So Long a Letter Lesson Plan

In this last section of the novel, Ramatoulaye's narrative and concern switch almost solely to her children. Why do you think this is? What is the narrative effect of this shift in focus?

The novel ends with Ramatoulaye focusing on the future for the first time, rather than recounting and mulling over the past. She discusses the challenges she faces raising children in the present day: her daughters face different sorts of pressures than she did (cigarettes, sex), and her son must deal with institutionalized racism. There is almost a sense of resignation that Ramatoulaye's opportunity to live the feminist live she had hoped for has passed, but there is also hope in the sense...