Book One: Genesis
-Orleanna Price (mother of Price family, was once independent and free-spirited however marriage and the worries of her family have wore her out and dulled her) opens the story by introducing herself by her religion, Southern Baptist, apparently “by marriage” and stating that she is a mother of children, some who are alive and (one who is) dead. This portion of the story is written in her perspective, being the only narrator of the novel that writes in the past tense, writing her viewpoint on every event after they occurred. It is then found out Orleanna is writing her narrative to one of her four daughters, the one who has passed away. It is revealed that Nathan Price (faith-obsessed reverend/Baptist minister, puts ‘God’s word’ before his family, stubborn attitude, rude personality) has taken his family on a missionary trip to the African village of Kilanga in Belgian Congo. Orleanna then reveals, relating back to the sentiment of her narrative being dedicated to her late daughter, her telling the story is actually just a giant cry for forgiveness from her deceased daughter.
-"Some of us
know how we came by our fortune and some of us do not, but we wear it all the
same. There is only one question worth asking now: How do we aim to live with
it?" The story then answers Orleanna’s question, through the eyes of each
of the four Price daughters- including Orleanna, the mother.
-The POV now switches to Leah Price (tomboy twin to Adah, idolizes her father and fully
believes in God, as time progresses in Congo and the political corruption
worsens she grows to hat her father and loses her religious faith) and she
describes their airport experience, having to carry around various items in her
clothing due to baggage weight restrictions. Leah states she does question her
father’s judgment, she truly does believe that the Prices are carrying out
“God’s work” by going to Africa and interacting with all the African civilians
there who inhabit. At the airport, the Price family is met by two missionaries:
the Underdowns (Reverend + Mrs.) who
greet the family and explain to them that mission is not what it used. Sensing
disappointment- deff. foreshadow of conflict right when the Prices land in
Kilanga. It was also revealed that the Prices will be the only Westerners
present in the village. Major clashes of culture will occur, especially with
teenage attitudes on board.
-The Prices then board on to a plane being piloted by Eeben Axelroot (rude airplane pilot
involved in shady political affairs) When they finally arrive to the village
and un-board, it is found out that the entire village is there- expecting +
anticipating their arrival.
-Ruth May Price,
the youngest of the Price daughters + friendly spirit, now takes over the POV
parceling the African citizens to the Tribe of Ham, taken out of the Bible,
recounting stories and then contrasting her Bible stories with her life back at
Georgia stating there are “Jimmy Crow” laws in which blacks + whites are
segregated. This sets the time frame for our novel which is 1959-1998 (when it
was published) by Barbara Kingsolver.
-Now the narrator goes on to Rachel Price (daughter with least grown, self-absorbed, conceited,
racist, obsessed with how she and only she feels, manipulative, selfish), she is
absolutely repulsed by Kilanga and its’ hideous odor and drastic poverty. I
have a feeling that Rachel will go through the biggest transition of everyone
in the family; after all- at such a young age it is no doubt that one will pick
up on the African peoples’ customs, cultures, and lessons as she is still
growing up. She then complains about the villagers’ hymns, irritating her-
possibly due to the fact that she is not as religious as her father or other
sisters/mother for that matter.
-Nathan then starts ‘preaching’ (if you can call it that)
and attacks nudity- pointing out a specific woman who has her bare breast out.
Though but one villager actually understands + speaks English- his voice +
overall tone is so overbearing and sinister enough to horrify the villagers.
Happiness in Kilanga is about to be massacred.
-On to Adah Price (observer,
well-minded into nature), Leah’s twin sister. She reveals she has a disability
named ‘hemiplegia’- which means the left side of her body is paralyzed. This
includes limitations such as having to limp on her left foot and not being able
to access the left portion of her brain. Being the quietest one, she brags
about her unique view on things and how no one sees things the way she sees it-
Lord know if that’s a good thing… Adah states that her first impression of
Kilanga is that the village is nothing but mud homes that run along a river.
