Bel and the Serpant Response

So this is the critical response that I was supposed to do on a Bel and the Serpent passage. My passage is going to be from page 368, In Leah's point of view.
Mother did not rant or tear her hair. She behaved as if someone else had already told her, before we got there.
Silently she dressed, tied back her hair, and set herself to a succession of chores, beginning with tearing down the mosquito netting from all of our beds. We were afraid to ask what she was doing. We didn't know whether she wanted us all to get malaria now, for punishment, or if she has simply lost her mind. So we stood out of of her way and watched. All of us, even Father. For once he had no words to instruct our minds and improve our souls, no parable that would turn Ruth May's death by snakebite into a lesson on the Glory of God. My Father, whose strong hands always seized whatever came along and molded it to his will, seemed unable to grasp what had happened.

This passage basically talks about how Orleanna acted towards the death of Ruth May. She acted really calm, like she ha already seen it coming. She just had to keep on doing things to keep her busy and to get ready to bury her youngest child. Her mind was set now on what she had to do for herself, Ruth May, and the rest of her children. Everyone was sort of stunned by what she was doing and how she reacted. Nathan was also stunned by how she reacted and he, himself, didn't quite know how to grasp the realization of Ruth May dying. For once, he didn't have any verses or pasages from the bible to recite from.

The first line really told about how the mother felt about the Congo in general. She knew taht something bad was gong to come form going to the Congo and staying there, she was just waiting for it to happen. She wasn't exprecting Ruth May to die but she decided that she had to take care of Ruth May, or what was left of her, before she could do anything else, before there was no more time. This is when she was taking down the misquito netting and everything. She was preparing Ruth May and making her as comfortable as possible before she was going to leave the Congo for good. She wasn't really blaming the other girls for Ruth May's death. But she was really set on what she had to do. I think Nathan was kind of worried about what she was doing and how she was reacing to the death. I don't think he wanted her to leave or anything, because then he would be alone. He was shocked and was probably wondering what was going to happen now that Ruth May was gone, how was he going to convince the natives that Jesus was great if one of his own children died, by a serpant. He didn't know what to do. His life in Congo had just about ended. He was stuck on her death and what she had caused for him. Everything had turned out wrong and now he had to deal with it, he just didn't know how and was shocked in silence.

This is all I got. I don't know if it's what I was supposed to do.

Exodus

The other day in class we had a discussion on book 5, Exodus. This section is basically about the different lives of the girls, Orleanna, and Nathan. After parting ways, the women find different things that they believe would "complete" their lives, or at least make it better. I don't really want to go too much into what happens to the characters because, one, that wasn't quite what we talked about in class and two, I must admit that I haven't finished that book yet.

In class we talked about how this book was written a little differently from the beginning of The Poisonwood Bible. In Exodus, the plot moves quicker. Instead of explaining what happens day by day, it skips from sections of their lives to sections of other character's lives. Some people thought that this was much better because it wasn't as slow and it was more fast paced. The also believed that because it didn't dwell on each character for too long, it was easier to read. To me, I believe that it was easier to read but I did miss how it described every little thing that went on in each character's mind. I missed how the flavor of the character's attitudes came out in their chapters. But now it was also good because it seemed like the story was going somewhere, but sometimes a little too fast.
More to come when i finish Exodus.

