what is the surface meaning in chapter 1?

So Long A Letter is an epistolary novel, meaning it is composed entirely of letters. It opens with Ramatoulaye addressing her friend Assiatou and letting her know that her husband, Modou, has passed away suddenly from a heart attack, making her a widow. She describes being called from her house by his secretary, grabbing a cab, and rushing to the hospital, only to be too late. She is comforted by the doctor Mawdo, Modou’s old friend, but muses on how that friendship still could not save Modou’s life, how all of his medical knowledge was useless against what she refers to as a “divine will.”