Wow, not every different of Rachel’s interpretation… Then it’s stated that without any news or
radio service accessible, the Prices rely on the very unreliable Eeben Axelroot
for news that is occurring in the outside world.
-Leah accompanies her father to plant a ‘demonstration
garden’ using seeds brought form their home. This shows the natives of the
region that one may provide for their family using quick and easy Ag.
techniques. I doubt, however, this will make the villagers comfortable with Nathan
again. We now meet Mama Tataba who
is the Prices new helper lady, previously left by the missionary who arrived
before them – Brother Fowles. Also left by Fowles to the Prices was their
new (pet?) parrot- Methuselah. Mama Tataba warns Nathan of the Poisonwood tree
they’re planting by and its harmful affects- ignoring her Nathan wakes up with
rashes and an eye swollen shut. It seems as though as each page goes by, Nathan
just get’s more ignorant. Later on Reverend Nathan announces an Easter mass +
baptism, however, the villagers him – Orleanna then calls for a picnic which
attracts the entire village due to the promise of food; she sees this as a
great opportunity to attract villagers to their poorly-visited church.
-Ruth May overhears a conversation between Mama Tataba+
Orleanna concerning their neighbor, Mama Mwanza, who has lost her legs in a
fire yet still runs her big family. Ruth then realizes this a commonality for
the Africans in the village, lost limbs, missing body parts, she goes on to realizing
that instead of abnormality’s such as disabilities
and diseases being abnormal- things such as Rachel’s blonde hair is an
abnormality to those in the village.
-The first notable transition in culture occurs when after
devastating rainstorms strike, Leah + Reverend Nathan reconstruct their ruined
garden, following Mama Tataba’s advice- this witnessed by Adah
-The garden then grows successfully thanks to Mama Tataba’s
advice, though it grew to be a mini jungle- no fruit whatsoever. I interpret
this as a symbolization of the Price’s adventure- their garden is saying “the
adventure has only begun; by accounting your first acknowledgment into the
African culture one does not already ‘get the fruit’”. There is still a lot
more to go in their journey for the Prices fruit to grow.
-Mama Tataba warns-in a way- to Adah, on her way back from
church, that her father better quit the baptism ‘stuff’. Reverend Nathan later
responds to this as ‘anything is possible’ if others are willing to adapt. Can’t
he adapt as well? He doesn’t really seem like he wants to settle or compromise
with the villagers which is just creating a bigger gap + division between the
tow cultures.
-At a mass Reverend Price was giving he speaks of baptism +
promotes it, to Mama Tataba’s (+rest of villagers’)disliking- she speaks out
against prompting her to teach the Prices girls a few skills they need to know
in order to survive, then she leaves the family. Nathan then discovers the
villagers are not in favor of baptism due to the trauma of an incident
involving a crocodile eating a little girl, none of the adults will allow their
children to go near a river again.
Book Two: The Revelation
-Ruth May is the first Price child that makes a real
connection and positive communication with the other village children. She
teaches them the game, “Mother May I”, and all the village kids gather ‘round
the Prices front yard to play, however, one by one they start coming less and
less; except for Pascal, Ruth May’s new friend.
- Breaking her arm by spying on a union of anti-Belgium
forces that have gathered, Ruth May gets flown by Axelroot to Stanleyville to
visit a doctor. On the plane, she discovers a bag full of diamonds- leading
Axelroot to threatening Orleanna’s life if Ruth May says a word to anyone about
it.
-Surprised by Ruth findings of anti-Belgium forces, the
doctor and Reverend Nathan get into an argument concerning politics in the
Congo + its U.S. relations. Nathan states that the U.S. is bringing vital
structure+ order to Africa while the doctor negates that and says all the U.S.
is doing is taking advantage of the land.
-Nathan denies allegations of violence towards whites done
by Lumumba, Congolese leader, stating God’s protecting them.
