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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In Mariama Ba's work So Long a Letter, Ba creates two central and strong female characters who contradict the standard role of women in African communities dominated by Islamic doctrines, like that of Senegal. This 3 page paper provides a concise overview of the elements in Ba's novel that support this supposition. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_Basolo1.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
The author recognized the significant gender-biases that existed it the culture and expressed them through the development of her characters. But rather than taking the standard view and assimilating
her characters within the culture from which they were raised, Ba attempts to challenge the notion of female subjugation and disempowerment by directing and solidifying the characteristics of
the her two main character. The relationship between Ramatoulaye (Rama), a Senegalese women, and her friend, Aissatou, who left the familiarity of Senegal for life in the United States after
a divorce from here husband, is the defining relationship in the book. Both women have taken on roles that are not in direct line with the traditions of their
culture, and Ba clearly veers away from painting a standardized picture of the African women, except through a distinct process of comparison. Ba recognizes the plight of Senegalese
women influenced by the patriarchal culture and "often muzzled"...Ba suggests that even her two main character are not strong enough to struggle free of their affliction, and she asserts that
"all women have almost the same fate" (88). The relationship between Rama and Aissatou bring the two together in a kind of community that is unlike the predominant
focus in the Islamic groupings of Senegal. The two friends describe their lives in complicity and state things like "our lives developed in parallel" (19), and ultimately, the reader
is able to observe a verbal unification that brings the women into a collective that makes the two appear in some ways to be inseparable. "We are true sisters,
destined for the same mission from emancipation" (15). But Rama is a women controlled more by the Islamic faith than her friend (or other women in the novel) and
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