So Long a Letter

Ramatoulaye is a Senegalese woman, a widowed mother of 12 who had been estranged from her husband for several years before his death. When the reader is first introduced to Rama, she is mourning her estranged husband, Modou, and is living in the ritual seclusion demanded by her Islamic faith. Rama is a devout woman who feels deeply connected to her faith, her children, and her community, but is increasingly focused on building the life she wants for herself. She began adulthood as a devoted wife to Modou and bore him a dozen children before being summarily abandoned for a younger wife. In the wake of this tragedy, Rama shows unflappable compassion toward her sister-wife, Binetou, noting that the young girl is just as much a victim as she. Tender-hearted to a fault, Rama still loves Modou despite his actions, and grieves his death despite the fact that he had not visited her in five years. She is even more devoted to her children, taking care to educate her sons and daughters equally, and rising to the occasion when one daughter becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Rama’s default nature is a thoughtful one, as evidenced by her detailed, almost analytic