ABSTRACT
Mariama Bâ is a renowned Senegalese writer whose novel So Long a Letter received the distinction of winning the first African publishers' Noma Award. Bâ is considered a pioneer writer of African women’s rights, as she is rightly considered a woman within the context of the women's movement. Beginning with the religious influences, it is clear that the dominant force in So Long a Letter is Islam, a religion that holds that the woman is subject to the needs of the man, and therefore vulnerable. Clearly outside influences have taken shape in this African society, which disrupts and destroys the original balance between the African man and the woman, a powerful force that directly interconnects with the issue of race imposition as an underlying theme in the novel. The protagonist is also depicted as both self-defined and demanding of respect.
