So Long a Letter deals with multiple themes, which includes the life of women in Senegal during the 1970s, family and community life, Islam and polygamy, and death rituals.[7]
The letters explore the tensions between Ramatoulaye's feminist values (developed largely as a consequence of her French colonial education) and her religion, which is often used a means of justifying the mistreatment of women like herself. However, Ramatoulaye attributes the mistreatment of women by men to the misinterpretation and misappropriation of Islamic scriptures, rather than suggesting that they are inherently sexist.
