The Struggle In Anaatole's Life

Three of the quotes have already been explained and related above. One quote which defines Rachel the most displays how she feels in regards to her sisters and mother. “I was so excited to be getting out of that horrid mud hole I couldn’t think straight. I’m sure I said goodbye to Mother and Adah and Leah, though I really don’t remember giving second thought to when I would ever see them again, if ever.

In the Poisonwood Bible, Nathan's and all of his daughter’s names are a reference to characters found in the Bible. Throughout the book, Kingsolver uses biblical allusions in the text that ties in with the characters and events that take place. In the Bible, Rachel is the younger daughter of Laban's. Just like The Poisonwood Bible Rachel, biblical Rachel is referred to as being “lovely in form, and beautiful.” (NIV) Gen. 29:17 A man named Jacob was astounded by her beauty and fell in love with her, deciding to work seven years of labor so he could eventually marry her. However, on his wedding night he was tricked in to marrying Rachel's older sister, Leah. For a second time, Jacob decided to work another seven years and was finally able to

Rachel was born in Alabama. Her master, or owner told her she was born around 1850. She was never told her actual birthdate. She was first sold to a family in Alabama by the name of Columbus. They were poor and owned few slaves. It was a small cotton plantation with a big family so the slaves had to work extra hard. Rachel and the other female slaves lived in the stove room made of clay and grass. They raised plenty of different plants as well as cotton such as: Peas, greens, and potatoes.

One of which, is proving her newfound independence by participating in the village hunt of Kilanga. Before her move to the Congo, an obedient Leah would have never done anything as rebellious as this because Nathan would not have allowed it. This is evident in his failed attempt to stop her, “”(). Leah is victorious, winning the hunt by the kill of a young male impala. A man named Tata Ndu steals her meat and leaves nothing but a leg for Leah because he is embarrassed at the fact a girl possesses enough skill to beat him. As a result, Leah feels disrespected and discriminated against. Though she may not realize it at the time, Leah now relates to the Congolese on a larger scale. Just as her meat was taken from her, the Price family poses a threat to forcibly replace Congolese culture with their own Christian ideology. This is similar to when the United States of America have the Congolese Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba, assassinated. Leah feels responsible and bears all the guilt because she knows that her people killed their treasured leader. After experiencing both occasions of loss, Leah begins to see from the Congo’s perspective, rather than her father’s. At that moment, it is clear that Leah has changed for the better. From that point, she begins a mission of her own. Her sole purpose consisting of fighting for justice in the Congo, rather than converting it to Nathan’s treacherous view of Christianity. This she does by educating the Congolese as an elementary school teacher. In the fullness of time, Leah’s determination to justify portrays Kingsolver’s message to the reader. The Congo is mistreated by outside entities, and anyone who claims to care for the Congo, cares for the wrong

Later on in the book Lyddie’s little sister Rachel comes to work at the factory with Lyddie. “It might break my heart to, to send the child away.” The child is Rachel. Now that Lyddie has Rachel she has to take care of herself and her little sister. Now Lyddie has to stay at the factory for her and Rachel. So that they will have a place to stay

For much of her childhood, Leah seemed to mimic Nathan’s every action and choice, and for nearly the entire first half of the book she continues to act in this manner. Even when first arriving at their home in the Congo, rather than doing what Leah loves to do, such as discover her surroundings, she constantly “walked behind him...” (38), in the garden, planting in the ways he assumes are correct. Even at the advice of Mama Tataba to form graves, Leah refuses to form her own opinion on the matter, helping her father continue the flat plain of a garden. Through this exchange of internal and external dialogue, Kingsolver emphasizes the fact that Leah needs her father to guide her, that Leah needs Nathan to love her. With his presence, Leah stays in the mindset that Nathan must decide her life for her. She lacks her later need of free will, and ultimately it foreshadows her desire to break free. In fact, once Leah decides to think for herself, she begins to rebel against her father’s wishes, going so far as to hunt in the front of the tribe with the men, and even refused to vote for Jesus, praying that “...this red-faced man shaking with rage would never lay a hand on [her] again,” (333). Again, this internal dialogue takes place, written in such a harsh tone to build up this idea that Leah’s free will allows her to find herself. Leah begins to rejoice in the fact that she can decide

