The title of this book is called Revelation which is the last book in the Bible. Why do you think it starts with Genesis then skips all the was to Revelation?
Again here Orleanna talks about the scent of Africa "...ris[ing] up from inside [her] and [she knows] you're still [there], holding sway...It is the scent of accusation." What would it be accusing her of? Was it her fault one of her daughters died? Maybe she could have seen it coming so she blames herself. "I could have been a different mother, you'll say. Could have straightened up and seen what was coming, for it was thick in the air all around us." Because of the statement "I could have been a different mother, you'll say." I have the reason to believe it is Leah that dies. I dont think it'll be Ruth May because she is still a child, she wouldn't tell her mother would she could or should have seen. Leah is said in the previous book that she is the one that normally sasses to her mother. It also singles Leah out when the mother has lost sight of her children in the forest "...but could see only Leah." All she could see was Leah. Normally in her chapters Orleanna is randomly and constantly talking about her lost child and focusing on how much she misses her; so in a way the dead child could be described as who she could only see. Maybe this proves it also?
We also see more of the hidden side of Nathan. He is very abusive when he gets angry and that doesn't take much considering he's a red-head! "My steadfast husband tore his hair in private...Then i saw him reborn, with a stone in place of his heart." "(Ruth May) She was afraid to tell father because he might whip me, busted arm and all...he didn't whip me. Not yet. Maybe when i'm all fixed, he will." "While my husband's intentions crystallized as rock salt...teh Congo breathed behind the curtain of forest...(Orleanna) I was blinded from the constant looking back: Lot's wife. I only ever saw teh gathering clouds." This brings in a very important story from the bible! It is about a family that God spared their life, running from the destruction of their city. God told them not to turn back, no matter what happends to keep running forward. But sadly, Lot's (the husband) wife turned back for only a split second and was instantly turned into a pillar of salt. No one will know what she saw. Or did she ever get the chance? Maybe all she saw was the gathering clouds too. Orleanna says she was "...blinded from teh constant looking back..." This shows she had no faith what-so-ever. She would run on but the minute she'd had too much of being out of her comfort zone she'd have to turn around to try and see what was going on. This blinded her faith, her energy, possibly all her senses!
Orleanna describes herself as "...his instrument, his animal. Nothing more." There is obviously no love between her and Nathan and i'm beginning to wonder if their ever was. Why would they even marry if they couldn't get through things together or even tolerate eachother! Later the fact is exposed that Orleanna hasn't always been a christain; "In those early months, why, half the time i would wake up startled and think i was right back in Pearl, Mississippi. Before marriage, before religion, before everything." Nothing is said about who she was before, just who she will become.
In the story the parrot represents the Congo; "Mama tataba and the accursed parrot, both released by Nathan." "(Leah) At first i wanted Methuselah to come back and live in the cage, until father explained to me that this whole arrangement was wrong. We let Methuselah go because his captivity was an embarrassment to us. It made teh parrot into a less noble creature than God intended. So i had to root for Methuselah to learn to be free." The parrot hung around the house or where it's cage was thrown in the bushes because it didn't know how to be free. Its muscles were weak and he wasn't able to fly when thinking of it so he was trapped on teh ground where all teh preditors live and eventually, on independance day, he was killed. His remains were spread out and his feathers blew away in the wind leaving a trail from his "home" (the latrine) to where his body lay.
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