West African Novels: Lesson Plan for
Grades 10-12 World Literature or Social Studies
West Africa
Enrichment Lesson for Grades 10,11,12
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba, published by Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, 361 Hanover Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 03801, USA.
The purpose of this lesson is to apply the guidelines for a Western world novel to this book which is written by a West African author. The reason for doing this is to discover what can be learned about the people and the culture and the country of West Africa using tools familiar to western readers. So Long a Letter fits the definition of a mainstream novel. It deals with the subjects of marriage, children, polygamy, divorce, and death. It is of interest to men, women, and young adults.
I. The Essentials of a Novel
A. What can be learned from the introduction to the story?
B. What is the problem to be solved by the main character or the
protagonist?
C. Who and/or what is the antagonist, the force which stands in
the way of the protagonist?
D. There must be several crises or efforts on the part of the
main character to overcome the problems.
E. What happens at the climax of the story? This is the moment of
highest interest when the protagonist either attains the goals
sought or is irrevocably defeated.
F. In the denouement, an explanation is offered as to the motives
of the characters and information may be given which clarifies
the ending of the story.
G. The conclusion rounds off and ties up all loose ends of the
story.
II. What can the reader learn about life in West Africa by
looking at the narrative tools the author uses?
A. The action in the novel reveals things about people, time,
place
B. The description of events, people, places, time, memories,
enrich the reader's experience.
C. The characters in the story reflect the country and the times
in which the story takes place.
D. Who is the storyteller?What viewpoint does the reader get
through the storyteller?
E. What gives the story its feeling of unity and harmony?
F. What gives the story the suspense that keeps the reader
turning the pages?
G. What surprises does the story offer the reader?
H. What is original and different in the book?
WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH THIS LESSON?
Mariama Ba's novel invites interpretation. The more times a reader reads it, the more things the reader finds in So Long a Letter. Since the book is so rich in description, philosophy and symbols, it invites lesson planning on a number of levels. Students can answer the statements simply by finding records of customs for burial, marriage, money matters, and family relationships. However, the book does not give exact descriptions of these customs. The reader has to infer customs from the story. Mariama Ba is more interested in the consequences these social customs have on people and particularly on women.
The exercise outlined in this lesson can be an end in itself, or it can be used as an information base to write a review or article interpreting the book. Each teacher is free to use the above outline as they wish and to interpret the book as they read it. However, even on our best days, a teacher appreciates another viewpoint on a book. Therefore, I am offering my own answers to my questions.
I. ESSENTIALS
A. Introduction. The story takes the form of a letter,
or series of letters, written by a woman, secluded, as is the
custom, after the death of her husband. Right from the beginning
the author is mixing the old and the new. While she is observing
the ancient custom of seclusion, she is using the time to explore
the customs and practices of a society that is undergoing rapid
change. She is most frequently a critic of what is going on
around her. She is writing these letters to another woman who she
considers a close friend, who she has known all her life, and who
also has seriously questioned the old customs of their country.
From the beginning, the dichotomy of the book is present.
B. Problem. The author of the letters, an educated woman, is caught between two worlds. She is bitter over her husband of twenty years taking another young wife, leaving her with tight finances and twelve children to raise by herself. Her husband has recently died which means that she is actually dealing with two deaths, the death of her marriage when he took his young bride and now his physical death. Is she going to find a kind of peace amid all her inner conflict and her day-to-day problems raising the children?
C. Antagonist. The greatest force working against the author appears to be the old custom of polygamy. But, again, the dichotomy is present. She is unable to accept this custom even when men friends she has known all her life propose a marriage relationship which would help her financially and lighten the burden of raising the children alone. In a way, her education is working against her here. Schooled only in the customs, she might have been able to accept the arrangement of polygamy when it appeared to her advantage.
D. Crises: 1. The author describes the difficulties
of living a modern life, being an educated woman, employed
outside the home, and still caught in a society that practices
ancient family customs. She had family coming and going in her
home all the time. They did not understand how hard she had to
work to make both worlds work under one roof.
2. She describes the burial practices that strip her home of many
of her treasured possessions.
3. She discusses at length the bitterness and and pain which the
practice of polygamy forces on women.
4. She discusses how her husband's new wife is "sold"
to him. She is a young woman, the same age as one of the
husband's own daughters. The author believes the marriage
destroys the spirit of the young wife.
5. The author tells about the sacrifices she makes as she learns
to be a single parent.
6. The author explores her reasons for not divorcing her husband
when he marries the young girl. The friend to whom she is writing
the letter did divorce her husband. the different paths these two
old friends take is another dichotomy in the story.
7. Wherever there are children there are daily crises, illness,
and trouble. She discusses some of these things and how she works
through the difficulties by herself. She writes about the
community reaction to her decisions to do things by herself.
