Society can be portrayed in various ways, depending on customs, traditions and to some extent geographical location. Although the society portrayed does not necessarily have to reflect onto the authors own society, there is usually a link between the author and the society being portrayed. This is witnessed in the two books which I am going to deal with in this essay. In So Long A Letter; SLAL by Mariama Ba the typical West African society where Ba hails from is portrayed. On the other hand in A Collection Of Short Stories; ACOSS by Anton Chekov the emergence of the typical Russo-Siberian civilization with links to Anton Chekov is noticed.

Women being part of society are extensively and effectively portrayed in both the West African and Russo-Siberian societies. In SLAL; women can be seen as a commodity in society especially to their husbands. This effectively brigs out the...