“Bel and the Serpent” Reflection

There were many different events that occurred in this thrilling book of “Bel and the Serpent” that has changed the lives of the Price family forever. Since the Congo was going through a major drought and needed food desperately they hunted for as much animals as they could possibly find. The village was going through a horrible stage and couldn’t decide on many debates, so Nathan figures that he should introduce the American way of democracy. By voting he believes the whole village can all come to an understanding and choose an agreeable choice. The decisions they vote upon are opinions that deal with whether or not Leah should be allowed to hunt with the men or other decisions if the village should accept Jesus Christ as their savior. Leah having trained with her bow and arrow was ready to take on the challenge of hunting for her family and for the village and would be devastated if she was not permitted to hunt. This becomes a major turning point in Leah’s life because we notice changes in her personality the most among all the Price sisters. Leah used to be shy and timid before who hardly ever voiced her opinion, but now she makes her own decisions and is now becoming an older independent woman. As for the voting on Jesus Christ, Nathan finds that introducing democracy wasn’t the best idea because majority had voted against Jesus.
During the Orleanna chapter we notice that she doesn’t really focus her attention towards her life stories, but instead discusses politics and the background of what’s happening outside the Congo mainly focusing on Lumumba. The whole struggle that he had to undergo to try and escape those who wanted to assassinate him and destroy everything he’s worked for to benefit Africa. Also in the beginning of the book there was a whole section explaining the tale behind “Bel and the Serpent” which summarized how Bel was a false idol that was being worshiped and was given heavy loads of sacrifices. All the food that was being sacrificed was being consumed or taken somehow, so the character in the story Daniel puts ashes on the ground to attempt to uncover the people who are responsible for pilfering the sacrifices. It turns out it was actually the priests who were taking the sacrifices. This same event occurs exactly in the Poisonwood Bible. Tata Kuvudundu warns the village that if they proceed with this massive hunt then a deadly curse would be laid upon the village. Even though they heard his warning the village proceeds anyway with their hunt and end up with a wealthy load of game to eat. Lately there have been many reports of green mamba snakes that mysteriously appear within peoples households. The children are trying to catch the culprit(s) of whoever are mysteriously putting green mamba snakes into people’s houses. So it was Leah’s idea to put ashes on the ground and in the morning they discover that the footprint left in the ash was someone who had six toes which could only be one person in the Congo, Tata Kuvudundu. As the children were trying to apprehend the snake that was found in the chicken house they failed to protect Ruth May who ended up with a bite. The poison takes a hold of her life and she ends up dead.
Due to this major turning point in the whole Congo experience the author tries to express the emotions that each family member has of this horrifying event. Leah’s reaction was plain shock and just put in a state of awe because this was coming at her all too fast and she couldn’t really accept what was happening. All she ends up doing is reminiscing about memorable times they shared together. Rachel thought more about what Orleanna’s reaction might be when she wakes up to find out her youngest daughter had just died from a green mamba snake. Orleanna, we assumed had finally run out of guilt for knowing that Ruth May had died. All these years guilt has been building inside of Orleanna ranging from her daughters, Adah’s disabilities and Nathan’s aggression. She’s gotten to the point where she just can’t handle any more guilt, especially this new found guilt where she probably blames herself for Ruth May’s death. This could also be viewed as the last straw for Orleanna where Nathan has prolonged them to stay in the Congo for too long and now it’s time to head back to America where they were probably better off. As for Adah, her reaction is really in a metaphorical meaning also put in our discussion as “closing of the parenthesis” which meant that she experienced Ruth Mays birth and has witnessed her death, both beginning and ending in the same ways, by screaming. Finally, the reaction of Orleanna was very surprising. She wasn’t very shocked and angry or sad. She was very calm and speechless. All that Orleanna began to do was make a shroud for her and move all the furniture outside, so that the Kikongan people could just take what they wanted. As for the reaction of Nathan, all he did was say that it was a shame that Ruth May didn’t get baptized and that was probably why she died. The important Kikongan words in this book were probably Bantu and Muntu two similar yet very different words. Bantu, meaning the outside the external part of your body. Muntu, meaning the internal part which deals with the inside such as the soul and personality of a person. Muntu could also relate to the phrase “inside looking out.” Some examples of people would demonstrate Muntu are Adah and Ruth May. Adah being the silent sister is constantly noticing many things that happen and doesn’t have an opinion that’s being voiced. As for Ruth May, now that she’s dead she ends up being the observer from wherever she is now whether it’s in spirit or in another form of afterlife. She always talked about being a green mamba or a tree, if she ever died those objects were what she wanted to become.