-One night, Anatole
Ngemba (village teacher that the Underdowns took in when he was orphan,
translates Nathan Price’s sermons for the villagers) comes to dinner and
explains to the Reverend that Chief Ndu has a worry tat Christianity will ruin
the village, making the villager forget heir true African cultures, traditions,
customs, gods, etc. leading to a decline in morality. Baffled, Reverend Nathan
throws him out of the house, furiously, and takes out his anger by breaking
Orleanna’s most cherished Kilanga ‘kick-knack’, a plate left by Brother Fowles.
-While getting water, Adah gets chased by a lion who she
‘outsmarts’ and gets away from it. Tata Ndu’s hears of this and denies that it
was Jesus or God.
-Anatole sends the Prices a young orphan boy, Nelson, to help around the house in
return for a place to stay. Nelson is very bright, picking up English in only
weeks which fascinates Leah, in her POV. She looks forward to interacting with
him.
-The village gets infested with the fatal bug, kakaka, which
affects the digestive system. Orleanna, being terribly worried, ordered her
girls to solely stay on their all day to not risk them getting infected.
-Leah gets a case of malaria, however mild due to incorrect
(low) doses of the prevention medicine, quinine, she needed.
-After a Christmas gift of needles to knit, Leah + Adah go
to the porch to do their needlework where they see their parrot. Methuselah has
been let go by the Prices in one of Nathan storms, but the bird is just hanging
outside- not comfortable or acquainted with the idea of freedom. Staying close
to his house, much like the Prices. They’re staying close to home.
-After Adah’s lion incident, more villagers go to Nathan’s
church-believing Jesus saved her. Nelson, although, states he is watching
closely to see if something bad will occur to the Prices.
-Nathan ignores African culture once again by allowing Leah
to take an owl she’s been hiding inside, disregarding villager’s fright that
owls eat dead souls + his wife’s order to keep the bird outside. Yet another display
of cultural ignores by the Reverend.
-The Underdowns come by and visit unexpectedly, giving giant
news to the prices that in May Congo will hold an election + June they will
declare their independence for one and for all; putting the Prices and
villagers safety in very grave danger. It also revealed that the Mission League
had not sanctioned their visit officially which causes Orleanna to lose it. While Orleanna calls out the
faults in the Westerns’ treatment to the Congolese, Nathan continues his belief
that it won’t happen, in this case, he refuses to accept the fact that need to
leave before May + says they’re staying until July in the granted date for the
missionaries to leave.
-Adah sees Tata Kuvundu placing a bowl of chicken bowls
outside the Price’s door, she takes this as an act of kindness
-Lumumba wins the elections, the Underdowns tells the Prices
to prepare for their evacuation- however Nathan refuses leaving Orleanna
begging him to leave
-Nathan + Leah fly to Leopoldville to watch the ‘transfer of
power’ leaving the rest of the Prices in Congo. Orleanna stays in bed all day
w/ Ruth May confessing she does not ever want to get up
-While in Leopoldville, Leah is in absolute awe she sees how
divided up and segregated the white + black communities are, whites being very
wealthy + leisure while the black people are in deep poverty barely surviving
-On the day elections are held, Nathan finds Methusela’s
feathers scrambled on the ground realizing he had gotten eaten.
Foreshadow/symbolization of the Prices’ fate- Nathan refuses to allow his
family to flee the nation so they are about to get eat by their predators- the
Congolese
Book Three: The Judges
-We learn from Orleanna that Nathan was drafted in to WWII,
got wounded and was recovering during the Bataan Death March which killed his
whole regimen. From then on he was obsessed with his guilt and vowed to save
souls which God ‘demanded’ him to do.
-The prices are now broke + more miserable due to the
Mission league cutting of their allowance and no other villager offers them
items. However, Mama Mwanza is the only villager who gives them something-
oranges, and she explains that one who has a lot must give who those that don’t
have any. Leah is convinced Tata Kuvundu’s chicken bones were voodoo now.
