Mariama Bâ wrote So Long a Letter in 1981. That same
year, she won an award from the book. Bâ was raised a Muslim by
her grandparents in Senegal. Her struggle against her traditional upbringing is
reflected in her novel. So Long a Letter
is written in the form of a series of letters by Ramatoulaye, to her friend,
Aissatou. Ramatoulaye recounts the life experiences of both her and her friend,
and compares their reactions to similar situations. Both women are Muslim, as
are the men they married. According to Muslim tradition, a man can marry up to
four women if he so chooses. Aissatou's
husband takes another wife, and she decides to leave him because she does not
agree with polygamy. After more than twenty years of marriage, Ramatoulaye's
husband too takes another wife - the friend of their teenage daughter.
Ramatoulaye is appalled, especially since her husband promised that she would
always be his only wife. He abandons his first family to shower his pretty
second wife and her mother with luxury. In her letters, Ramatoulaye struggles
with whether she should have followed the path of her friend and left her
husband. But she stayed for her faith. When her husband dies, both she and the
young girl are treated equally in their status as grieving widows - even though
the older women has been his wife for thirty years and the younger, only five. In
an effort to prevent her daughter from facing the same struggles, she allows
her to wear more Western clothing. She finds solace in reading, going to the
cinema, writing and spending time with her friends. Ramatoulaye, like Bâ herself, believes that it is through books that one (women especially) can
find hope, and eventually the weapons, to fight oppression. Bâ said: "The power of books,
this marvelous invention of astute human intelligent. Various signs associated
with sound: different sounds that form the word. Juxtaposition of words from
which springs the idea, Thought, History, Science, Life. Sole instrument of
interrelationship and of culture, unparalleled means of giving and receiving.
Books knit generations together in the same continuing effort that leads to
progress. They enabled you to better yourself. What society refused you, they
granted..."
Krystle's Book Review: So Long a Letter
Mariama Bâ wrote So Long a Letter in 1981. That same
year, she won an award from the book. Bâ was raised a Muslim by
her grandparents in Senegal. Her struggle against her traditional upbringing is
reflected in her novel. So Long a Letter
is written in the form of a series of letters by Ramatoulaye, to her friend,
Aissatou. Ramatoulaye recounts the life experiences of both her and her friend,
and compares their reactions to similar situations. Both women are Muslim, as
are the men they married. According to Muslim tradition, a man can marry up to
four women if he so chooses. Aissatou's
husband takes another wife, and she decides to leave him because she does not
agree with polygamy. After more than twenty years of marriage, Ramatoulaye's
husband too takes another wife - the friend of their teenage daughter.
Ramatoulaye is appalled, especially since her husband promised that she would
always be his only wife. He abandons his first family to shower his pretty
second wife and her mother with luxury. In her letters, Ramatoulaye struggles
with whether she should have followed the path of her friend and left her
husband. But she stayed for her faith. When her husband dies, both she and the
young girl are treated equally in their status as grieving widows - even though
the older women has been his wife for thirty years and the younger, only five. In
an effort to prevent her daughter from facing the same struggles, she allows
her to wear more Western clothing. She finds solace in reading, going to the
cinema, writing and spending time with her friends. Ramatoulaye, like Bâ herself, believes that it is through books that one (women especially) can
find hope, and eventually the weapons, to fight oppression. Bâ said: "The power of books,
this marvelous invention of astute human intelligent. Various signs associated
with sound: different sounds that form the word. Juxtaposition of words from
which springs the idea, Thought, History, Science, Life. Sole instrument of
interrelationship and of culture, unparalleled means of giving and receiving.
Books knit generations together in the same continuing effort that leads to
progress. They enabled you to better yourself. What society refused you, they
granted..."
Leave a comment