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Chapter 24
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in So Long a Letter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Custom, Modernity, and Progress
Feminism and Islam
Motherhood
Friendship vs. Marital Love
Dialogue and Address
Summary
Analysis
Ramatoulaye summons Ibrahima Sall, and he comes to visit her. She is pleasantly surprised by him: he is clean, dresses well, and conducts himself with tact. He assures her that he and Aissatou II have figured everything out: his parents will take care of the baby until Aissatou and Ibrahima finish their studies. Luckily, the baby is due during the holidays, so Aissatou will be able to hide her pregnancy and avoid expulsion. Ramatoulaye is impressed by all of this, and adds nothing to the plan. She writes that she feels that Aissatou has entered Ibrahima’s care; Ramatoulaye is no longer her daughter’s primary guardian.
Ibrahima and Aissatou’s open dialogue, careful planning, and their love and mutual respect for each other offer a clear counterpoint to Ramatoulaye’s and (other) Aissatou’s failed marriages. By Senegalese standards, Ibrahima and Aissatou’s union is entirely unconventional—even immoral—and yet in practice it seems like a far healthier relationship than the others the novel has offered thus far. Their example gives Ramatoulaye hope.
Themes
