Lit circle #3 Response

We just finished discussing the Bel and the Serpent section of the Poisonwood Bible last class and this is a reflection on that discussion as well as a brief summary of what our class and Mrs. Watson found to be most significant in the chapter.
Orleanna opens the chapter differently than usual; she talks politics. She confides her deep guilt and remorse for being so oblivious to the world beyond her doors. While reminiscing she seems to be appalled at how ignorant she was, the escape, capture and eventual death of Lumumba flew so easily by her while her eyes were averted to Ruth May's rising fever and Rachel's 17th birthday.
After Orleanna's chapter, but still toward the beginning of the chapter we begin to see mounting tensions and family disputes. One of the most significant and important parts of this previous chapter was the death of Ruth May. As each different character recorded their memories of what happened they seemed to each deal differently with the situation. The mixing of religion and politics could be preserved as the bite from the fly. After casting a lop-sided vote of weather to except Jesus into their culture Leah begins to turn away from her father's solid failure. Leah begins to rebel and brings both good and bad attention to their family, but as much as it may seem Rachel wants it, attention is the last thing she needs from anyone besides her family. She wants so badly to fit in that she begins to resent Leah for bringing in unwanted attention. Rachel begins to feel like all she needs to do is get away from the Congo, back to where she is considered "main stream" and can blend in. As Rachel grows more and more desperate so does their African situation.
Ruth May dies by death of snakebite, a pivotal point both in the story and in the contained characters. All three daughters who witnessed the death of their younger sister seemed to react very differently on the surface but beneath it all, I believe they had very similar reactions; they just described the emotions in different ways. All three girls were drawn in and silent. They were stuck in that moment. It brought them all crashing down to reality. I felt like their Bantus at that moment finally became what we would consider Muntu. Rachel observed that they could not or would not move. They thought that they could freeze time and that moment so that their family could stay just as it had been, in one piece. Leah clearly described a moment of immobility and Adah recorded a refusal from all of them to move or follow Ruth May. Adah also made an observation of how much Ruth May’s death was like her birth, Leah described the last breath of Ruth May similar to that of a baby’s first breath, exactly the way Adah found it to be. They both made identical remarks on the resemblance of the puncture wounds into Ruth May’s arm are of a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. Rachel worried about he3r mother’s reaction to Ruth May’s death, though she had (as it seems in the present), nothing to worry about.
Orleanna was calm, cool, and collected at the news of Ruth May’s decease. Mrs. Watson shrewdly observed that perhaps Orleanna was so over come with emotion that she simply could not feel or express it. Orleanna went right to business creating a shroud for the corps. Nathan’s reaction was minimal, besides a few comments about Ruth May not being baptized he seemed to have little concern or problem with the news, but I expected nothing more.
Another significant part of this chapter was the whole deal with the title of the chapter and what it represented. Bel and the Serpent was a religious story that told of a false idol, Bel and the serpent. Through much discussion we agreed that Bel could represent either Nathan or tata Kvundu. Both of which preached texts or messages (curses and such) to which I find rather questionable. Nathan seems to believe hard what he preaches, but in his desperation to gather popularity among the locals he would not stop for a moment to not tell a lie if it could get him ahead. Tata Kvundu preaches false curses and predictions that villagers put much weight on. The people of Kilago are like the serpent because they believe so hard in tata Kvundu that they will eventually be bitten, even if they turn away and towards Nathan. An honest leader is a rare treasure in this time in the Congo.