The Cultural Silencing of the Woman in Mariama Bâ's "So long a letter"

Table of content

Table of content

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

MAPPING THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN CULTURAL CRITICSM AND FEMINISM

CULTURAL PUNCTUATION IN BÂ'S FEMALE CONSTRUCTION

CONCLUSION

Works Cited

ABSTRACT

Cultural Criticsm and Feminism are literary theories that have been employed in the critical analysis here in the generation of meaning in Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter. In exploring this investigation, the argument here is hinged on the fact that to properly ascertain the depth of female subjugation in such a traditional society, a researcher must, as a necessity, employ also, the tropes of Cultural Criticsm. The rationale behind this proves that through the lens of cultural criticism, the text can be better appreciated through the traditional theory of feminism.

Keywords: Cultural Criticism, Feminism, Literary Theories, Mariam Ba, So Long a Letter

INTRODUCTION

The intention here is to critically analyze Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter from the perspectives of Cultural Criticism and Feminism. Indeed, Bâ's So Long a Letter has been greeted with analytical attention especially in the area of feminism. This study is, therefore, a useful addition to the voices that have reviewed the text from the prismatic lens of cultural and feminist approaches. The analysis here shall simultaneously harmonise both theories while the earlier considers the context in which the text is set, the latter will factor in how the presence of such context orchestrates the silencing of the woman.

Since its publication in 1980, Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter has continued to attract the attention of critics not just for the content and creativity in storytelling but because of its manifestation of an existential transcript. This transcript captures an existential society, therefore, making the text essential and socially relevant. It is this relevance of literature to society that the literary patriarch, Achebe seems to be addressing when he States that “a literature which draws its sustenance from the life lived around it and develops imaginative identification with that life has a good chance of achieving the quality of prophetic utterance” (qtd in Onwuka 23). Admittedly, Bâ's So Long a Letter qualify for the type of literature Achebe refers to. Through the portraiture of cultural criticism, there is a clear guide that becomes a pathfinder as one examines female subjugation, oppression and exploitation in the text.

MAPPING THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN CULTURAL CRITICSM AND FEMINISM

At a broader perspective, Cultural Criticism attempts an enquiry into the artistic products of a society at any given moment in history. Arthur Berger in his celebrated text titled, Cultural Criticism (1995) elucidates that cultural criticism is best understood as an activity rather than a system. In its broadest terms, Cultural Criticism is the study of culture in all of its forms - literary, political, sociological, economic, moral, and religious. Cultural Criticism as a literary theory has not existed without an attendant contention. At every historical and developmental milestone, there have always been a redressing as to what Cultural Criticism is. For example it is a commonplace to see Cultural Criticism as a literary theory which has come to mediate over morality in the 19th century but in the wake of the 20th century, it has taken a turn towards an encompassing view of anthropology.

Regardless of this phenomenal contentions concerning Cultural Criticism, the fact still remains that Cultural Criticism attempts to beam its analytical light into the culture of a particular group per time. Such culture can originate with basically all sphere of life. Therefore, this criticism suggests that meaning cannot exists in isolation of the variables that shape a particular text. It is the interest of cultural critics to give judgements of how a particular behaviour impacts a culture and provide suggestions on a more favourable and viable society. Therefore, society and culture become significantly crucial to a cultural critics mind. Usually, Cultural Criticism finds expression more when it acts as a conduit for other traditional theories such as Feminism and Marxism. Thus, the agglutination of Cultural Criticism and Feminism can comprehensively picture the portraiture of women within the perimeters of a particular culture. It can also attempt to investigate not only society with regards to women but also the historical evidences that situate the portrait of women. To fully maximise the potentials of this criticism in the line of feminism, there is an unavoidable need to understand what feminism as a literary theory is about.

Feminism has different meanings depending on the school of thought concerned. While Alamveabee Idyorough in Gender Concepts and Issues in Nigeria believes that feminism stems from an understanding that women are suffering from subjugation, domination, exploitation, oppression and deprivation in different aspects of life in contrast to man. Therefore, in his understanding, such position has necessitated a movement aimed at securing and defending equal rights and opportunities for women. Jane Freedman in her 2001 text titled Feminism argues that Feminism is a theory that “concerns [itself] with women's inferior position in society and the discriminations encountered by women because of their sex” (1). Bell Hooks in "Feminist Politics: Where We Stand" appears more direct when she notes “Feminism [I]s a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression”(41). In all of these varying definitions, the variable that has remained constant is that feminist literary theory is a Feminist criticism that attempts to liberate the woman as well as advocating for her equality in the society. For the feminist, the rights of women is very critical and her recognition as a human.

