Demonstrate how Mariama Ba’s SO LONG A LETTER is a cry against patriarchy.

Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of male as the primary authority is central. It refers to a system where men have authority over women, children and property. As an institution of male rule and privilege, patriarchy is dependent on female subordination. In most of patriarchal societies men are given priority in many spheres like in cultural aspects, religion, political issues, economic access and the like. For instance in culture men are given special point of appreciation hence women have to respect them regardless their age. In some communities women are even not considered in property inheritance as well as forced to be married with ones who are not their choice.

          Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter Published in 1980, recounts the stories of two women and their husbands, lifelong friends living in Senegal during the post-colonial period of national reformulation. The novella is written in the form of a lengthy epistle from one woman, Ramatoulaye, to her beloved friend Aissatou.

          The following issues demonstrate how SO LONG A LETTER by Mariam Ba is a cry against patriarchy;

Polygamism; is a traditional practice whereby only a man is allowed to marry more than one spouse (Cook& Kelly, 2006). Polygamy in this novel is seen when Ramatoulaye’s husband Modou decidedto take a second wife after thirty tears of happy, loving marriage with twelve children to show for it. There are manyreasons why the polygamy led to the downfall of their marriage. Ramatoulaye loved Modou and that is the first reasonwhy a polygamous marriage would not work for them. Love does not fit into a polygamist setting. Anger and jealousy will occur if love is involved in polygamy. Ramatoulaye loved Modou very much.

Decision making; women in the most of African societies are rarely participating in the process of deciding in various matters even those that affect them either directly or indirectly. This issue is so serious since it put women in unfavorable situation as remain as the followers to whatever decided by men or elders. This issue seems to be a serious cry of women over the male-controlled system. In the book SO LONG A LETTER, Mariam Ba reveals this matter using several characters such as Nabou who brought up under very traditional Muslim customs and becomes and later marries to be second wife of Mawdo Bâ. She is the niece. Ramatoulaye's husband of twenty years (at the time) had married their daughter's best friend, Binetou, leaving her to her fate and shirking all responsibilities as ahusband and a father of a dozen children. Also Ramatoulaye is the one of proponents. She was politically-aware, a working mother, and a feminist revolution advocate, rejecting all suitors during and after hehusband's funeral, including her Modou's elder brother. Yet, some of her decisions seemed to run counter to her preach.For instance, though she argued against the all-male National Assembly she would not enter politics.

Religions and divorced issues; a religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them(Cook, 2006). For instance Ramatoulaye, the book’s speaker, has just experienced the death of her husband, Modou, and as a devout Muslim woman, she is central to the ceremonies performed for her husband’s burial. Like Ramatoulaye, Aissatou also Mawdo Ba, having divorced the man after taking a second wife. The tradition and customs toward the family mechanism under the umbrella of patriarchy in a so long a letter.

Sentimentality of society over women in motherhood as well as family care; in most of African society term women as the ones who are responsible for caring and rearing children while fathers are only for searching food and other needs for the family something that make most of African women remain in lower class in all aspects of life like socially, economically and so forth. This is because they are termed as only mothers who have to remain at home and ensure that children are served all required needs rather than going and work. In the book this cry has been revealed as Aisatou draws a clear picture in the Senegal society’s kind of life.

Domestic responsibilities; women are portrayed as the ones who are responsible for all home tasks and responsibilities. It seems in most of the African societies that women have to be accountable in such duties and responsibilities and not men, something that make them suffer much with a lot of tasks to perform whole day while men get relaxed. This issue in Mariama Ba’s SO LONG A LETTER is revealed as Ramatoulaye complains;  

             “………….Try explaining to them that a working woman is no less responsible

             for her home... There are the children to be washed, the husband to be looked

             after. The working woman has a dual task, of which both halves, equally arduous,

            must be reconciled. How does one go about this? Therein lies the skill that

             makes all the difference to a home………….”

Therefore; the novels emphasize how women face the challenges of patriarchy and other attempts through polygamy, neo-colonialism, and constraints of tradition, caste prejudice, and political instability. Bâ and Atta present female friendship as a form of empowerment and helps women build new identities and survive their misfortunes. This form of sisterhood usually extends to female solidarity, which involves more women who benefit from this care and nurturing. This is done purposely for the need to bring equal sharing of power and authority as well as resources between the two genders, men and female since the so called patriarchy undermines the women welfare and their considerations in many issues as men dominate and control each and e4verything in all angles of life.

REFERENCES          

Ba, M. (1989). So Long a Letter. London: Heinemann.

Bazin, N. T. (1989). Feminism in the Literature of African Women. USA: Taylor & Francis Ltd.

Dipio, D. (1998). Theory and Criticism of Literature.  Kampala. Department of Distance

                Education. Makerere University.