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The Poisonwood Bible. Book 4. Mobutu. “A rook who would be king.” Connection to CIA Truth comes out 15 years later (1975) Lumumba threatened the world CIA wanted/needed a replacement Lumumba is beaten savagely- dies “Oh, it’s a fine and useless enterprise, trying to fix destiny” (324).
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The Poisonwood Bible Book 4
Mobutu • “A rook who would be king.” • Connection to CIA • Truth comes out 15 years later (1975) • Lumumba threatened the world • CIA wanted/needed a replacement • Lumumba is beaten savagely- dies • “Oh, it’s a fine and useless enterprise, trying to fix destiny” (324).
What we lost • “Each bad thing causes something worse” (327). • Nathan forces a vote for Christ; Christ loses. • Result: Nathan’s perception of the “pitiful country…children dying…poverty.” • Tata Ndu • Knows the history, the place, the people • Knows the strength of Congolese comes without/despite white men
Village Hunt • Village Hunt • Create a ring of fire to trap animals • Leah is allowed to accompany the men (unheard of before) • Irony: the same people who voted down Christ, vote for Leah • Serves as a warning to Tata Ndu= the people have chosen to make change. • Leah kills a young impala/ others (Tata Ndu’s son) claim they did it
Seeing the Hunt • Adah • Sees Tata Ndu’s anger • Watches the hunt with anticipation- what will come? • Sees the happiness that death brings the people: “The death of something living is the price of our own survival, and we pay it again and again” (347) • Rachel • Too awful to watch the hunt • Wants food without the consequences • Tries to wash herself clean • Equates humans to animals
What should have been the best was the worst • “Eyes watched us from the trees…” (353). • Snake • Nelson sees a snake outside the chicken house: “There was some dark thing out there watching us from the forest and coiling up” (357). • Tool of the witch doctor? • Tata Kuvudundu (“single dancer with six toes”) • Threatened the family • Placed the snake in the family’s way
Ruth May’s Death • Bitten by a snake • Adah recites Dickinson poem, “Because I could not stop for death…” • Orleanna “behaves as if someone else had already told her” (368) • Did she know/anticipate she’d lose a child? • She seems prepared • Ultimate irony: Ruth May dies without being baptized
Baptism • Cleansing: Orleanna washes Ruth May • She sings to RM like a baby • Everyone watches Orleanna’s love for Ruth May and sees her favoritism • Ruth May’s death equalizes Orleanna with the Congolese women (370). • Orleanna gives everything away- she’s done
The Storm • Needed to end the drought • Symbolically comes after Ruth May’s death • Nathan takes the opportunity to baptize Ruth May and all the other children of Kilanga