The concepts of feminism are based on the views of the particular feminist perspective. For example, Crawford and Unger in Women and Gender: A Feminist Psychology itemises the theoretical perspectives of feminists to include: liberal, radical, socialist, womanist and cultural feminism. Also in "Feminist and Womanist Ideologies: An Overview", Ebele Okafor remarks that "the contemporary feminist theory [...] includes marxist, separatism, lesbian feminism, revalorists, multiracial feminism, standpoint feminism, feminism studies of men, social construction feminism, postmodern feminism and queer theory and third-wave feminism” (262). The contention that arises from this separation and divisions and even in its concepts have made S. Ikeokwu in "Igbo Studies and the Igbo Alternative to Feminism: A Brief Critical Note" unapologetically quips that “since the 1960s, feminism has split again and again until it has become feminisms, a set of groups, each with its own ideology, identity, and agenda” (52). To remain on course, therefore, without going into troubling waters, this essay shall remain with the broad understanding of feminist literary theory as not silencing (oppressing, subjugating, exploiting, etc) the woman.

Having identified what Cultural Criticism and feminism are and the cusp upon which they meet, the idea that is generated ambulates on the lines of how the woman is subjugated in all ramifications both by culture and society. The impact of this is what is to be hoisted out of Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter. In the text, the analytical examination dovetails into the annals of how culture is institutionalised to subjugate the woman and how the woman in turn is expected to accept the dictates of this culture. Although, there are several approaches to this type of study, but given the focus and research intention, it has become the bane here to explore Cultural Criticism and Feminist literary theory from this dimension.

CULTURAL PUNCTUATION IN BÂ'S FEMALE CONSTRUCTION

In delineating Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter from a feministic perspective and more, from the tripod of economic, religious and socialization indexes which are all apparatuses of cultural punctuation in the feminine construction. It will appeal to logic to bring to bare what Ramatulaye tells her friend Aissatou. In a sweep she is able to capture the plight of women from the aforementioned constraining tripod. She spells out:

My heart rejoices each time a woman emerges from the shadows. I know that the field of our gains is unstable, the retention of conquests difficult: social constraints are ever-present, and male egoism resists. Instruments for some, baits for others, respected or despised, often muzzled, all women have almost the same fate, which religion, [tradition] or legislation have sealed (93; my emphasis).

The point of view expressed here by Bâ conjures a peculiar stream of consciousness which when explored appropriately can help us define these punctuations and its unjust limitation on women. Coming from the angle of cultural practices, Nelly Lukale in "Harmful Traditional Practices: A Great Barrier to Women Empowerment" educates that:

Harmful traditional practices (HTPs) exist in many different forms. These traditions reflect norms of care and behaviours based on[...] gender[...] Many traditions[...] wear down the physical and psychological health and integrity of individuals, especially women and girls. Some of the major HTPs practiced in Africa include[...] early/child marriage and son preference. These have received global attention due to their severe and negative impact on the health and well-being of girls. Efforts to alter or eradicate these practices are often met with suspicion or hostility from those communities practicing them[...] (http://www.girlsglobe.org/2014/02/04/harmful-traditional-practices/)

Still passing the same message on gender marginalisation, in his paper titled, "Women and Leadership Position: Social and Cultural Barriers to Success", J.M. Kiamba opines that “In the African context, traditional beliefs and cultural attitudes regarding the role and status of women in society are still prevalent and many women are part of this system finding it difficult to dislocate from the cultural tradition lest they be ostracized” (12). In similar position, Sadie concurs that “desite women's education and entry into the job market, the woman's role is typically of homemaker. The man on the other hand is breadwinner, head of the house and has a right to public life”(20). The combination of the postulations above only culminate in an understanding that women are highly exploited by men. Indeed, the bullets loaded in the exploitative rifle are recollected in tradition, religion and economic legislation.

