Again, the theme of underlying and surprising change emerges in this chapter. Comment on either of the following examples:
- As others observe Ramatoulaye’s confrontation with the police (pages 72-75), others observe a profound change in her. Describe the change, why you think it has happened, and how you think it will prove significant to the meaning of the novel.
OR
On pages 75 to 77, the author reflects further on the complex attitudes of the men towards the machine.
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February 22, 2009 at 2:07 am |
Rama is an example of this reoccurring theme of change in this novel. Her courage and boldness in the midst of such a havoc time was surprising to many. It’s simple, she was sick and tired of the whole situation and when Vendredi ate the rice that put her anger over the limit. By killing Vendredi, she took a stand, and she provided everyone with food, but most importantly she provided everyone with hope, because hope is the one thing propelling everyone to continue. Rama transformed from a timid lady to an courageous and angry woman. The change that Rama when through and the change that everyone is fighting for is significant in this novel.
February 22, 2009 at 6:03 pm |
Ramatoulaye has a drastic change from a timid, desperate woman into a ferocious woman. This change seems to happen very quickly, in the course of a day, but I think her new personality had been building up since the beginning of the strike. Like most other women and probably men in the town, she was fed up with continually making sacrifices for her family because of the Europeans and the strike. The day that she attacked Vendredi, I think all of her emotions bubbled over. This is significant because I think this is the start of a ripple effect throughout the entire town of people acting out like Ramatoulaye.
February 22, 2009 at 7:34 pm |
Ramatoulaye is described as a quiet and gentle woman so this sudden ferocity that is born within her when she kills the ram, Vendredi, surprises everyone. However, it states in the book that this anger “had been born beside a cold fireplace, in an empty kitchen” (74). The book has described how hunger has spread and how horrible it is. Ramatoulaye was responsible for fetching the food and taking care of the family so when all resources were gone and she could not fulfill the responsibility of taking care of her family, as all the food was gone, she might have felt helpless and could not stand it anymore and in result just burst. I think this is significant because it shows how the most unlikely candidates are beginning to take action and like Maddie said I think this will start to spread throughout the town as more people begin to revolt.
February 22, 2009 at 10:17 pm |
Ramatoulaye “had always been quiet and unassuming and gentle”(74). However she also has an evidently strong sense of justice. This to her friends seems like a huge shift, but in reality it is a side of her that can afford to be dormant most of the time. This side of her was visible when she argues with her brother who had cheated her in the past. It is the question of whether or not a person or culture will rise against their oppressor, and at what point, and at what degree of intensity. This was an issue throughout Africa during the period of European colonization and it is obviously an issue for Ramatoulaye and the other women and children waiting out the strike. Their response is violent but hopeful. as we learned in “Things Fall Apart” sometimes any action is better than waiting and losing slowly.
February 22, 2009 at 11:24 pm |
In this chapter, Ramtoulaye’s evident defiance of the French police is significant because it symbolizes, through her battle with Vendrendi, the change in the African woman’s personality. Instead of calmly letting the men deal with the defying the colonial power, with the depletion of food, the woman preform rights that deny power to the French by themselves. When she says, “this is a hose for us, not a house for white men”(74), the metaphore of the French as a ‘parasite’ in Senegal becomes realized by Ramatoulaye and she is willing to act upon that will of defaince.
February 23, 2009 at 2:27 am |
What I took was that, before the strike, a woman would have never stood up for herself like Ramatoulaye does. The heart of the change is that she now sees herself as possessing standing while talking with a man. The book gives the reason that their kitchens were empty, that they were forced to change or die, for this happening. What is important is that this change came from Ramatoulaye herself. If this can be taken as a metaphor for the Africans as whole, perhaps this is foreshadowing that their new identity will come from themselves, not the French, nor the machine.
February 23, 2009 at 3:23 am |
Ramtoulaye showed her strength to the police by not backing down nor being afraid. It has been a little over two months now and she is just sick of it being hungry all the time. She had children to feed as well as herself and her neighbors. When she came back to the house full of wrath she became even more overwhelmed it was like the straw that broke the camels back. When she saw the ram mess around with the little rice that was left. You can see the change in her previous to the killing of the ram she warns her brother and stands up to him in a way and tells him she was going to kill Vendredi. This is a very significant part of the book because it shows that the longer this strike is going on and the europeans controlling them not only men..but women start to stand up for themselves.
February 23, 2009 at 4:24 am |
The machine–meaning the train, the railway, the industry that the Europeans have brought–has consumed the consciousness and the lives of the Africans since the onset of imperialism, and although many things about the railway anger and frustrate the Africans, they also regard it as somewhat of an annoying sibling: something that causes them distress but something that they miss when it is gone. Ousmane says of the railroad: “They thought of it constantly now, but they kept their thoughts jealously to themselves” (76). The change that has occurred is that the men who worked on the railroad beginning to acknowledge the importance of the railroad in their lives beyond the fact that it supplies them with income and food. They are realizing along with the railroad come camaraderie and community in the change Africa. Simply put, the railway had become the central figure in their lives, and they do not know how to reconcile the loss of the railway in their new lives.
