The Song of the Three Children: New Critic

“But sometimes life doesn’t give you all that many chances at being good. Not here, anyway. Even Father learned that one the hard way. He came on strong, thinking he’d save the children, and what does he do but lose his own? That’s the lesson, right there. If you take a bunch of practically grown, red-blooded daughters to Africa, don’t you think at least some of them are going to marry or what have you, and end up staying? You can’t just sashay into the jungle aiming to change it all over to the Christian style, without expecting the jungle to change you right back” (Kingsolver, 515).

I found this passage very interesting as I was reading the last two chapters of this book. It stuck out in my mind even after I passed it because I felt like it sums up the Price family’s mentality when first arriving in the Congo. This passage is told by Rachel, oddly enough, and it is quite blunt and to the point, which I love. She is basically admitting that her and her family arrived in the Congo expecting to change their surroundings (in her Father’s mind, for the better) and not have their new surroundings change them in the slightest bit. Reflecting back on her time in Kilanga with her family, Rachel now understands that this mentality is completely wrong and untrue. The last three sentences of this passage are the strongest, in my opinion. It shows that Rachel’s mentality now is much more accepting of her surroundings and the impact it has had on her. This is a drastic change from the beginning of the book where all she wanted to do was return to Georgia, never return to Africa and erase every memory she ever made there from her mind.

“If I could reach backward somehow to give Father just one gift, it would be the simple human relief of knowing you’ve done wrong, and living through it. Poor Father, who was just one of a million men who never did catch on. He stamped me with a belief in justice, then drenched me in culpability, and I wouldn’t wish such torment even on a mosquito! But that exciting, tyrannical God of his has left me for good. I don’t know how to name what crept in to take his place. Some kin to the passion of Brother Fowles, I guess, who advised me to trust in Creation, which is made fresh daily and doesn’t suffer in translation. This God does not work in especially mysterious ways” (Kingsolver, 525).

This passage is told from the perspective of Leah, who is now living in Angola with Anatole and their children. I found this passage to be both interesting and significant because it shows that Nathan Price essentially destroyed Leah’s relationship with God. By pressing the Word on her for so many years, and treating his family the way he did, it completely turned Leah off from ever choosing to worship God on her own. Leah’s view on her Father did a complete 180 from the beginning of the book until this point. As we read, Leah used to worship her Father and wanted to grow to be just like him. But after realizing her Father’s true character, Leah wanted to be nothing him. In this passage Leah states that her Father drenched her in a heavy guilt and for that, it doesn’t seem as though she could ever forgive him. This is probably part of the reason why her belief in God is no longer there. God and the Word are both relationships tainted by the memory of her Father. Leah now believes in The Creation, the religion of Africa’s common people. This religion doesn’t change from day to day and it is predictable. I think that because Leah is now living in Africa leading the life she is, this is a much more suitable religion that she can believe in. It is a stable, never-changing relationship with nature.

Lexicographer: Exodus

Kikongo Words
Bandika – to kill with an arrow; attach, glue, join, load.
Braai –roast, barbeque, toast.
Citoyen –citizen.
Filaires – tiny parasites that crawl into your pores and cause flare-ups.
Jezebel –wife of Ahab, King of Israel, who was a cruel & immoral queen who worshiped Baal and tried to kill prophets of Israel; A shameless impudent scheming woman.
Mondele – "white daughter"; Elisabet's nickname for Leah.
Nuus – daily news
Nyoka –snake, serpent
Nzolani— to be the most precious.
Nzole –traditional marriage cloth, symbolizes the togetherness of marriage; double the size of a regular pagne.
Nzolo – dearly beloved.

English Words/Phrases:
Bigamist : somebody who is married illegally to two people simultaneously.
Derelict : no longer lived in; in poor condition because of neglect.
Exonerates: to declare officially that somebody is not to blame; to relieve somebody from an obligation or responsibility.
Penitents: expressing or feeling regret or sorrow for having committed sins or misdeeds.
Prophetic: predicting or foreshadowing something that does eventually happen; relating to a prophet.
Rabid: infected with rabies; very enthusiastic or fanatical.
Scapular: any one of the feathers on a bird's shoulder.
Spires: a tall narrow pointed structure on the top of a roof, tower, or steeple.
Stupor: an acute lack of mental alertness brought on, for example, by shock or lack of sleep.

“ Love changes everything. I have never suspected it would be so. Requited love, I should say, for I’ve loved my father fiercely my whole life, and it changed nothing. But now, all around me, the flame trees have roused from their long, dry sleep into walls of scarlet blossom. Anatole moves through the dappled shade at the edges of my vision, wearing the silky pelt of a panther. I crave to feel that pelt against my neck. I crave it with a predator’s impatience, ignoring time, keening to the silence of owls” (Kingsolver, 399-400).
This quote stuck out to me because it shows Leah’s realization of what the concept of love really is. She spent a good part of her life trying to love her father and receive that same affection in return. When Nathan couldn’t love Leah in the way she hoped she would, there seemed to be an empty void within her. I think this void caused Leah to drift toward Anatole from the very beginning of the book. Anatole gave Leah the attention, encouragement, and love she had been missing most of her life.

Bel and the Serpent Class Discussion Reflection

The first question we addressed in both small and large group was "How did each character react to Ruth May's death?". We were very easily able to pin point the more emotional, and obvious characters such as Orleanna, who we said was shaken up by the death but seemed to also expect it in some ways. We said that Nathan seemed to have a veru un-fatherly attitude of "oh well". Leah seemed incredibly guilty and upset over the death and her way of grieving seemed to be thinking about the times when Ruth May was still alive. Rachel's response to Ruth May's death was somewhat of a slap in the face to reality. After Ruth May's death Rachel realized that living in the Congo is no longer a vacation that can just be forgotten once she returns to the United States. We discussed how Rachel can no longer act like she never lived in the Congo because a part of her family-a part of her- will always be left there. Adah's reaction to Ruth May the class found the most interesting. Adah created a palindrome to protect herself and Ruth May from the spirits of the Congo. Adah's palindrome, which is a hymn, is the only way Adah is able to truly express herself. We also briefly discussed the process of voting and how the system of voting sways depending on the events happening in the Congo, or who is favored at the moment. The history of Patrice Lumumba's assassination was another topic that was deeply discussed. We talked about the people from the United States involved in the assassination--including President Eisenhower, chemist Sidney Gottlieb, and CIA station chief Larry Devlin. The last topic we discussed was the metaphor of BEL and THE SERPENT. We speculated that like the scripture story, this chapter was named this because of the false idols (Bel) that are being worshiped. We considered Tata Kuvundundu to be the Bel of this chapter because he is falsely worshiped by the villagers of the Congo. We considered the Price children and Nelson to be the Serpent (in the bible scripture the serpent was Daniel) because they are the people who exposed Tata Kuvundundu as the person placing the Green Mamba in the Price kitchen. Overall, I think this chapter's discussion went very well and it was very informative, which was helpful because some parts of this chapter were a bit unclear.