Mariama Bâ cleverly captures the foregoing debilitating recollections in the text. To begin with is to consider how religion is deployed as a frontier to advance and sustain the selfish, and most times, erotic impulses of men. From the textual-internal, it is noticed that the traditional practice of polygamy seems to be made assailable by religion. This, to a large extent, is to the disadvantage of women. In such a complex nuptial arrangement, women are always at the losing end. Upon taking a new wife, it is noticed that the men completely abandon the old for the latter, subjecting the former to deep emotuonal anguish. In the case of Ramatoulaye, it was a group of third party that broke her husband cojugal news to her on the very day, even right after the ceremony had long elapsed. The text registers “[...] Tasmir ventured: ‘modou sends his thanks. He says it is fate that decides men and things: God intended him to have a second wife, there is nothing he can do about it” (38; my emphasis). Apart form the shock that comes with such sudden knowledge, which reduces her worth as she never knew what has been going on and is not considered human enough to be told; apart from such disrespect, the very act of religiously coating this selfish intent suggest the thick covering of patriarchy weaves into the fabric of religion which goes to objectify the woman. Rather than admitting Modou's inability to curtail his sexual ambition, they immediately take a recourse to religion to justify promiscuity. Ramatoulaye's letter takes account of this when it reads that [she] sometimes noticed that Modou was interested in [... Binetou]. Neither was I worried when I heard him suggest that he should take Binetou home in the car - ‘because it was getting late’, he would say” (36). Indeed, not on account of any religious fate but as a result of the glitter in the girl that cateches his regard. Ramatoulaye herself confirms that Binetou “was really beautiful in this her adolescent period, in her faded but clean clothes! Her beauty shone, pure. Her shapely contours could not but be noticed” (36). Rather than confessing this, the Imam (Tasmir) appealed to religion, a sure means of piety escape:

The Imam attacked: ‘there is nothing one can do when Allah the almighty puts two people side by side’. ‘True, true’, said the other two in support. A pause. He took a breath and continued: ‘There is nothing new in this world’. ‘True, true,’ Tasmir and Mawdo chimed in again. ‘Some things we may find to be sad are much less so than others’[...]” (37; my emphasis).

Apart from the unwholesome stray into religion, notice his last statement. What can be immediately conjectured is that Tasmir himself knows this practice evokes pains in the victim. Even so, this act is still perpetuated primary because of the full strength of patriarchy that firmly holds court in the society; a society in which the woman is consistently objectified. Ramatoulaye remarks, “a woman is like a ball; once a ball is thrown, on one can predict where it will bounce. You have no control over where it rolls, and even less over who gets it. Often it is grabbed by an unexpected hand[...]’ (42; my emphasis).

To recount Aissatou's ordeal over this same polygamy practice, is to hit the core on the object valuation accorded to women in the cultural society and how this very practice of polygamy is so ingrained in the cultural system of the society to the extent that it is advanced by women also and seen as normal. For Aissatou, her opinion is relegated to the background when her husband compelled her outright into coming to terms with the imposed polygamous aspiration. Picturing it clearly, Ramatoulaye narrates her ordeal:

‘My brother Farba has given you young Nabou to be your wife, to thank me for the worthy way in which I have brought her up. I will never get over it if you don't take her as your wife [...] And because his mother had fixed a date for the wedding night, Mawdo finally had the courage to tell you what every women was whispering: you had a co-wife. ‘...Think of it, her brother's daughter, brought up by her, rejected by her son. What shame before society! [...] From then on, you no longer counted (30 -1).

The above indicates how Mawdo's mother practically imposed his preferred daughter-in-law on his son. This very act underscores how the society has come to embrace the web of this culture that emotionally cripples the woman. The men on the other hand, just as in the case of Mawdo, capitalises on this faulty cultural system to advance their agenda. The excuse of his helplessness in this situation is baseless for he is motivated by the prospect of having a young beautiful girl to himself after all. To comment on this, Ramatoulaye admits, “Young Nabou was so tempting”. It is upon this that Ramatoulaye actually questions Mawdo's commitment to his marriage and Aissatou saying, “did he really want to fight, to make a gesture of resistance?” (31). Given this calculated argument, what this suggest is the cardinal belief that when the helm of affairs is brought to bare, only the position of the man is considered, no matter how much the woman claims to know or how physically and emotionally damaging this could lead to. Consolidating this line of thought with the devastating experience of Jacquine, the Ivorian, it is crystallised that she is plays a victim to this traditional objectification of women. Coming from a different cultural clime, she is oblivious to the practice of her current reality; the polygamous tumult in which her husband Samba Diack renders her disheveled. It is worth noting that Jacqueline on the one hand, sees Diack as her prop in distress and her defense: she gave out the tee-total of herself to him without inhibitions. The text reminds that despite the entreaties of her Protestant parent, Jacquine still goes ahead to defy all to marry him which suggest the high level of her love for him. In the examination of her introspection, she must have reasoned that the appropriate response to such display of affront and loyalty will be an equal show of it from her husband. However, with the intervening variables of culture and religion, her Sengalese husband, Samba Diack, completely abandons her for someone else. Such emotional imbalances that this generate is what caused her the “atrocious suffering [...] caused by nervous breakdowns!” (45), Diack pays no mind considering that he practically inflicts this pain and health disorder on her. Ramatoulaye notes:

