Different Forms Of Colonialism On The Example Of The Book "So Long A Letter"

So Long a Letter

Introduction

To understand how the character Ramatoulaye and how she see’s colonialism in all its forms and how it is depicted, her background, her location, what is happening with in the colony itself and all the different forms of colonialism and different layers of colonialism depicted through the character and life of Ramatoulaye in So Long a Letter.

Ramatoulaye background

Ramatoulaye is the very core of this book so long a letter as the character is the narrator, thus the book is depicted her own view. This novel focuses on Ramatoulaye, on a very personal emotional experience of the events that took place thus the reader begins to; experience Ramatoulaye’s happiest moments in the novel where she experiences joy and happiness but also her irritations, dissatisfaction’s and unhappiness as both a wife to her husband and mother to her children. She was a character who grew up with in an oppressed society, which was a colony she was in a colony with under a French rule and way of living. French colonisers Senegal is on the brink of obtaining independence at the time the book was written, the people of the area where in the trading industry, the people of the area uses to trade with anything they could make or get their hands upon such pots, livestock. But since the French colonised the land, the locals and the people who settled down used things such as banknotes, which is used to trade just about anything. An example of how this affected Ramatoulaye she said “Each group displays its own contribution to the costs. In former times this contribution was made in kind: millet, livestock, rice, flour, oil, sugar, milk. Today it is made conspicuously in banknotes, and no one wants to give less than the other. A disturbing display of inner feeling that cannot be evaluated, now measured in francs!”

European culture and African culture

European culture was introduced to the local society to help improve the educational level of the people who lived there. The French brought in their romance language which is of course French and educational system that would allow them to progress a lot faster than what they had. Ramatoulaye had a certain view on how the French influenced her and the people around her she said “To lift us out of the bog of tradition, superstition and custom, to make us appreciate a multitude of civilizations without renouncing our own, to raise our vision of the world, cultivate our personalities, strengthen our qualities, to make up for our inadequacies, to develop universal moral values in us” Thus the education system helped to open the minds of the people of Senegal. Even though the locals are colonised their cultural traditions are still intact the way they initiate marriage, and preform the correct procedure to obtain a wife is still intact , their living styles are still very much the same throughout the book , and the way in which women are placed within the African society is still the same as the start of the book till the end of the book. “Even though I understand your stand, even though I respect the choice of liberated women, I have never conceived of happiness outside marriage.” Ramatoulaye even agrees even though she is a liberated women she still falls back to her traditions and way of living. Differences between men and women

Double marginalisation according to Gender Links, 2018 “double marginalisation: as women they experience discrimination on the basis of their gender; and as people with disabilities, they are discriminated against because of their disability. These intersecting, marginalising factors often create multiple avenues for exclusion and increased vulnerability to violence and abuse along with fewer opportunities to escape the abuse.” Thus women were seen as not important is trivial matters due to their gender, and created a very negative view on how the Senegal society saw women.Marriage was seen as negative, a terrible thing for women meanwhile for the mean it was a profit that was gained, according to Ramatoulaye “This is the moment dreaded by every Senegalese woman, the moment when she sacrifices her possessions as gifts to her family-in-law; and, worse still, beyond her possessions she gives up her personality, her dignity, becoming a thing in the service of the man who has married her, his grandfather, his grandmother, his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his uncle, his aunt, his male and female cousins, his friends. Her behaviour is conditioned: no sister-in-law will touch the head of any wife who has been stingy, unfaithful or inhospitable.” Therefore women where seen at insignificant , that they have to be faithful , meanwhile the husband can have multiple wife’s , but the worst is that the wife has to be there for every service the husband needs. Senegal was seeing something change under the leadership of the French colonisers, as a change of how women where seen in the land where according to Ramatoulaye “Marriage is no chain. It is mutual agreement over a life's programme.