-Adah learns form Nelson that the villagers are just
entering + leaving Christianity as soon as their old faith brings them down and
back up again. As if it were a pair of shoes, or a car, just switching on + off
to see which one “works best”.
-As Orleanna + Ruth May continue ill in bed 24/7, Nathan
blames Orleanna for not praying to God to heal her and continues to refuse to
leave. This makes the rest of the girls the heads of households now.
-Anatole reveals to Leah that Southern Congo has now
declared independence for the rest of the country
-Nelson gives Ruth May nkisi which she is supposed to use
when at the moment of death arriving and imagine her ‘safe place’ so that the
amulet can take her there. Foreshadow of Ruth May’s death- she is the daughter
that dies.
-Orleanna is finally gaining her independence by getting up
from bed and picking up where she left off in the house. She is determined to
leave Congo with her girls who shocks most especially Leah, now doubting if her
father’s reasoning is correct realizing their predicament is life-or-death.
(Finally!)
-Brother Fowles gets into town and every villager is ecstatic
of his arrival- same with the Price women. Orleanna listens to him attentively,
being a former believer in nature’s spirits + powers. Nathan then gets into a
heated argument of biblical interpretations with Fowles in which Nathan “loses”
and storms off.
-Tata Ndu now wants Rachel to be his wife, with Nelson
translating his now-frequent visits to the Prices. The Congolese oppose democracy
and believe in complete unamity- so Ndu’s proposal must have the who village’s
consent infuriating Rachel.
-Ruth May gets more ill as e/day goes by and the Prices
realize she has never swallowed the quinine tablets she’s been needing to take.
This comes to the understanding that she has malaria. (Her death is very near.)
-To low-key reject Ndu’s offer, Rachel says she is already engaged
to Axelroot which makes them have to sit outside where people can see them be
together. They grow an acquaintanceship out of this and Rachel + Axelroot now
plan to fly out her and the rest of the Prices girls’ home.
-Ruth May decides when she reappears, taking into account
her nkisi, she will reappear as a mamba snake- making herself now into her
greatest fear.
-Rachel is now frustrated due to no one making a big deal
that it’s her birthday, with Ruth May’s 105 fever and Adah’s scorpion bite.
She’s convinced their trying to steal her thunder which only means she has not grown
yet at this potion of the story.
-Orleanna and Leah grow their character now that Orleanna
avoids the house and takes the girls for long walks outside and with Leah teaching
math at Anatole’s school, then having French lessons after
-During one of Leah’s lessons Anatole reveals that he
translates Nathan’s sermons because he wants the villagers to listen for their
own + make their own decision
-After a walk in the jungle, Rachel + Axelroot kiss then
with a confession from Axelroot that Lumumba is going to get killed. Rachel
takes this as Axelroot trying to impress for more xoxo.
-Adah spies on Axelroot and overhears that Lumubma’s
assassination is linked to U.S. president at the time; Eisenhower which shocks
her so much she doesn’t know how to process it.
-Flesh-eating ants now raid the village which makes everyone
flea to the river, in doing so Leah loses her family in sight and Anatole meets
up with her telling her to stay put. In the meantime, he’s going to find
everyone else.
-Rachel’s conceitedness takes her P.O.V. as usual and is
devastated when she is pushed off a boat she tried to climb aboard and gets her
mirror broken. Still no show of growth, well, four more books to go…
-Adah is very saddened when Orleanna ‘chose’ to save Ruth
May instead of her when fleeing the village. She falls to the ground, however,
Anatole is there to pick her up and basically save her life.
-Now on board on a boat, Leah + Anatole carry on their discussion
and she tells Anatole of Adah’s finding of Eisenhower’s murder plot. She gets
rather hysterical and reveals something to Anatole, she loves him.
Book Four: Bel and the Serpent
-After one of Nathan’s sermons, Chief Tata Ndu demands a vote
on whether, or not, Kilanga believes in Jesus as God. Nathan, baffled, forcibly
agrees and the village votes against him, stating they do not believe in Him.
