Women as Agents of Change in Class Struggles

Both God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane and The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende dramatize class struggles in which women play a major role in shaping the outcomes and enacting permanent change. However, there are profound differences in the ways they go about this. In House of the Spirits, the women's influence is enacted in a more passive way, in keeping with their traditional feminine role, while the men continue to use violence and revolution to gain power. The passive ways by which the women protest and enact change include refusing to speak, educating the peasants and providing them with food and health care, and even setting curses. In contrast, in God's Bits of Wood, there is a major role reversal, wherein the men choose a passive approach by refusing to work and the women actively assert themselves in roles that are more traditionally masculine. The women take on responsibility for finding food for their families, speaking out in protest, marching in the strike, and fighting off the police.

The House of the Spirits focuses on several generations of women, with the men holding supporting roles in the story. These women find ways to protest the politics and class struggles of their country without taking on more traditionally masculine roles. One example is Clara, who busies herself "tending to the poor in a task that had neither beginning nor end" (Allende 135). She empties her own house of clothing, blankets, and food in order to tend to their needs. Her daughter, Blanca, who teaches the revolutionary Pedro Tercero Garcia to read, shares these duties, although Clara is quick to point out that much more than charity is required to change the living conditions of the poor. She explains that these good deeds "assuage [their] conscience...but it doesn't help the poor...they don't need charity; they need justice" (Allende 136). The women also choose passive ways in which to protest. For example, Blanca becomes quite accomplished at faking illness so that she will not have to return to school and abandon her lover. Clara, after Esteban Trueba beats her, stops using her married name, removes her wedding ring, and refuses to speak to Esteban until the day she dies. Later, Esteban's granddaughter Alba, continues the work of her mother and grandmother by hording her grandfather's food and smuggling it to the peasants through Miguel, "who distributed it in poor neighborhoods and in factories...calling on the people to join in an armed struggle to bring down the oligarchy" (Allende 351). Perhaps the most passive way the women enact permanent change is by submitting to rape. In this novel, rape becomes a symbol of oppression by the aristocracy over the peasants. However, by producing many illegitimate children, rape serves to obscure the class positions between those two groups and motivates the bastard sons of those in power to claim their birthrights. In addition, by transcending the repeated rapes and sexual abuse, the women refuse to allow the men to have power over them. Finally, in the Epilogue, a woman whose name we never learn rescues Alba from the street. In Alba's description of her, we learn that "she was one of those stoical, practical women of our country, the kind of woman who has a child with every man...takes in other people's abandoned children...and anybody else who needs a mother, a sister, or an aunt...

In contrast to the more passive feminine role held by the woman in House of the Spirits, the women in God's Bits of Wood enact change through action. The mindset of the women goes from one of obedience and dependency on their men to one of control and a growing sense of responsibility for their own welfare and that of their families. Because women have nothing to cook, they have to find other means to get food while the men are gone. As the women see "the shoulders, the listless walk [of the men], [they] [become] conscious that a change was coming for them as well...One morning a woman rose...and said, 'Today, I will bring back something to eat.' And the men began to understand that if times were bringing forth a new breed of men, they were also bringing forth a new breed of women." (Ousmane 33-34). By necessity, the women abandon the timid, obedient behavior that had previously characterized them. They are determined to protect each other from harm, and even see themselves as equal, if not higher in status, then men. Their fighting against the police and badgering of men on the streets shows their courage to stand up to men and authority, a mindset previously unheard of before the strike. For example, in anger with her brother who turned off the water, and in an effort to provide food for the families of the strikers, Ramatoulaye strikes out by killing her brother's ram, Vendredi. She explains to the women that "when you know that life and the spirit of others depend on your life and spirit, you have no right to be afraid - even when you are terribly afraid. In the cruel times we are living through we must find our own strength, somehow, and force ourselves to be hard" (Ousmane 69). Her aggressive act is a foreshadowing of the many strong actions that the women will soon pursue. The most notable of these is their battle against the policemen in the courtyard, where by their huge numbers, they force the police to retreat. Not ready to return to their homes, they "formed into little groups and began patrolling the streets of the neighborhood, armed with bottles filled with sand. Still caught up in the excitement of the fight, and a little drunk with victory, they accosted every man who appeared in their path" (Ousmane 109).

The best example of how the women in The House of the Spirits enact change in a passive way as compared with the more active role that the women pursue in God's Bits of Wood can be seen through a direct comparison of the prostitutes in each story. A profession that has been around since time began, prostitution is one of the most traditional and most passive roles of women. In House of the Spirits, the reader is first introduced to Tránsito Soto when she "entertains" Esteban Trueba at the house of prostitution called the Red Lantern. Tránsito, whose name in English means "change," uses Trueba's pesos to jumpstart her career. She says, "I'm going to the capital to become rich and famous" and uses the money "for a train ticket, a red dress, a bottle of perfume, and a permanent" (Allende 69). This enterprising woman becomes an entrepreneur in her field and through her many personal connections, eventually helps to save the life of Esteban's granddaughter, Alba. She manages to succeed throughout her life by supporting every government that takes hold of her country - passively adapting to constant change, but not leading the change. Conversely, Penda, the prostitute in God's Bits of Wood becomes a vocal inspiration to the other women who she leads in protest against the toubabs. While initially performing a traditionally feminine role (prostitute), she evolves into a feminist, and delivers an inspiring speech to the strikers and their women in Place Aly N'Guer. Indeed, "it was the first time in living memory that a woman had spoken in public in Thies" (Ousmane 187). She tells the crowd that she speaks "in the name of all the women, but [that she] is just the voice they have chosen" (Ousmane 187). Despite her violent death during the march into the city, she reinforces the power of the women to enact change through protest.

Both Ousmane and Allende have woven together stories that illustrate women who have influenced their societies to change in important ways. However, the women of House of the Spirits enact these changes using more passive behaviors, while the women of God's Bits of Wood assert themselves in a more traditionally masculine manner. Both groups of women chose a path that worked best for them given the culture and time period in which they lived. Their courage and determination made possible significant progress in the class struggles that dominated their respected countries.

Works Cited:

Allende, I. (1982). The House of the Spirits. (Magda Bogin, Trans.) New York: The Dial Press.

Ousmane, S. (1960). God's Bits of Wood. (Francis Price, Trans.) Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.