Rachel represents the cultural clash most, while she is the spoiled oldest girly girl and does not like her dad for making them come. Leah represents western cultural arrogance,

All families have conflicts, and the Price family is no exception. Within the story there is an overriding conflict regarding the Price women‘s opposition to the move to Africa. Beyond this, Nathan has many other conflicts with each of his daughters. Leah and her father had a very different relationship than the other three Price daughters. Leah is the only daughter that wholeheartedly supports her father completely. As the story moves on she is faced with the harsh realities of daily life in the Congo, and begins to see her Fathers faults. She soon wants to be her own person, and not be controlled by her father. The major parent/child conflict arises when Nathan does not recognize his daughter’s

Deciding to fulfill her newfound passion for hunting with the tribesmen, Leah decided to "flat-out disobey" Nathan and proclaim she is "going out with the men and that’s final" (340). Following this encounter, Leah completely loses the excessive adoration she had for Nathan. As the socially-rebellious Leah grows older, she becomes aware of the systematic dependency she willingly subscribed to. Nevertheless, Leah's disrespect towards her father comes as a sharp contrast to the young teen who wanted nothing more than Nathan's approval. Reflecting on the undeniable evils of her relationship with Kilanga, and more specifically, her parents, Leah wishes she "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" (525).

(464) Rachel's attitude towards Anatole and Leah and his kids is very negative and judgemental. Family is obviously not one of Rachel's main priorities, she is embarrassed to consider herself related to those boys. She is set on her opinion and initial view of African people, they are not accepted. She discriminates against them, even though that used to be her, in Kilanga people did not treat her the same because she was white or her blond hair.

Another way to deal with past regrets that is brought to light is the idea of repressing that memory in the first place. Unlike her sisters, Rachel Price is the only one who ignores her guilt. After Ruth May’s death and their departure from Nathan, Rachel rarely ever brings these major events up again. Instead she talks about her new life, speaking about her newest boy toy and complaining about the African’s culture. The night of Ruth May’s death, since Rachel is

I never had that. My life was the store". This quote demonstrates that Rachel wanted a change and was ready to do whatever it took to get it. Rachel experiences at school were awful due to the fact that she was Jewish and her father owned a business. During this time period she stood out from other people and no one wanted to be her friend except for a white girl named Frances.

Rachel grew up in a house hold where she had to grow up really quick. In her early teenage years she witnesses her mom struggle through abusive relationships with her step dad and other boyfriends that came after. She eventually became an alcoholic. By the time Rachel was 13 year old, she dropped out of school to take the role of the emotional and financial care taker of her mother. Living in her

This further impacted the children Rachel and Leah, being the oldest daughters in the family. Rachel was a daughter that loved her father and she at first felt that he was the best person in the world. She would always follow him around and be his little princess, that was until she started to see the bad things that he started doing in the dark, mysterious place they were living in. She started to see how arrogant and defensive he became throughout the community and how he threw hissy fits. She realized that enough was enough and she needed to grow accustomed to this new place by herself, just like the narrator did in the poem. This is because she knew that her dad was just going insane and he wanted too much power. She now felt bad for her mom and what he had done to her, and wanted to side with her mom to get out of the community that they were in because they had enough of it. Another thing that happened in the Congo while she was there was something absurd and scarring to say the least. Her sister had started to hunt with the men for meat and Rachel saw what they did when they killed the poor animals lives. Rachel was so startled and appalled that she had to become a vegetarian for a short time while they were there. This just shows that she had to adapt to a new lifestyle because she could not think of eating a poor animal that had an innocent life, but her sister Leach could have cared

Celie is inspired by her sister’s independence, determination and perseverance in Africa among foreign people whom Nettie cares about deeply. Celie saw the impact that a woman could have on others and felt