-Tensions once again arise as Leah is ‘caught’ hunting in a
plot to scurry away animals out of the jungle due to the devastating famine.
Chief Ndu + Ttaa Kuvundu are very opposed to this while Anatole is in her
favor. The village votes that it’s suitable for Leah to hunt and Kuvundu
horrifies the villagers by telling them awful things are bound to happen now
that they messed with ‘forces of nature’.
-Leah continues to hunt, despite her father’s word. Anatole
finds a mamba snake in his bed and kills it before it kills him making the
villagers believe Kuvundu’s presentiment was true.
-Leah continues to slay the game in Kilanga by killing an
antelope that Chief Tata Ndu's son, Gbenye, claims that he has killed. Nelson
comes to the rescue and gives him evidence that she was the one who killed it
which infuriates him, forcing her to skin the animal as the rest of the women
are. Meanwhile, Rachel escapes the bloodbath-animal massacre and vows to become
a vegetarian. This is her first sign of real growth in the story to me…
-Leah and Nathan argue concerning Leah’s antelope kill in
which Leah explains her frustration + anger that Gbenye took credit for that
kill. Nathan says God is punishing her due to Gbenye being older than Leah and
she was disrespecting him. At this point Leah denounces her father. R.I.P. to
their close relationship.
-The Price plot find out who has been laying snakes in
houses of people connected to The Prices after Nelson being terrified of
sleeping in their chicken coop. (Of course, Nathan won’t let them in)
-The girls wake up and see if their plot worked, attempting
to track footprints. They find that Tata Kuvundu is responsible for it and they
find a snake in the coop which starts to dash past them.
-Noticing that Ruth May is weeping; Leah goes and assures
Ruth May that the snake is gone now. However, they find out that the snake has
bitten her. Here begins the death of Ruth May.
-As the kids are outside around Ruth May’s corpse the dream
of Rachel returning home + forgetting that Congo ever happened has suddenly
died.
-The girls tell Orleanna who, collected + calm, washes Ruth
May’s body and lays it on a table- local tradition. When Nathan finds out he
says her death was due to her not being baptized yet, as he planned to baptize
her with the village children. Leah is disgusted by his response, shameful that
she ever though of him more than an ugly man inside+ out.
- When the children gathered + stayed around the table which
laid Ruth May’s corpse- it began to rain in which Nathan took the opportunity
to baptize the children. He seriously won’t give up his “faith”.
Book Five: Exodus
-Now the Price girls begin to gain control over their lives,
Leah falls sick during a trip to leave Kilanga during awful rainstorms and when
she is well enough to continue on the road she decides she wants to stay and
marry Anatole; Rachel flies out of the Congo to arrive at the upper-class
society in Johannesburg with Axelroot. They pretend to be married with one
another, however, Rachel longs for it to become a reality- however Axelroot is
busy on flights meanwhile Rachel is trying to fit in with the aristocrats.
(Seems like she really won’t have that hard of time doing that, though.)
-After being abducted by soldiers on their trip to
Leopoldville, Orleanna + Adah get treated in a hospital for various diseases
growing in them. After their treatment, they fly back to Georgia where Orleanna
discovers her amazing talents of making plants grow + flourish. There it is,
the Price plant finally grew its fruit, its flowers, its beauty- a.k.a. its
independence and dignified life. Well deserved by Orleanna making the plant
grow. Meanwhile, Adah attends a college in Georgia: Emory College where she
finds her one true religion she has deep faith in, which results to be the
study of science. (I almost felt Nathan’s pain when I read this).
-Rachel continues living in her shallow skin with growing
tired of waiting for Axelroot and his shady work so she decides to pursuit
marriage with her best friend’s husband- Daniel. They have an active affair
going on.
-After three years of imprisonment due to political
rebellion reasons, Anatole gets released then marries Leah. Both of them move
to Anatole’s hometown- Bikoki. Anatole is headmaster for a high school there +
Leah volunteers at a clinic and teaches a nutrition class. Brother Fowles
visits and informs them that Pascal was killed by the army and her father
continues to carry on his missionary work.
