What Thies?

Thies lies sixty kilometers outside of Dakar. In contemporary society it has become a thriving center of industry and manufacturing, and is essentially a suburb. In the novel, however, Thies is portrayed as slum-like and spiritually barren. It's important to note that while a march of sixty kilometers is still a substantial distance today, at the time in which the novel is set (the mid-late 1940s), the trek of the women of Thies to Dakar was a remarkable accomplishment.