So if one of the partners is no longer satisfied with the union, why should he remain? It may be Abou [her husband]; it may be me. Why not? The wife can take the initiative to make the break.” Thus she is becoming what is called an independent woman, which was only initiated through the colonising of the area and the education movement that was installed, they were having the influence of the French as the French stuck to one partner for life and this made more sense to Ramatoulaye as she began to think that it is a mutual agreement and not an easy way to make a love affair at every corner store.The difference in how men and women are treated in the Senegal region was very different to how the French thus making intervention of the French education system as according to Ramatoulaye “Now our society is shaken to its very foundations, torn between the attraction of imported vices and the fierce resistance of old virtues.” Ramatoulaye was somewhat of a very politically inclined person who began to get more and more involved, and she herself unfortunately was not able to get into the political type of situations to invoke her say in what was happening around her, she is surrounded by those who have a very powerful say with the world that she lives in her husband, Modou, who works as an adviser to the Ministry of Public Works making him a very powerful figure with in the community and thus able to use his influence around the Public works institute , by which Ramatoulaye can use her influence as a wife to make her husband do her words into action. And thus we also get her Daouda and her job is being a member of the National Assembly thus having even more power and influence than that of Ramatoulaye’s husband.

Islamic religion Senegalese culture was predominantly patriarchal society by which the culture itself was very biased towards men and women as the culture favoured men over women but also the Islamic religion was very biased in the same way as the culture was. The Senegal region was predominantly Islamic which according to Facts about the Muslims & the Religion of Islam - Toll-free hotline 1-877-WHY-ISLAM, 2018” Muslims are people who have professed belief in Islam. As believers, they worship the One God and revere Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (pbuh), as the last messenger of God. Additionally, they also believe in all the prophets which preceded Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the holy books which they brought, such as the Psalms, Torah, and the Gospel. A fundamental article of faith in Islam is belief in the Day of Judgement, when all humanity will be recompensed for their deeds in this world. Muslims believe in angels, as well as in predestination.”Thus they are very religious people who follow their faith daily , also making it very difficult for women within the religion to make a deceive move without disappointing their god , to make themselves independent women who can fend for themselves, also the novel , goes over the failing bonds of Ramatoulaye’s marriage to Modou after Modou decides to have a second wife with in the madrigal legislation that was stimulated within the Islamic religion which considered ‘okay’ .The problem with this is that Modou can take any women as his wife but Modu toke his daughter’s young friend to be his wife which is not a very good idea as this ruins Ramatoulaye’s faith in her husband. Ramatoulaye faces a very difficult decision within her life as Ramatoulaye’s faith allows the integration of the husband having more than one wife, and also stimulates that the wife must remain with her husband for as long as she is capable of living she must remain even if the man of the relationship remains another women and her at the same time. This would hurt anyone’s feelings thus according to Ramatoulaye “ I was irritated. He was asking me to understand. But to understand what? The supremacy of instinct? The right to betray? The justification of the desire for variety? I could not be an ally to polygamic instincts. What, then, was I to understand?” she was very confused and hurt by his way of making her understand the very essence of his animalistic way of thinking like that of a lion to his pride.

Due to this Ramatoulaye began to say things such as” assimilationist dream of the colonist drew into its crucible our mode of thought and way of life. The sun helmet worn over the natural protection of our kinky hair, smoke-filled pipe in the mouth, white shorts just above the calves, very short dresses displaying shapely legs: a whole generation suddenly became aware of the ridiculous situation festering in our midst.”Thus making it clear that her view on how her society sees the world has changed as she begins to see that the world around her is not as glamorous as it once was, she would not take the would at is was, she would start to think differently about how the colonisers opened her mind to all the different opportunities that a woman can have in the world of the European way of living. Independence Senegal integrating the new laws as an independence colony and the casting off of their colonial masters created a new setting for Ramatoulaye .Thus they were not forced to do anything they didn’t want to and made them self’s a new global identity in the view of the world. But from what Ramatoulaye has seen is that the French colonial’s left the land with irreversible, ideas, such as how to grow crops, how to deal with livestock, how to be able to use education to teach the next generation to allow them to become the true future of the region and carry on the teaching of those from a foreign land. According to www.dictionary.com, 2018, nationhood is” the state or quality of having status as a separate and independent nation” thus the concept is very relevant to the progressive colonisation of the region, and the progress of the separation of this region. But mostly is has a nationhood due to Senegal having deep roots in its culture and religion, also the same to the French that colonised they changed the views of these ideologies of the locals. The Senegal began to get global economic power which made it able to progress further into the new age.

Conclusion

Thus the colonials where a fast way of progression for Senegal and for Ramatoulaye as both the nation began to for a large basis for its international , and globalisation stages of living through the education system that the French brought with them . but also that the locals where used for a variety of takes but not to the extent that they had to chance their religion or their culture and way of living. Ramatoulaye on the other hand saw the change in her way of thinking and the way in which she saw they world around her.