Mariama Ba's novel "So Long a Letter" depicts a female figure who confronts the presence of culture represented by patriarchal institution, it explores a spiritual journey in which the protagonist recognizes the need to rewrite her own story and takes a process of affirmation to proclaim that self-hood. She expresses freedom because she becomes the teller of her life story. Mariama Ba sets out to write a book that exposes the double standard between men and women in Africa. In most African countries polygamy is a normal way of life and is the driving force behind the African tradition. The novel exposes several themes such as spirituality, customs, gender power, female subjectivity and polygamy that are interchangeable within each other but represents the bond that connects the people of Africa. .

             The book is written in the form of a long letter written by widow, Ramatoulaye, to her friend, over the mandatory forty-day mourning period following the death of a husband, Modou. The introduction of Ba's novel places a young woman by the name of Ramatoulaye displaced as she reflects on the death of her husband. She recollects the phone call she receives, and in a panic, hurries to the hospital to find her husband Modou dead and in her own words "cut off from the world of the living by a white sheet". Mawdo, the doctor who was a close friend to the deceased, explains to Ramatoulaye that her husband, Modou had suffered a heart attack in his office and could not be resuscitated. Through customs and culture she remains composed through the devastation. This is the gateway that begins her journey of discovery. Reading the novel we learn Islam is the practiced religion. Religious practices are a pivotal role in African custom and tradition, and explain the behavior within the community in Senegal. Rendering to religious tradition, mirasse is a formal family meeting where secrets of the deceased are exposed to immediate family and close family friends.