artistic work in which the Marxist ideology of equality of people of different social classes coincides with the ideology of women as an entity not subservient to man.

Keywords: Women, stereotype, image, inequality, feminism, Leadership, patriarchy

I. Introduction

From the pre-independence to the post-independence epoch, African literature has been portrayed as a masculine entity. The protagonists in novels like Amos Tutuola’s The Palm wine Drinkard, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God are men. This is because of the cultural, social, and existential importance attached to men at the expense of women. Also, this was the age of the celebration of valour and tenacity (www.accessmylibrary.com). Hence, women in these novels are relegated to the background. The portrait of the African woman in the novels written by Amos Tutuola, Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, and Cyprian Ekwensi is stereotypical. The ideal female character created by these writers often acts within the framework of her traditional functions as wife and mother, singing and dancing during ceremonies. In fact, she is sentenced to a life of insignificance and subsidiary existence. She is only heard and not seen. A woman in these novels is not recognised as an agent of change.
Later, in the post-independence epoch, some of these writers portray the African woman as even a free one, a courtesan or prostitute. This is to further denigrate the image and status of female folk in the African novel. They are portrayed as mere shadow beings that hover on the fringe of the plot of the novels. The current study discusses the images of women in Sembène ‘s God’s Bits of Wood on a feminist bedrock.