E. Climax. The author's decision to stay married to the husband who has abandoned her for his young wife is certainly one climax in the story. After his death, she does write that she has forgiven him for what she believed to be a betrayal of their twenty year married relationship. This is a gesture to the old culture. Another climax seems to be when the author discovers her second daughter's pregnancy and helps and supports the young lovers instead of reprimanding and demanding. This appears to be the new way the author is coming to peace with her life.
F. Denouement, Conclusion. The author embraces the changes in her life and her culture. She discusses the value of old wisdoms, restraint in living habits, power of family, a belief in love as a force that is good between men and women. She continues to mix the old customs with the new changes in her life and the life of her country as she searches for peace and happiness.
II. NARRATIVE TOOLS
A. Action and Description. Through the letters the reader gains a knowledge of the old customs: funeral, marriage, family relationships. The reader learns also about the changes that are happening in peoples' lives and in the country.
B. Characters. Both women, the letter writer and the receiver of the letters, are educated women trying to come to terms with their lives and their country where one foot is firmly lodged in the old customs and the other lodged as firmly in change.
C. Storyteller. The story reads like an autobiography. The author is educated, wise, the mother of twelve, who has been most of her married life employed outside the home. She is trying to choose wisely between the old and the new ways so as to gain the greatest happiness in a life that has much grief and disappointment.
D. Unity and Harmony. The tone of the book is both bitter and hopeful. The author is making a positive attempt to reconcile the dichotomy in her life and in the society in which she lives. It is the author's optimism and hopefulness that give the book unity.
E. Suspense. The author's disappointments are big and so is her bitterness. Is she going to let circumstances send her off to some of the old solutions women have used? She describes polygamy and how destructive it is for most women. The reader wonders if the author will be able to stand up to all the troubles a woman must face by herself if she chooses to remain single.
F. Surprises and Originals. Mariama Ba creatively mixes the old customs and new thinking. She rejects neither but embraces both searching for sense and meaning in the life of her main character. She seeks peace, happiness, and freedom from bitterness. The feeling that a woman gets from reading this book is different from what might be expected. The descriptions of customs and culture is interesting and exotic, but a woman reader is reminded again and again how similar are the lives and problems of the women in this book to the life and experience of the reader.
Another approach to literature in the classroom:
Assign short stories or fables to be read silently or read aloud. Before students begin to read, review what the class already knows about archetypes. The students probably haven't read Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols or Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, but high school students easily understand the concept and probably have already been introduced to archetypes.
Employ student journals with this teaching approach. Journals in the secondary English class offer a personal and informal opportunity for students to respond to the ideas they see in the African stories. The journal is an idea exercise. Students can write whatever they believe to be appropriate to their interpretation of the story. For this lesson, students were asked to read silently the West African folktale, The Cow-Tail Switch. This story can be found in Topics for the Restless, Book One, Second Editon, 1989,Edward Spargo, Editor, Jamestown Publisher, Providence, Rhode Island.
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS
Read the folktale, The Cow-Tail Switch. Discuss the archetypes with your teacher so you are sure you have an understanding of what each one means. As you read, identify some of the archetypes that are listed on your worksheet. Explain in your journal how you see the different archetypes used in the story. You won't find all the archetypes in any one story. It is your interpretation of the story that is important. There are no wrong answers to this exercise. After you have found some of the archetypes in the folktale, relate one or two of them to your own life. As a young teen, you are going through a metamorphosis right now. You are changing from a child to an adult. What other archetypes are reflected in your life?
ARCHETYPES
fall from innocence-
emergence of evil-
quests (This is the act of looking for something, a search)-
rebirth-metamorphosis (This is a marked change in appearance,
character, condition, or function.)-
the trickster-
SELECTED STUDENT RESPONSES
"The innocent in this story is Puli. He was born innocent until he spoke asking for his father. When I was younger, I asked about my grandfather who I never knew."
"When Ogaloussa is brought back to life, he is born again. I think that when I have kids, I will be reborn through them."
"I think this is an example of the emergence of evil, 'Darkness came, but Ogaloussa didn't return'."
"I think Puli is a trickster, because he won't accept things as they are. He asks questions that start people doing stuff."
"The quest or search that I'm on in my life is getting out of my teen years and growing up to be somebody with a good job and a good life."
"About quests - I'm always trying to find things in my room. It's always messy."
"About fall from innocence - I had to grow up from being in eighth grade. I had to learn how to be independent and get used to life now that I'm an older ninth grader."
"When I came to America, we lived in a city where I was always afraid. There were a lot of bad kids who wanted to fight all the time. There was much racism. Later, we moved to Madison and I'm really glad. I feel that I have been born again."
"Puberty is a trickster."
"When I cut my long hair, I had a metamorphosis. I don't like my appearance, and I'm going to let it grow long again."
"My rebirth was when we moved to Madison from C________. I used to get "D's" and "F''s". Now I'm getting a "B" average. I think it is the different way they handle things in Madison."
"I have a quest I'm doing right now. I'm trying to go to school."
Georgia Cook
Spring, 1991
West African Literature
and the Electric Bulletin Board.