An Analysis Of So Long A Letter By Ramatoulaye

“So Long a Letter” is a continuous account of a Senegalese woman, Ramatoulaye, about her life being a wife through the nature of Islam. Ramatoulaye was not a traditional woman as in she had obtain an education. An education set her apart from society; however, she was still subject to other obstacles that other Muslim women faced. One part of Muslim culture that affected her greatly was polygamy. Polygamy is the act of being married to more than one person. When Ramatoulaye experienced polygamy personally, it became the turning point in her life. Her experience led her through serious of life obstacles that she was not capable of handling at that point in her life. The main point of “So Long a Letter” is to examine and show Ramatoulaye’s life as she transgresses through the life of being a wife, a mother, a victim of polygamy, a widow and finally a great example of how life challenges

Ramatoulaye begins by writing her first letter to Aissatou about the distressing effect of her husband, Modou, death. It seems as if she is leading into a compelling story to a friend only by fate. Ramatoulaye says, “Your presence in my life is by no means fortuitous because their grandmothers exchanged messages through a fence in the compounds, their mothers argued over their uncles and they attended the same school” (Ba 1). Aissatou and Modou are two very different types of woman and that is exemplified by the statement “yesterday you were divorced. Today I am a widow” (Ba 1). At this point in the story, Ramatoulaye is going through the grievance process and funeral processions which is a fairly stressful and drawn out process. Although Ramatoulaye was in grievance, she was still thinking upon the fact that she is still in service