So Long a Letter

So Long a Letter recounts two different paths taken by Senegalese women whose choices are extremely limited. The novel discusses the stories of lifelong friends Ramatoulaye (who is writing the...

The novel takes the form of a letter from Ramatoulaye to Aissatou, her childhood friend. Now middle-aged women, Ramatoulaye and Aissatou had gone to school together in French colonial Senegal. Both...

At the beginning of this poignant novel, Ramatoulaye's husband has just died. As if that were not traumatic enough, she must share her home during these days with Binetou, her husband's second...

The whole novel is actually a letter, written by Ramatoulaye to her friend Aissatou. The letter explores her and her friend’s experiences in married life. The letter starts off with Ramatoulaye’s...

The theme of tradition versus modernity emerges in the stories of the two generations depicted in So Long a Letter. In writing to her old friend Aissatou, Ramatoulaye reflects on the optimism they...

An epistolary novel is one that is made up of a collection of letters, articles, or journal entries. Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter is an epistolary novel because, as the title suggests, the novel...

In So Long a Letter, Ramatoulaye and Aissatou are both Senegalese women who have been friends since they were young. The book is written as a letter to Aissatou from the perspective of Ramatoulaye...

The equality that results from friendship and education are essential components in So Long a Letter. The fact that Ramatoulaye is writing a letter to Aissatou helps to establish this idea. Both...

Mariama Bâ's portrait of marriage is definitely a complicated one. This might get you started! Both Ramatoulaye and Aissatou have happy, successful marriages at first; they choose among a variety...

This powerful text exhibits the consequences of postcolonialism through describing the way that traditional cultural values have been influenced, or in some cases replaced completely, by Western...

I argue that the main characters of Mariama Bâ’s So Long a Letter are significant largely because they represent a marginalized population to Western readers. Indeed, the novella foregrounds the...

Despite the fact that he was still in love with his first wife, Aissatou, Mawda bowed to pressure from his mother to take a second wife. His mother, who considered her family superior to Aissatou,...

So Long A Letter, by Mariama Ba, is a masterpiece of Senegalese fiction. It takes the form of a recently widowed woman writing to her friend and revealing the story of her life as one who suffered...

So Long a Letter is set in the time around the historical independence movement in the African nation of Senegal. The narrator, Ramatoulaye Fall, has lived through the tumultuous times of...

There are several dimensions to the issue of widow inheritance in this text. I will provide a brief overview of how it is discussed to help get your started. One of the main issues Bâ highlights is...

Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter recounts the struggles that women face in a society that is starkly different than Western society. The book is a letter written by the main character, a school...

In this chapter, Tamsir, the brother of Ramatoulaye’s recently deceased husband, tells Ramatoulaye that after she is done mourning he will marry her. He says this like a definitive fact rather than...

So Long a Letter is author Mariama Bâ's semi-autobiographical account of her strained marital relations and subsequent life reflections in twentieth-century Senegal. In the story, the main...

After twenty-five years of marriage and twelve children, Ramatoulaye's husband, Modou, decides to take a second wife, Binetou. Being of the Muslim faith, Modou's actions are not out of the...

Epistolary tecniques are excellent ways for the character's feelings to be portrayed without breaking point of view, or having to reveal it through dialogue between characters.

Aissatou's husband, Mawbo, has just taken another wife, a young woman called Nabou. He did so at the request of his mother, who claims that she will die of shame if her son doesn't oblige. Mawbo's...

Aissatou's husband Mawdo has taken another wife. He's married young Nabou at the urging of his mother, who claims that she will die of shame if Mawdo doesn't oblige. Mawdo is reluctant to take...

The two main characters in So Long a Letter are Ramatoulaye Fall and Aissatou Bâ. The novel consists of a long letter that Ramatoulaye writes to Aissatou. Both women have undergone much hardship...

The structure of the epistolary novel consists on documents that are brought up by the main "writer" of such documents. These can be letters, diary entries, journal entries, or personal...

In this chapter, Ramatoulaye describes the events following the death of her husband Moudou Fall. One of the main identity struggles she faces is intertwined with what her patriarchal culture...

In chapter four, Ramatoulaye tells Aissatou about a family meeting she attended. At the meeting, big secrets come out about Modou, mainly concerning his financial activities. One of the most...

Mariama Bâ's So Long A Letter is a semi-autobiographical account of a woman, Ramatoulaye, living in Senegal who decides to write to her friend Aissatou, who now lives in America, while observing a...

In a nutshell, the views of men and marriage depicted in this novel stem from the majority Muslim culture in Senegal, and these values are different than the Western ideals to which most people in...

Although Ramatoulaye pays lip service to the traditional funeral rites, she's none too happy about them. According to long-established custom, she's expected to go out of her way to be generous and...

Aissatou Fall is Ramatoulaye’s daughter, who Ramatoulaye named after her best friend Aissatou. Ibrahima Sall is Aissatou Fall’s boyfriend and is a college student studying law who knew Aissatou's...

The relationship between Ramatoulaye and her husband Modou was initially harmonious. She chose to marry for love, overcoming the objections of her parents, and he likewise was not pressured into...

I think that the story of Jacqueline proves the need for self worth in the lives of individuals. It is difficult to critique Jacqueline for she suffers greatly as a result of her husband's...

Modou claims that he's only marrying Nadou out of duty. He's marrying her to satisfy his mother, who claims that she will die of shame if her son doesn't accept the "gift" given to him by Farba,...

Young Nabou is brought up in the traditional manner to be a fine, respectable lady—a perfect wife for her aunt's son, Mawdo. To some extent, Nabou's upbringing is a way for her aunt—also called...

So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba is considered semi-autobiographical because the events in the novel are similar to those in her real life, but she fictionalizes these events by creating Ramatoulaye...

I think that you could make the case that Ba's work argues women's rights as a human right. One of the most striking elements of the work is how women, even those steeped in modernity, find...

I think that the interaction between women is one of the most important points in the letter. The reality is that as the modern setting befalls upon Senegal, critical choices are going to have to...

A Q&A normally consists of no more than 2 very colsely related questions. This strikes me as containing 4-5 very complex questions. Would it be possible to break it down into a series of...