José, the protagonist, is a young man of African descent who lives in Black Shack Alley with his grandmother, M'Man Tine. The people who work in the sugarcane harvest are the close descendants of only recently freed slaves: they live in conditions of poverty similar to those of slavery due to the wealthy white ruling class. Catholic imagery is found throughout the film: in particular, M'Man Tine keeps a portrait of Jesus Christ in his shack in Black Shack Alley and, later, above his bed. This portrait serves as a visual cue to the extent of French colonialism and an iteration of French power: idols of white religion hang in the homes of oppressed black peoples. Perhaps Jesus, for M'Man Tine, represents the concept of life after death and a means of escaping the physical and psychological toil of cane harvesting, in much the same way that the converts of Things Fell Apart sought solace in