Her husband, making up for lost time, spent his time chasing slender Senegalese women, as he would say with appreciation, and did not bother to hide his adventures, respecting neither his wife nor children [...] Jacqueline lost weight; Sam a Diack was still living fast. Jacqueline complained of a disturbing lump in her chest under her left breast; she said she had the impression that a sharp point had pierced her there and was cutting through her flesh right to her very bones. She fretted [...] She consulted a doctor [...] who ordered an electrocardiogram and various blood tests [...] He [...] prescribed tranquilizers, big effervescent tablets [...] Jacqueline lay postrate in her bed. Her beautiful but neglected black hair, through which no comb had been run ever since she began consulting doctor after doctor, formed shaggy Tufts on her head [...] Jacqueline's thoughts turned to death. She waited for it, frightened and tormented (45).

What the above rendition suggests is that women are classified as secondary, they never attain the position, according to the textual deductions, where their feelings and cultural existence matter. Diack rests on the strength of culture and patriarchal conventions in his show of ingratitude, emotional torture and female subjugation.

Having considered the cultural and religious manifestations of polygamy: the practice that keeps woman eternally subjugated, the onus is upon us to present polygamy from a social perspective. This undertone of the society with regard to this discourse is no different from the discussed predecessor. However, society comes with its curve. The textual society is such where dependence on man by woman in unconditional; it is also a society that sees marriage as an avenue to climb the social ladder of status. As a consequence, women do not mind the denigrating portraiture they heap on themselves by accepting a subservient position, as long as it accords them the opportunity of an exotic change in status. It is also to this that parents adopts this unhealthy culture and promotes it. For Binetou, the parents find themselves between choosing the idea (chasing after education)l for their daughter and giving free rein to this culture; they align with the latter because of its status-elevating capacity. Ramatoulaye testifies:

Then one day, on her return from school, Dana confided to me that Binetou had a serious problem: ‘The sugar-daddy of the boutique dresses wants to marry [her...] Her parents want to withdraw her from school, with only a few months to go before the bac, to marry her off to the sugar-daddy’ [...] her mother is a woman who wants so much to escape from mediocrity and who regrets so much her past beauty, faded in the smoke from woodfires, that she looks enviously at everything I wear [... Binetou] is going to marry her sugar-daddy. Her mother [...] begged her daughter to give her life a happy end, in a proper house, as the man has promised them (36-7).

This explains that “Binetou, like many others, was a lamb slaughtered on the alter of affleuence” (Bâ 40-1) which is animated by cultural practices. This practice that limits the willpower of a woman, indeed, finds its expression in the societal milieu. This practice which adds a corollary to underage marriage, is rooted even within the domain of the socialization formula of the society. For example, Just like Binetou, in the case of Young Nabou is offered up by her father, Farba Diouf, to be trained and owned by Aunty Nabou. The latter with a thoroughly planned out ulterior motive filled with revenge, accepts young Nabou at a tender age, trains her and imposed her on her son who is old enough to birth her. This is evident of how even the younger generation is initiated into this destructive practice. Even at this point of a very deep internal working of socialization on this aspect, the victim, rather than see herself as a product of the opportunity cost of a society with harful culture, she, in fact, considers her conquest. Society compels them to admire the glitter above their worth and the subjugated position they are wont to occupy in the envisaged marriage. The text records:

As for Binetou, she had grown up in complete liberty in an environment where survival was of the essence. Her mother was more concerned with putting the pot on the boil than with education. Beautiful, lively, kindhearted, intelligent, Binetou had access to many of her friends’ well-off families and was sharply aware of what she was sacrificing for her marriage. A victim, she wanted to be the oppressor. Exiled in the world of adults, which was not her own [...] Reality was also Binetou, who went from night club to night club. She would arrive draped in a long, costly garment, a gold belt, a present from Modou on the birth of their first child,shinning round her waist. Her shoes trapped the ground, announcing her presence. The waiters would move aside and bow respectfully in the hope of a royal tip [...] She was showing off to the young people and wanted to impress them with her form of success (50-2).

