Une si longue lettre or So long a letter

Mariama Bâ

Background

This book is a fiction somewhat inspired by the life story of the author. It is the letter of Ramatoulaye to her friend Aïssatou, informing her on how things are going after the death of her husband Modou. We share the intimacy of the 2 friends during Ramatoulaye’s period of mourning involving the different ceremonies in honour of the dead and the widowhood rituals. We are also brought back in the past when the 2 friends met their husbands, got married and went through some hardships and set-backs in their married lives. Moreover, we witness the evolution of Ramatoulaye’s family dynamic, adjusting to care and provide for her 11 children still living at home.

This book highlights the condition of the woman in the modern African society, especially in the newly independent Senegalese nation. The culture and lifestyle, still very permeated and influenced by the Islamic religion and tribal traditions, give little freedom to women who are expected to be an example in the society; not complaining, not questioning, only following the recommendations of their families and elders, with male privileges at the centre. It was first published in 1979 and received the Noma Award of Literature in 1980, short before the death of the author in 1981.

Summary and criticism

This novel is the story of an ordinary Senegalese woman of the new age; an educated and working woman who built her life and wealth with her husband, and who is recalling and recounting the betrayal of this latter who is now dead. Ramatoulaye met her husband while they were in school, despite her mother’s doubts and apprehensions, she still married him. Together, they made plans for their future, they worked hard to climb up the professional ladder and achieve a good social status, therefore offering good living conditions to their children. However, after 25 years of marriage, her husband decided to take a second wife since the Muslim religion authorises a man to take up to 4 wives. In traditional Africa, taking multiple wives had a profound significance; the reasons were founded on mutual aid and solidarity, it was an alliance of protection between the families. Though, these foundations changed with colonisation and independence that brought a new social and economic reality. Modou, Ramatoulaye’s late husband, took a new wife to satisfy his desire of having a younger and fresher wife, he did it without informing his first wife nor his in-laws. Also Binetou, his second wife, was encouraged by her mother to accept his proposition mainly to bring her family out of poverty. Somehow, Ramatoulaye had compassion on her rival who seemed quite lost during this period; this latter saw her situation crumbling and everything she acquired sliding away from her and her family. In fact, after his second marriage, Modou almost deserted his first family, he also contracted several debts to buy a new house for his second wife and in-laws; at his death, he left a pile of debts and mortgages including one contracted on Ramatoulaye’s house in order to pay for his new wife’s house and lifestyle.

The story also accounts for the fracture that occurred within the African population who very much got detached from her communal mindset and lifestyle to adopt an individualistic one, modelled on the occidental society; people were still learning how to function and evolve with these new codes inherited from decades of colonisation. As an example, the 3rd, 8th and 40th ceremonies in honour of the dead are supposed to mark important steps regarding the evolution of his body: the Quran says that on the third day, the body swells and fills its grave, on the eighth day, it bursts and on the fortieth day, it is dismantled. These ceremonies that were full of depth and significance before became the occasion to organise big feasts that gave the opportunity for people, friends and family members who lost touch, to see each other, catch up, eat to the full and even bring the leftovers home, thus rejoicing over the loss and misfortune of the others. Many traditional and religious rituals lost their primary meaning in the eyes of this new society. This new social paradigm did not leave much room for the notions of compassion, caring and sharing to subsist.

