Psychological Critic: The Revelation

Rachel
It seems as though after Rachel hears the Underdowns explaining to her parents that the Congo is going to hold an election then declare their independence from Belgium, she feels that this new Congolese independence is her ticket back to Georgia. Towards the end of one of her sections, it is quite obvious that Rachel’s hopes for leaving the Congo are high. Rachel even goes as far as to pray to God for their leave when she states, “Oh, please God make a tree fall on him and smash his skull! Let us leave right now!” (169). The “him” Rachel is referring to is her Father, who insists to the Underdowns that the Price family will remain in the Congo until another missionary family arrives to replace them. Rachel’s one motivation at the present time in the story seems to be thinking of a way to get out of the Congo. From the very beginning of the book Rachel has been the child to resent both the Congo as her home, and her Father for moving the family there. Rachel expresses her resentment through her dramatic fits and her constant cynical comments about the Congo. She differs from her three sisters because she resents living in the Congo the most; all Rachel wants to do is be a normal sixteen-year-old girl in Georgia in training to become a housewife.


Adah
Adah is probably the most complex and clear minded sister of the four. From the very beginning of the book and the Price’s move to the Congo, Adah has pretty much taken her situations and surroundings for what they are. She tells it like it is in detail that the other characters don’t use—shapes, colors (beyond black and white), palindromes, scripture versus, etc. Adah seems to be motivated simply by her surroundings. She doesn’t really believe that she is going to live to see adulthood, and therefore she sees the beauty in the small details of life. She differs from her siblings because, obviously, she doesn’t talk. But, she also differs from them because she is completely un-bias when she tells a story. Adah can admit—even laugh at—her own flaws and deformities. Even after finding out that her family may have to move from the Congo, Adah’s attitude doesn’t really change much. She still tells the reader about her surroundings as they are. She is neither happy nor sad about the turn of events. Adah basically takes everything in her life for what its worth.