-Adah is in the process of healing her ‘hemiplegia’ in
medical school while Orleanna moves to the ATL to be closer to her. Leah +
Anatole visit them with their new son, named Pascal.
-Now in the year 1974, Leah and Anatole have three children:
Pascal, Patrice, and Martin-Lothaire and now reside “comfortably impoverished”
in Kinshasa. Leah continues her resentment toward Western affairs involved with
Africa and includes the American pop culture event of Mobutu hosting the Ali
vs. Foreman match.
-After two failed marriages with Daniel and the late Remy
Fairly, Rachel inherited an upper-class, prestigious hotel from Fairly- the Equatorial.
No Price has ever visited her which upsets her greatly, especially the fact
that Leah hasn’t jus being in the next country over. If she just
would’ve shed that shallow skin, maybe a Price would’ve bothered to see her as
a (successful) business woman now.
-Leah + Anatole visit the U.S. for schooling and when they
return to what is now- Zaire, Anatole gets arrested for his involvement in
anti-Mobutu affairs
-The Price women gather in a reunion when Leah + newly
released Anatole begin a farm and Leah + Rachel argue over the subject of race,
Rachel not allowing Anatole to stay in her hotel due to her blatant racism
towards black people and anti-black policy. It is then revealed that Nathan has
died after an incident where her baptized children forcibly in a river, the
boat flipped and crocodiles ate the children. Nathan ran away, climbed on up a
watchtower which got set on fire. There went another Price family member.
-Adah is now cured of her limp and now a celebrated
epidemiologist whereas Leah + Anatole are struggling with their farm,
especially with their newborn- Nathaniel. (Guess who they named him after.)
Book Six: Song of the Three Children
-The Price girls have know reached, or are going soon reach, the age of fifty- making the book span of thirty years.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Leah: At the end of the story, all of her kids except for Nathaniel are grown and out living their lives. Leah admits to feeling guilty over her life in Kilanga however she explains that one must realize they’ve done a wrong thing and live past it.
Ruth May: The spirit of Ruth May remembers the opaki that Orleanna came across earlier in the story. She then goes on to paint an image in the readers head, saying that Orleanna leads her daughters in a market. The girls were going to say good-bye to Orleanna, however were stopped by a woman in unique fashion-wear selling them wooden-carved animals. She was from Bulungu, when asked news about Kilanga she states she’s never heard of it- that it does not exist. The road simply ends at Bulungu. Ruth May then asks she forgives her mother and asks her to forgive herself. The reason Kilanga does not exist anymore is that Ruth May ahs forgiven Orleanna, she should feel a freedom of guilt. Kilanga is now over, though the memories and experiences still live in the Prices, their lives now thrive in a fresh, new world- taking Africa with them wherever they go.
"Move on. Walk forward into the light."
Use of paradox, analogy, allusion, and symbolization.
Theme(s):
Unjust Western Control of Africa: The story portrays arrogant actions done by the West towards Africa, with it colonization. Nathan prices serves as a key symbol, portraying the West and all the conflict he caused represented the West' actions towards Africa and its people. Plentiful disruption and unnecessary war + conflict affecting each and very person who lived there, including the Prices and their constant feeling away and great desire to move out of the Congo.
Questioning Religious Faith: Throughout the story, most conflicts in Kilanga emerged with Nathan's and the village’s diverse + variant forms of worship. While Nathan preached a rather extreme and irrational side of Christianity, the villagers believed in a more nature-centered faith with God, or Gods, or their Gods, etc. This caused the Price girls and villagers themselves to question their faith- breaking up close relationships within the family and village.
Narrator:
Orleanna Price (Past tense)
Rachel Price (Present tense)
Leah Price (Present tense)
Adah Price (Present tense)
Ruth May (Present tense)
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