Furthermore, the author briefly mentioned how the establishment of the occidental schooling system affected the traditional structure and hierarchy of the local populations; Ramatoulaye’s friend, Aïssatou, who was from the caste of jewellers had her older brothers following on their father’s step by pursuing his profession and business while her younger brothers got enrolled in school. The prospects of working for the colonial administration and the new established system were inspiring more respect to the majority of people from their generation. This caused a great gap regarding the transmission and evolution of the artisanal skills and knowledge. This also resulted in most villages and remote areas to be emptied since working in town was much more valued and sought out than working in the fields or exercising an artisanal occupation. On the other side, Mariama Bâ shed a light on some unfair traditions that had been mixed up with the Islamic religion and were still very much instilled in the mentalities; upon the death of their husbands, the donations received by the wives were to be handed over to their in-laws. This didn’t make much sense given that the widows, having at their charge the children, would probably need more financial assistance in this period. She also criticised the negative impact that parents, especially mothers, had on their children when it came to arranging marriages. Moreover, she underlined the influence of the castes in affecting marriage decisions in Senegal; in fact, they still do even though at a smaller extent. The traditional society was divided in 3 large groups; the nobility, the commoners, where we could find the castes of the blacksmiths, jewellers, tailors, lumberjacks, griots… and the captives. The nobles could not marry outside their group lest they would bring shame upon their family and lineage, the commoners also couldn’t marry the captives. It is important to clarify that the system of the castes does not align with the Islamic principles but it is a custom that is anchored within the traditional Senegalese society.

The place and condition of the modern woman in this transforming Senegalese society is a topic that is ever present throughout this novel. The weight of the traditions was still heavy; Ramatoulaye always did her best to please her in-laws, bearing with their continual visits in her house, serving them the best she could, gifting them regularly, especially her mother in-law. She accepted their lack of consideration and a lot of inappropriate behaviours to not be called a bad woman, one who brings curse upon her husband and family. Besides that, she had to manage between her job as a teacher and her duties as a wife, a mother, a housewife. The pressure to respect the elders and to not question the traditions and rituals that didn’t make any more sense then pushed her to accept the second marriage of her husband. However, her friend Aïssatou did not do the same; her husband Mawdo belonged to the nobility and due to that, his mother compelled him to take a second wife from the same group, thus, Aïssatou decided to seek divorce. She chose to break free from a family who disregarded her and her children only because she belonged to an inferior caste. She fought hard to build a better life for her and her 4 sons: she went back to school to study interpreting, secured a place at university in France and finally got nominated at the Senegalese embassy in the US. Aïssatou’s strength, Ramatoulaye couldn’t gather the same to also break free from the vicious circle in which her husband himself decided to put her in. Despite Daba, her first daughter, urging her to leave, she did not, she gave up, doubting she could ever achieve something good again given she had 12 children to take care of and was already advanced in years. It is also interesting to analyse the character of Daba; she is very confident, independent and she has a free and fresh spirit. Her mother said of her that she has an opinion on everything. She helped and comforted her mother during the whole mourning period and was a strong pillar for her family. With her husband, they formed a well-balanced partnership where both of them took care of the household; they were not conditioned by gender roles. Binetou and Nabou, who are approximately the same age as Daba, contrary to her, accepted to be the second wives of Modou and Mawdo respectively. Binetou was pressured by her mother, and coming from a disadvantaged family background, the prospects of building a life and achieving success for her and her family might have seemed too difficult in comparison to the wealth and gifts of Modou that were already available. For Nabou, even though she was educated and had a decent job, being raised by her aunt, Mawdo’s mother, who was very much attached to the traditions and customs; she remained faithful to the traditional ways and accepted to marry Mawdo to please their families and especially to honour her aunt. The women figures depicted in the book are diverse; all of them had different ideologies and conceptions. These were mainly conditioned by the environment in which they grew up, their experience and especially their education and company.

Overall, the story is really rich, refreshing and beautifully written, the author takes us away through time, through the lives and experiences of Ramatoulaye and Aïssatou with the challenges they faced and overcame. It is also a quite nice and authentic portrait of the Senegalese society then, with its good and bad traits; multifaceted, at the frontier between several worlds, several conceptions, having witnessed colonisation, then living in an independent state, with its people trying to build and reinforce a new identity and national unity, assimilating traditional values and religious beliefs with the new civilisation and lifestyle of a world on the path of globalisation. There is a lot to say about this book; the themes, the setting, the historical, social and political contexts. It is a real classic of the African literature and I definitely recommend.