Lit Circle #3 Lexicographer

Kikongo Lexicon
A, baki!: You thief!
A bu: Well then, fine, ok
A bu, kwe?: Where, then?
A bu mpya: Who’s next?
Anatole baana bansisila au a-aana!: Anatole the orphan without descendants!—Bitterest insult that could be borne by a Congolese man
A yi bandu: If you do not mind
*Bakala mputu: Help me
Bantu: People
*Beelezi: Foreigners, government
Beto nki tutasala: What are we doing?
Beto tutakwe kusala: We will begin
Dikonko: Edible locusts and crickets
Kakakaka: Go!
*Kibaazu: Evil spirits
Kuleka?: Do you expect to sleep?
Ku nianga, ngeye uyele kutala: You thatched your roof and now you must not run out of your house if it rains
*Mankulu: Ancestors
Midiki: Milk
Muntu: A living, dead, or unborn person
Mwana: Your children
Nguka: Edible caterpillars
Nkento: A woman
Nommo: The force of a name to call oneself
Nsamba: New palm wine
Pagnes: Colorful women’s clothing
*: Not sure about definition
Difficult Words, Phrases, Proverbs, and Short Passages:
1) “The sting of a fly, the Congolese say, can launch the end of the world” (317).
This quote basically says that a small event can change everything. This makes sense since a wrong word can end a relationship and a small mistake like leaving the stove on can destroy a home. For the Price family, the sting was staying in Congo, and the end of the world was the death of Ruth May. They could never have guessed that something so bad could happen from that.
2) “They say you thatched your roof and now you must not run out of your house if it rains” (331-332).
This was the translation Anatole gave to Nathan when the village decided to vote to make Jesus the God of Kikongo. This is a proverb from Kikongo that was said to Nathan. It basically says that if you use an idea, like democracy, you always have to use it, which goes along the lines of not being hypocritical.
3) “And Nelson jumped right in to agree with Anatole, saying we should be glad for every arrow that shoots straight, even if it comes from a girl” (336).
This occurred when Anatole was trying to convince the village to let Leah hunt with the men. This shows that the entire village looks down upon women and even Nelson, who is a friend to Leah, seems to think that girls are inferior from him saying, “…even if it comes from a girl” (336). This also shows that Leah is becoming her own spirit, since she decided on her own that she wanted to hunt and also suggests that her newfound confidence will cause problems in Kikongo.
4) “Using the body as a mask, muntu watches and waits without fear, because muntu itself cannot die” (343).
This quote shows an interesting belief in Kikongo, which is that people are the same, dead or alive. Muntu can almost be considered a spirit in the Christian sense, meaning that when you die, you live on in the afterlife. This also foretells the death of Ruth May by interesting the aspect of life after death.
5) “Those who have known this kind of hunger cannot entirely love, ever again, those who have not” (345).
This explains the feelings of the Congolese towards the foreigners. Foreigners are much wealthier than the Congolese and never go hungry, but the Congolese constantly suffer from famine. The pain that comes from famine breeds hate towards those who do not know the pain, which causes fighting to break out, like the events that are happening in the Northern Congo during the time the book takes place.
6) “On the day of the hunt I came to know in the slick of my bones this one thing: all animals kill to survive, and we are animals” (347).
This is an interesting statement because it sheds light on the brutal truth of life, that everything comes with a price. Living is no different from getting a TV; we must spend something to live and get a TV. While a TV requires payment in money, living requires payment in the lives of others. This relates to the question of how can we live a morally decent life.
7) “Lambs to the slaughter. We were, or the animals were, I don’t even know who I feel sorry for the most” (350).
Rachel said this when she was reflecting on the massive hunt of the village. This quote is kind of confusing, but from my understanding it is very interesting. In Rachel’s eyes, although the animals’ bodies were destroyed, the people’s spirits were destroyed. In other words, when they were ruthlessly killing all of the animals, their morality was dying with the animals.
8) “And so it came to pass that the normal, happy event of dividing food after a hunt became a war of insults and rage and starving bellies” (354).
This shows that even though the villagers usually are very generous and kind towards one another, hunger can change everything. This relates to the violence in North Congo at that time, where even though the people there are normally very nice people, the hunger they suffer from cause them to become violent in order to obtain food to stop their hunger and that they are not just targeting white people only out of anger.
9) “Only a man, one man and no other, who brought the snake in a basket or carried it stunned or charmed like a gift in his own two hands” (362).
This occurred when the Price daughters and Nelson decided to set a trap to see if the snakes appearing in weird places were natural or the work of a man. This relates to the story of Bel in the beginning of the book, which told of how men were responsible for mysterious happenings.
10) “I was not present at Ruth May’s birth but I have seen it now, because I saw each step of it played out in reverse at the end of her life” (365).
This relates to Adah’s fascination with palindromes. According to her, life is one big palindrome, where life ends like how it beings. This explains the saying, “anything with a beginning has an end,” because everything needs to end the opposite of the way it started.