So Long a Letter

Three years later, a crisis presents itself in Rama’s marriage. Her daughter, Daba, studying at university, brings home a shy friend named Binetou. Gradually, Binetou begins to come out of her shell, dressing more provocatively. Rama’s daughter says her friend has a “sugar-daddy” who pays for her clothes and jewels. Binetou’s parents, who are not well off, advise Binetou to marry the man. Both Rama and her daughter agree this would not be good for Binetou so close to graduation. But Binetou relents, and Rama’s daughter tells her that Binetou will, unhappily, marry her sugar-daddy on Sunday.

That Sunday, Rama is visited by three men: Modou’s brother Tamsir, Mawdo, and the local Imam. The men, dressed formally, inform Rama that Modou has taken Binetou as his second wife. They have come from the mosque. The ceremony has been performed in Rama’s absence. Rama covers her feelings, playing the gracious, obedient wife, but seethes inside. Rama’s daughter is similarly angry. Rama debates whether to leave her husband or stay, having been betrayed.

Rama relates to Aissatou the story of her friend, Jacqueline, a Protestant from the Ivory Coast who defied her parents and married Samba Diack, a Senegalese Muslim.