February 23, 2009 at 4:33 am |
I believe Ramatoulaye’s actions in this section of the book is acceptable. This segment of the novel is one of the most important parts because Ramatoulaye who is visualized as a nice, calm and quite women, is beginning to reveal and express the hatred and angry that has been built inside of her. It is clear that she is frustrated with the policeman because the lack of provisions she is provided, but deeply Ousmane is unraveling an important theme. What Ousmane is trying to tell us i believe, is that Ramatoulaye and many characters are beginning to breakdown because of the strike. Physically and mentally, the fatigue and mind of the people are decomposing and vanishing.
February 23, 2009 at 5:15 am |
I think Ramatoulaye’s confrontation with the police brings up many important elements, such as the shifting role of women in the book within the African society as well as a certain type of restlessness that the strike has brought about in the women. Also, I think this action speaks more symbolically because it shows uprising against the French which is significant for Ousmane to show through Ramatoulaye’s action because previously we had only seen her as a timid, shy woman. Maybe it symbolically is showing the African’s strength regardless of the French’s imposition, or that the Africans have not completely submitted themselves to the French. Most importantly though, I think it shows a step in the progress women are making to fend for themselves ever since the issue has been brought up since the strike has begun. I agree with Joey, in that it is one way the women as well as the AFricans are creating their own definition of themselves, for this action is something that would not have occurred before.
February 23, 2009 at 9:26 pm |
This chapter shows a strong change in Ramatoulaye, initially with the killing of the ram. The women in town were especially shocked, as they had always though of Ramatoulaye as “quiet and assuming and gentle” (74), they knew that something inside of her had snapped. Naomi makes a good point saying that, really, something inside Ramatoulaye hadn’t changed—but instead she had had this anger inside of her all along, specifically with her brother El Had’ji, where she unleashed her anger onto him on when he refused to loan her any money. But her release of anger in front of children and other women shows to be significant as she hasn’t shown any emotion other than of affection towards them before—and because she has to deal with hunger within her family, its probable that her anger will spike more and more often as the strike goes on.
February 23, 2009 at 9:45 pm |
The reaction of the men towards the machine, or railway, shows the great hold of European imperialism. The men became bored from not working, and for a while celebrated and performed old ceremonies for fun, but this just led to their realization of the their loss of the railroad. This protruding difference in their lives shows how much they depend upon the machine, it has become a part of them. Ousmane states that “they remembered when not a night had run its course without the sight of the flickering colored lanterns of the teams at work in the marshaling yards, or the sounds of steel against steel…and of the far-off whistling of the locomotives” (76). The Europeans came in and, in a sense, took away the African cultures, replacing it with their work which needed to be completed. This passage reinforces the total take over which overtook the Africans, who now only know how to work on the railroad, see it as the only way to prosper, and as a result now, it gives them something to live for.
February 24, 2009 at 11:22 pm |
Ramatoulaye becomes violent and furious when confronted by the policemen. She changes, but not for the usual cultural reasons such as: the “rancors that well up in soldiers” or the “dictatorship of the machines”. Her anger was created by “a cold fireplace, in an empty kitchen” (74). Ramatoulaye’s anger emerged from deep within her, from the harsh and cruel actions of the white men. Ramatoulaye’s fury had been calmly held for so long that when the white men tried to interfere once again her emotions took hold and she acted with pure and pent-up rage.
March 12, 2009 at 12:35 am |
Simply put the men become bored during the strike and have to reinvest their time somewhere else. As a result they rejoice in their old culture, in an almost playful way. I was struck by the quote “God himself seemed to have joined the party”
I feel like the commentary on the machine transcends the immediate event at hand and is true of any culture reliant on technology (even as basic as a train). It gave many of the men a greater purpose, a purpose of progression (by the western definition). The prophetic Bakayoko says ” the kind of man we were is dead, and our only hope for a new life lies in the machine which knows neither a language or a race”
March 15, 2009 at 4:58 pm |
Ramatoulaye begins the book as a timid, good, kind and overall regular mother and transforms into a fiery fighter who defies the police in order to feed her children and others. The change happened because of the frustration she felt at not being able to feed her children, first when she is refused credit and second when her brother refuses as well, this is shown when it is describes the anger as being “born beside a cold fireplace , in an empty kitchen.” she is a simple woman who becomes somthing more so she can feed her kids. This represents for the rest of the strike, the ability of the other strikers and mothers to rise above their set places in society and contribute to the sucess of the strike.