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.