The bog of tradition (metaphor)
In the seventh letter, Ramatoulaye describes her education as a way of being lifted out of "the bog of tradition, superstition, and custom". Her swamplike depiction of tradition fits with how difficult tradition can be to navigate, how it is often dark and demeaning, and how it is full of unseen snares and traps. Education, for Ramatoulaye, is a way out from suffocating societal traditions that are often limiting and even harmful.
A starving man and a plate of food (metaphor)
After Aissatou leaves her husband, he continued to have intimate relationships with his new wife and he continued to get her pregnant. Despite this, he claimed that he was dissatisfied with her and that he wanted Aissatou back in his life. When Ramatoulaye asks him why he doesn’t just leave his new wife, he compares himself to a starving man and his new wife with the nearest plate of food. Thus, even though he missed his first wife, for him, his sexual needs were more important and needed to be taken care of, no matter the consequences. He claims that just like starving survivors of a plane crash must eat whatever is in reach, even resorting at times to cannibalism, he, as a healthy male, must take what sexual satisfaction is available to him. Since Aissatou is gone, he argues, he must settle for young Nabou instead. Ramatoulaye points out to Aissatou that this reduces young Nabou to a plate of food, showing that Mawdo doesn't even respect her. But more broadly, the metaphor proves how the women in the novel are often treated as easily replaceable, and criticizes how the institution of polygamy often encourages that treatment.
The wound (metaphor)
Throughout the first part of the novel, while Ramatoulaye is telling Aissatou about the past, she apologizes for opening up a "wound," often saying that she knows it hasn't healed, even once going so far as to say that it still bleeds. This language of physical hurt connects with Ramatoulaye's observations about how mental and emotional pain can often manifest physically. When she describes the wound of their marriages, then, it signals that the emotional hurt causes an almost physical sensation for the two of them.
Milk and cream (metaphor)
After Modou leaves her, Ramatoulaye consoles herself with the thought that if Modou was milk, then it was she who had all the cream. What she means is that Ramatoulaye got the best years of Modou's life and has his children, whereas Binetou is stuck with him in his old age. This fact, however, doesn't change how painful Modou's abandonment is for Ramatoulaye. But while the cream is more valuable than the watery part of the milk, it's also much heavier. The very things that she treasures from Modou, like her long years with him and their children, are the very things that tie her down to Modou and make it impossible for her to leave. In the end, no one wins.
Women as mortar shells or stimulants (metaphor)
During a conversation on the rights of women, Daouda Dieng compares women to mortar shells, saying that women destroy and abolish, and would, therefore, make a mess in Parliament. But Ramatoulaye turns this around, saying that women are actually stimulants and that they take advantage of the rights offered to them while improving the world around them. This contrast in metaphors demonstrates how even though men like Daouda and Modou stand up for women, often their beliefs about women's capacity and the way they treat women showcase older, more sexist ways of thinking.
