Lit Circle #4 Response

We had another literature in class, this time on the chapter of Exodus. One of the major points we covered was that of guilt. In this section each girl deals with their own personal guilt and how the deal with it and seek redemption. Each girl including Orleanna has found their own religion, which helps them deal with their withstanding guilt. Orleanna has found gardening and cherishes the flowers and beautiful living things the she grows and nurtures. Each new seed to her is like a second chance, at life and as a mother. Rachel deals with her guilt by believing and trusting only herself and her material goods. She has changed very little, the least out of the entire family. Rachel pours herself into her appearance and her hotel. She stays oblivious and blocks out anything that brings her back to her childhood; this only leaves her stuck and in denial. Leah marries her first love, Anatole. She has made her religion service. She has become exactly like her father in how she feels a need to save others and does it be suffering. She has a constant need to save others, from poverty, hunger but mainly from the government. Leah overcompensates for Ruth May’s death and does this by her political actions. Adah, the last living daughter has made science her religion. Adah makes disease her redemption. She studies disease that is prominent in Africa. Her bible is the same, she believes in muntu and the cycle of life. When one good thing happens, something else bad will come up to keep its balance. Adah in going to school and becoming a doctor inevitably met many people, one of who helped her to get rid of her limp. She is no longer crooked and has lost her old way of seeing things. She misses her old self and like Jekyll and Hide, pretends, at night, that her limp is back, but her old way never lasts past the night.
Nathan also had a very small, but interesting part in this section. We learn that he has died. Nathan was apparently chased up a wooden tower and burnt to the ground. This was very close to the death of Jesus Christ. The parallel between their two crucifixions was curious. Nathan perhaps just took the bible a little too serious. There was also a quote from the bible that Adah described as being related to Nathan’s death. It was the last excerpt from the testament. It ended with the phrase: “and this shall be the end”.
We noticed a second parallel in this chapter. It was between Ruth May and Lummumba. The both died on the very same day, January 17th. They were both innocent figures representing less innocent wholes, the Price family and the Congo. Both the Price family and the Congo were victims of other forces, the Congo of foreign nations and The Price family of Nathan. Each ended with a tragic death, Lummumba and Ruth May. After the death of Ruth May the price family split, ending their independence from Nathan and the Congo. By the death of Lummumba, the Congo also had an end of independence and a split as well. As of now in the story the price family is split and shattered as well as the Congo, in both literal and metaphoric terms. The Prices family is no longer close in heart; they are also separated by a great ocean. The Congo is fallen apart being lead into poverty and chaos by Mbutu. It is also about to split literally into two different countries. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and The Republic of the Congo.
Another large point that we discussed was that of the emotional change in Adah that was expressed in this chapter. Adah throughout the chapter is tormented with a question to which she cannot alone answer. She yearns to know the reason that her mother chose to take her out of Africa instead of Leah or Rachel. Orleanna had to make a choice, and she chose Adah. Adah made one very important phone call to her mother on Christmas Eve, asking why. Why did Orleanna choose Adah? Simple. Adah was relieved to discover that the reason she was chosen was because of her rank as the second youngest child. A mother loves from the bottom up, and Adah just happened to be next in line. This call showed another side to Adah that we had not seen before. Adah needed love, she asked for it for the first time. Adah finally expressed her well-stifled requirement of love.
Back in Kilanga we have news that Tata Ndu has died of heart complications and so his eldest son took over the job. This son was a rather controversial chief and so was driven out of the village leaving the second oldest son in charge.
Leah talked about how we are all co-conspirators, referring not only to her family but also directly to us, and the reader on page 474. She asks us what we do now. She has told her story of poverty and suffering. We know how we can help and where to go, but what are we going to do? This is exactly what Kravinsky and Singer asked us. They have given us all this information and what? What are we going to do?