Lit Circle #4 Reflection

In class, we discussed Book 5: Exodus of The Poisonwood Bible.

The first thing we talked about was the developments of the Price sisters after Ruth May’s death. Rachel had lived with Eeben Axelroot, and married an ambassador’s aide and a rich old man. Her relationship with Axelroot allowed her to escape the Congo, and her marriage to the ambassador’s aide allowed her to escape Axelroot. However, as a result of her last marriage, she acquired a hotel. Because of her constant marriages for her own gain, we determined that she only uses her husbands and is a gold digger. Adah fixes her paralysis after someone says that it is a neurological disorder and sets her up on a program to reprogram her body. Leah becomes love struck with Anatole and marries him. Leah’s marriage to Anatole brought up a comparison between her and Orleanna. Leah wanted to be with her husband in the Congo and shared his goal to continue Lumumba’s work for the better of the Congo, but Orleanna didn’t want to be in the Congo and just followed Nathan. This then brought up a comparison between Anatole and Nathan. Anatole and Nathan both are devoted to a cause; for Anatole it is Lumumba and for Nathan it is Christianity. They also both were willing to sacrifice for their cause; Anatole went to jail and Nathan’s daughter died and his family left. However, Anatole seems to care for others through his work, since it will help everyone, whereas Nathan is sharing Christianity largely as redemption for himself. Also, Anatole is willing to assimilate other cultures, like when he went to America and tried to learn as much as possible, whereas Nathan doesn’t want to assimilate any other culture since he feels his is the only right one. After this we discussed how all the girls felt guilty for Ruth May’s death and how each one of them is trying to work through it and find redemption. Leah does this by helping the Congo through her pro-Lumumba work with her husband. Rachel opens a hotel that caters to white people in the Congo, which was something she had wanted in her stay in Kilanga. Adah goes to college and cures diseases and fixes her paralysis. And Orleanna got her daughters to safety and makes a garden that grows not food, but flowers pretty plants. We then discussed about Adah and how she had changed the most in Exodus. Not only did she go to college and cures diseases, but she also fixed her paralysis and now can communicate unlike before. With this, we see that she is actually very emotionally needy and wants her mother’s love. We also discussed the Price sisters’ reactions to Nathan’s death. Basically it affected Leah the most, who had loved her father the most and was only able to separate from him through her love for Anatole. We also noted how Leah and Adah have somewhat switched roles; Adah is perfectly healthy and is living a pretty normal American life, while Leah feels out of place because in America her family is isolated and in the Congo she is isolated. Also, Nathan’s death was similar to Jesus’ in the sense that both were killed atop a construction for sins, but Nathan was burned on a construction for killing children after trying to baptize them, whereas Jesus was killed on the cross for our sins. We then talked about the events that happened to the people in Kilanga. Nelson married and had multiple children, but Mbutu’s men killed Pascal when he was on the road. Kenge, Tata Ndu’s second son, took over as chief after Tata Ndu died because Gbeni was run out of town. And Tata Kuvundu lost respect after Ruth May’s death since he had planted the snake that killed her and he died a lonely death. We then talked about the historical events that took place. Mbutu’s attempts to strengthen the Congo put them in debt and he also used funds for aide for himself. He scheduled a boxing match called Rumble in the Jungle, which was between Mohammed Ali and George Foreman. Ali represented Lumumba because he tried to understand the Congolese, whereas Foreman took an American mindset and didn’t like the Congo. We then discussed the “you” Orleanna always refers to. We figured out that it means multiple things, like Ruth May, the Congolese, countries, even ourselves.

I think that this book was very good for closure. It basically tied up the loose ends in Kilanga and talked about how the girls had matured after their experiences in Kilanga. The death of Nathan, the one responsible for bringing them to Kilanga, marked the end of their story in Kilanga and now it seems they can move on with their lives. The lives of Adah, Leah, and Orleanna all seem the way they should be, with Adah and Leah living generally happy and Orleanna being mournful but relatively well since her daughter died. However, I find that Rachel still has a very bad personality and hopefully she’ll correct it by the end of the book.