Education as Alienation
N’Deye is rejecting the reality of her environment. She chooses to believe that her reality is somewhere by the “beaches” and “mountain chalets” she learns about from the movies. In a way, the education N’Deye is receiving comes not only from the classroom, but from the other forms of white culture quickly penetrating Africa. The books she reads and the movies she watches teach N’Deye that her environment is undesirable and her culture is something to be ashamed of. Simply watching a film about the Pygmies makes N’Deye feels as if “she were being hurled backward, and down to the level of these dwarfs” (57). Her strong language of contempt for her own people displays the negative effects the education system has on her mind. Ousmane further shows her colonized mind, when he says, “N’Deye herself knew far more about Europe that she did about Africa;…she had never read a book by an African author – she was quite sure that they could teach her nothing” (58). Before even fully immersing herself in her own culture, N’Deye has already rejected it, thinking that it possess no value in comparison to European culture. Ultimately, N’Deye feels as if she is “a prisoner in a place that should have never been her home” (58). She suggests that she never once felt a sense of belonging to her home that she now calls a “prison.” Her education has erased all pleasant memories she may have once possessed about her family, community, and previous way of life. Now all N’Deye can see is the inadequacies of her “uncivilized” culture.
Throughout various moments in the text, N’Deye is often described speaking French. It is almost as if French is her native tongue, especially since she speaks to members of her family and her community in the language. When yelling at people in a theater, N’Deye “crie[s] out in French” for the people to be quiet (58). She naturally slips into French without even thinking. It is common for people to use the language most familiar to them in moments of great emotion, and clearly this language seems to be French for N’Deye. After having a long conversation with her friend Beagosse, he says, “Have you noticed that in the whole time we have been talking we haven’t spoken a single word in Ouolof?” (63). N’Deye’s reaction to this observation is casual: “Well, what of it?” (64). And lastly, in a very heated moment when the women in her family were being harassed by the police, N’Deye calls them “pigs” without realizing that “she was speaking French” (122). Once again, in a moment of rage, N’Deye naturally uses French. Ousmane is suggesting through her constant use of French that N’Deye is slowly becoming French herself in all aspects. She further alienates herself from her people by using French rather than Ouolof, showing her adoption of a new culture. What her education is successfully accomplishing is having her turn her back on the culture and people that once gave her her identity.
N’Deye Touti is not the only character in God’s Bits of Wood who shows signs of alienation due to education. Tiémoko’s education differs from that of N’Deye in the sense that he is not formally educated. The education he receives is not directly from the French schools, but the system has trickled down and has reached him through others in his community. Through dialogue with the educated men and leaders of his village like Bakayoko, Tiémoko learns that to be a leader he too would have to be educated. As a result, he borrows books such as La Condition Humaine from Bakayoko (Ousmane 86). Unlike N’Deye, Tiémoko is not trying to turn his back on his people. On the contrary, he believes that if he is educated he will be able to better serve his community during the strike. However, what Tiémoko and many others do not realize is that the books that they are reading and the laws they are trying to imitate and enforce are all part of white culture. Tiémoko genuinely believes that “[e]verything [he] needs is in this book” (87). Even the old, yet very knowledgeable Fa Keïta comments “[t]hat the book was written by the toubabs” (87). He knows that it is necessary to be weary of the books that come from the white men. While he is not condemning the books, Fa Keïta is aware that what the white man’s books teach is very different from African culture. Tiémoko, not taking heed of Fa Keïta’s warnings, uses the knowledge he gains from the books to take his own uncle, Diara, to trial for treason. The new education he receives turns Tiémoko against his uncle. He now finds fault and sees the inadequacy in a member of his own family: all too ready to point a finger, he publicly shames the elder family member and man of his community. Education has done what Ngũgĩ said it would do to Tiémoko; it has made him see the inadequacies in others, and he has slowly alienated himself through this process. “…Tiémoko found himself alone with his conviction…” to prosecute his uncle Diara and use him as an example in the community (Ousmane 88). He did not have the entire community backing his decision to put a member of their community on trial. By deciding to stand alone and prosecute Diara, Tiémoko is isolating himself from the community. The leaders of the strike never truly thought the trial would do any good, but “in the end Tiémoko had won, through simple obstinacy and the fatigue of the other” (89). He does not get support from the community to go ahead with the trial, but rather the men simply resist fighting him out of sheer “fatigue.”
