The Doctor’s Wife and So Long a Letter Essay -- Literature

Men have been shown to be the prime cause of ambition amid the women characters in the novels The debases wife by Sawako Ariyoshi and So foresighted a letter by Mariama B. This is strongly evident in The Doctors Wife from the time Umpei returns home, after completing his education. A major change is also noticed in Otsugis behavior towards Kae. The intense tension caused by the competition amidst the women characters is also shown in So Long a Letter when the two men, Modou Fall and Mawdo B, marry their second wives. In this essay I will be discussing how men are shown to be the prime cause of competition between the women characters in the novels The Doctors Wife and So Long a Letter and why the writers use this element.This competition helps in developing the plots of the two novels. For example, throughout the letter that Ramatoulaye writes to Aissatou, the plot of So Long a Letter revolves around the second marriages of Modou Fall and Mawdo B. This creates a sense of compet ition between Ramatoulaye and Aissatou, their first wives respectively. The competition between Ramatoulaye and Binetou to acquire the attention of their husband, Modou Fall and between Aissatou and la Petite Nabou for Mawdo B is what keeps the readers interest in the novel. This competition becomes all the more evident when Ramatoulaye describes the formalities involved in carrying out the death ceremonial for her husband, Modou Fall. When all the formalities have ended, Binetou, Ramatoulayes co-Wife, finally leaves. This gives Ramatoulaye a sense of relief. This occurs when she says, Tonight Binetou, my co-Wife, will return to her SICAP villa. At last Phew(B, p. 8) Her expressions and feelings about Binetou are expressed... ...ice has know thirty years of silence, thirty years of harassment.(B, p. 57)This clearly gives a picture of the mental state of Ramatoulaye after Modous second marriage. Again, this is the result of the competition that Modou created between Ramatoulaye an d Binetou.From this, we are able to conclude that men have been shown to be the primary cause of competition between women characters in the novels The Doctors Wife and So Long a Letter. This competition has been used by the writers to enhance the plot development, by creating conflict and to show the mental state of women. Thus the novels shake reading interesting for the readers.BibliographyAriyoshi, Sawako. The Doctors Wife. Trans. Wakako Hironaka and Ann Siller Kostant. Tokyo Kodansha Int. 2003.B, Mariama. So Long a Letter. Trans. Modup Bod-Thomas. London Heinemann, 1989. Print.