To think that only the young faced the foregoing established problem, even older women are not exempted for the institutionalised cultural arrangement that is responsible for the colossal damage. Barely had Ramatoulaye completed her mourning length than she begins to receive advances from her husband's brother. It goes without mistake to note that, to a large extent, this is an institutionalised practice that ostracises the woman. Within the cultural topography, the reader is confronted with the understanding that the culture and society in a subtle way attempts to inject the idea of ‘widow inheritance’: a marriage of a widow to the late husband's brother; children of such union are considers issues of the deceased. Coming on the strength of this Ramatoulaye receives marriage advances from Tasmir, Modou's brother even before the mourning rites elapsed. Here, it is noticed that despite the Harlem of wives Yasir is decorated with, he still makes to add to his fleet by wanting to marry his later brother's wife who is still on her mourning robe. This affront of demand that suffocates the woman of such cultural society stirs up the rage in Ramatoulaye. In a feat of frenzy, she charges:

My voice has known thirty years of silence, thirty years of harassment. It bursts out, violent, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes contemptuous [...] While we are praying for Modou, you are thinking of future wedding festivities [...] You forget that I have a heart, a mind, that I am not an object to be passed from hand to hand [...] ‘What of your wives, Tasmir? Your income can meet neither their needs nor those of your numerous children. To help you out with your financial obligations, one of your wives dyes, another sells fruit, the third untiringly turns the handle of her sewing machine [...] (60).

Through this response, one can actually sieve out the authorial voice. Bâ attempts to air her opinion on this cultural portrayal of the objectification of the woman. She opines through Ramatoulaye that harmful cultural practices should be excised from their existential living. Her emphasis happens to be on cultures that subjugate the women, that makes them play second fiddle to the men. Beyond this, she seeks to beam light on the areas and manner in which these cultural practices have come to have strong footing in the society.

CONCLUSION

Through Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter, the portraiture of women in a cultural African society is well explored. Bâ uses her text to expose certain negative cultures that subjugate and oppress the woman. Undoubtedly, her ultimate aim is to seek out the possibility in the complete rejection of such harmful culture. The critical theories of Cultural Criticism and Feminism have given one the impetus to explore discourses on this pedestal. Here, the in-depth analysis that originate with the harmony of these theories have carefully mapped out some of these cultures that Bâ focuses on in her text.

Works Cited

Bâ, Mariama. So Long a Letter, 1980. Trans. Module Bode Thomas. USA: Heinemann, 1989.

Berger, Arthur. Cultural Criticism: A Primer of Key Concepts. New York: SAGE Publications, Inc., 1994.

Crawford, M. and Unger, R. Women and Gender: A Feminist Psychology, (4th Ed.). McGraw Hill: New York.

Freedman, Jane. Feminism. Philadelphia: Open University Press, 2001.

Hooks, Bell. Feminist Politics: Where we Stand”. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 41-44. New York: McGraw Hill, 2006.

Idyorough, Alamveabee. Gender Concepts and Issues in Nigeria. Ibadan: Aboki Publishers, 2005.

Ikeokwu, E.S. "Igbo Studies and Igbo Alternative to Feminism: A Brief Critical Note. Journal of Igbo Studies, Vol. 1, 51-58, 2006.

Kiamba, Josephine. "Women and Leadership Position: Social and Cultural Barriers to Success". Wagadu, Vol. 6, 7-26, 2008. http://sites.cortland.edu/wagadu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/02/kiamba.pdf; accessed February 27th, 2021.

Lukale, Nelly. "Harmful Traditional Practices: A Great Barrier to Women Empowerment", 2014. http://www.girlsglobe.org/2014/02/04/harmful-traditional-practices/; accessed February 27th, 2021.

Okafor, Ebele. Feminist and Womanist Ideologies: An Overview". LARES: Lagos Review of English Studies, Vol 18(1):259-277, 2018/2019.

Onwuka, Edwin. A Critical Review of the Impact of Literature and History in Society. Journal of Language and Literary Studies, Vol. 1(1):59-65, 2010. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306192487_A_CRITICAL_REVIEW_OF_THE_IMPACT_OF_LITERATURE_AND_HISTORY_ON_SOCIETY; accessed February 28th, 2021.

[...]