Tnepres eht dna Leb

Bel and the Serpent. in The Poisonwood Bible the story of Bel and the Temple was about how the Babylonians worshiped a statue called Bel. The people leave offerings to the statue and in the morning the food is gone. They believe that Bel comes to life and eats it. But actually the priests sneak out every night and take all of the food and have a party with it. But Daniel leaves ashes on the ground around the offerings and shows the people that the priests sneak out at night to take the food by leaving theirs tracks from the ashes.
Right now, I just realized why this section was called Bel and the Serpent. at first I thought that the story in the Bible was called Bel and the Serpent but it’s actually not. Its Bel and the Temple. Well, since I did my homework I should know why it’s called this now. And I do. Ruth May dies. I must admit, this part made me cry. It was so sad. and why must Ruth May die, why did anyone have to die? This did not happen in the original Bel and the Serpent story. Or did it? I really don't know. All I'm asking is why did Ruth May have to die? Is there a reason behind this? Bel and the Serpent. The serpent killed Ruth May. The witch doctor put the snake in the chicken house. A warning sign to the Prices. To Jesus. Telling them to move away from their home, the Congo. They were trying to show them that they didn't belong there. "From the time we set food in Kilanga things were going wrong, though we couldn't see it" (353). They were showing them that perhaps they were never meant to go to the Congo, never meant to try to change them. By showing them because their words didn't work.
After Ruth May dies Orleanna gives away almost everything that they own. People come to give respects for the lost child. Rain finally comes and Nathan starts to baptize the children in the rain. Perhaps the Lord worked through the witch doctor and Ruth May's life to tell the Prices that everyone was created equal and that sometimes equality had to be created. Orleanna gave away all of their belongings. Then, after the point was made and understood, only then would he answer their prayers for rain. And a lot of it. The Lord wasn't really working through Nathan because maybe the Lord was already there in the Congo. He was instead teaching the Prices a lesson on how to live.

Mosquitoes

On the last day of class before SPRING BREAK (aw...its almost over, or practically already over), we watched a movie called Mosquito Coast. The movie was about a man and his family who go to...actually I forgot where they go. But they go somewhere and the man is an inventor. So, he creates different inventions that make up this whole city. It has ice and air conditioning in this place that's detached from the modern world. But then there comes trouble and other stuff. Basically, it's kind of like the book that we're reading in class, The Poisonwood Bible.
In both the movie and the book the father is sort of controlling over the family. Whatever he says, goes. No questions asked. The fathers also want to create and change these places that they live and make it home, whether by inventing or preaching. Most of the people in their families want to support them, but things that they do and how they are so controlling prevents that. The mothers secretly, or not that secretly, are against almost everything that their husbands do. They want to return to their old homes and they want their husbands to think about the family and not what he wants for them but what they need. One of the children in both stories want to be with the father in everything that he does but they also share feelings that the rest of the family have. The other children want to return home but they don't speak up because, I'm sure they aren't but, the fathers are crazy. Yup. Oh, and both stories take place in areas that are really far away from civilization.
Also, SPRING BREAK is already almost over. This is really sad. But, "you have to have the bad to have the good". I heard that, or something like it, somewhere. Have a great day.

Me, Ruth May

There were so many big kids around this school. They were as big as Rachel and Leah and Adah. They are all sinners because they wear their pants too low and don't wear enough clothes, especially the girls. It's like they want to bring attention to themselves. If father had the time, he would give them all a good spanking, just to knock some sense into them. Rachel says they dress like that because of Style. Who is this Style? Shouldn't they be listening to God instead? The bible says to ask for forgiveness and you will be forgiven. They don't even know that they are sinning. Maybe someone should tell them. Father said to pray so I wouldn't be like them. Maybe I should pray for them too, so they wouldn't all burn in hell. That would be a really big fire. At least it would remind them of the hotness of Hawaii.

I hope this was Ruth May-ish enough. I tried to be kinda random and "quote" the father and the bible a lot.

Freshmen Tree

So, this is a description of the freshmen tree. Since we are starting to read The Poisonwood Bible, this is an attempt to describe something like how the forest is described in the first chapter.

Look at that castle of a tree. Surrounding it is a cement wall, splattered with bird poop and smeared with spilled lunches. Within the wall, bordering the castle, is a moat. The moat is swarming with ugly, disgusting roaches and other insect inhabitants. It is overgrown with ferns and winding weeds. Trashy infestations litter the whole area. Lost things will never be found in the dirt filled moat.
Moss crawling up the castle walls, creating a new kind of paint. Great arms reach across the sky, the castle's multiple towers. They are flowered with green toppers. Towers hold its people who chirp about loudly, fluttering about with their own business. Up high and down below seem to have no connection other than the tower that holds everything together.

Blah. I doubt this is anything like what's in the book but, oh well.