So Long a Letter

As the title suggests, So Long A Letter features the act of letter writing in an especially significant way. The book itself is framed as a very lengthy letter from Rama to Aissatou, written over the period of Rama’s seclusion from society. Unable to leave her home and dependent on infrequent visitors for company, Rama has ample time to reflect upon her life, and is able to channel this self-reflection into a letter. Though phones are infrequently mentioned in the novel, they are almost always harbingers of strife—Rama receives a telephone call after her husband’s heart attack, for instance. Letter writing, on the other hand, is treated with an almost sacred significance. Rama and Aissatou communicate all their hopes, dreams, and fears through letters, rather than through phone calls. This may be a financial necessity, given their distance and the cost of international calls. But it also suggests Rama’s status as a symbol of Senegal’s past, rather than its future.

Letters require time and effort to compose, and Rama uses letters to communicate sensitive information throughout the novel. In addition to Aissatou, she writes to her would-be suitor Daouda Dieng, to carefully and tactfully inform him that she won’t accept his offer of marriage.