The story of So long a letter, gives us an insight of the struggle faced by Ramatoulaye after her husband brings in a second wife. Ramatoulayes feeling and emotions are brought out to us as she is writing to her friend, in real sense the reader creeps into Ramatoulayes mind as she write a letter to her best friend Aissatou. By using this it seems that writer wants us to see the full picture of the life of a woman in Senegal and the way it is influenced by religion, education and culture.
Mariama Ba seems to be giving us her views on the Senegalese way of life through Ramatoulaye. She challenges the role of the religious leader of the society through contrast and irony, as is shown when Tamsir wants to inherit Ramatoulaye and the Imam accepts this, and yet Tamsir cannot even provide for his existing wives, which contradicts the religion which does not allow one to take up a wife if he cannot provide for her and her co-wives equally. Also when Daouda Dieng wishes to marry Ramatoulaye, it seems to bring out irony in his thinking, as it is said he champions for womens rights in parliament but yet he wants to marry Ramatoulaye as a second wife showing the lack of independence he feels women have, and making it seem that the men seem to belong to an exclusive elite group when he tell her she cannot be his friend if she does not marry him. Using Ramatoulayes sarcastic talk Ba tends to reveal to us the problem that are faced by Ramatoulaye but shows Ramatoulayes character as patient , as she tends to take little or no action when faced with a problem.
Ba has used Aissatou to bring out contrast in Ramatoulayes character as both are faced with a similar situation but act in different ways. This parallelism tends to reflect on Ramatoulayes strong ties with her culture and religion which force her to stay into her marriage despite the betrayal of her trust by Modou. This I feel tends to appreciate the fact that educated women like Ramatoulaye still hold on to their culture despite being victimized by their traditional customs and yet have a thinking that is influenced by a western styled education. The fact that Ramatoulaye still considers herself bound to Modou religiously is evident when she marks the period of mourning after his death despite her belief that he betrayed her, and yet she fulfilled her religious duty to him, this reflects the culture of the women in the society as they follow their religion earnestly.
It also seems that Ba is criticising family ties in the story as she portrays most family members to have their own interests first; this is very evident at Modous funeral where the giving of money is only done in expectation of receiving the money again when the family undergoes a death. Ramatoulayes and Binetous mothers are a good example of this as they want their daughter to get married to the men who will give them happiness and in doing so forsaking their daughters interests.
Somehow in the text Ba seems to be sympathetic towards all the women, including those who put out other women from their place, such as Binetou, who even though is leaving a good life by marrying Modou, has some element of suffering within her, which is show when at a particular dinner she is envious when she sees people of her age dancing with one another. By this Ba implies that all the women portrayed in this text, have something burning inside them that they cannot let out openly in society.
The portrayal of Ramatoulaye and Aissatou being independent from their husbands, although in different ways as Aissatou completely walks out of her marriage and manages to bring up a home abroad while Ramatoulaye raises her children single handedly, and even learns how to drive as her husband has forsaken her and her children without walking away from her marriage, reflects the culture of educated women in traditional society as it shows how the women continue with their lives, and at the same time Ba challenges the culture these women live in by highlighting the plight these women face due to their married lives being ruined, such as lack of financial support leading to working extra hard, or because of their family members poking their noses into their personal decisions and even the religious leader who fail their duties to ensure the rule of God is followed. All in all I feel Ba is both challenging and reflecting the culture portrayed in the book.
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