I thought this was such an odd comment when i read it. I felt like it was the kind of thing that a lot of people think but nobody would ever actually say, especially not a mother. A mother is usually so busy with the lives of her children and husband, not to say that she doesn't have a life of her own, but more that she'd be less likely to think this way. In a way i kind of agree with her, that one only has a life of one's own, because everything that happens to a person is seen from their eyes, and not another person's perspective. The way that Orleanna writes/talks is also really odd, its like she's whispering her story instead of speaking it at a normal voice. That definitely sounds weird, but what i mean by that is that whenever I read what she's writing it always seems like she has some huge secret about what happened in Africa. And many things she says like this quote are insightful, but in a weird way. Its like she often finishes the sentence "nobody would say it out loud but..." I think she is a very odd character, but when she is described by her daughters she doesn't seem as odd as when she is talking. I wonder if something happened to her during her experience in Africa that made her act this way, or if she was just always like that.
“I would be no different from the next one, if I hadn't paid my own little part in blood. I trod on Africa without a thought, straight from our families divinely inspired beginning to a terrible end.”
Orleanna is a steadfast Mother from Dixie who comes to Africa with enthusiasm and hope. As the smoldering hot African climate and extreme poverty settle in she becomes irritable and depressed as the story progresses. She describes being just another white women doing her righteous work in Africa and being “no different from the next one” but tells of a future conflict that separates her story from the norm. Being a women of great faith her tone can often sound cynical and dark and hints the possible death of her child.
Orleanna gets weirder and weirder as the book goes on. At first she said things that seemed like nobody would ever say them but everyone was thinking them (like how everyone has only a life of their own), and this section she started out by referring to the reader (or to whomever she is speaking) as "little beast". That seemed so out of place. She started and ended with that, but in the middle she told her story and the mood was very different, as she was telling her sad story. I her life before the Congo was so helpful to know because it helped me understand her a lot better, and why she seemed so depressed. However, her children still think differently of her than I do as a reader, because they can't see what is going through her head. From her history and how she is acting in Africa, i wonder if she will end up even more depressed and what will happen to her relationship with Nathan and if she will end up leaving, with or without her daughters
"My downfall was not predicted. I didn't grow up looking for ravishment or rescue, either one."(192)
Orleanna is slipping into a deep dark depression as time in the harsh African climate grow longer. Sometimes Orleanna frustrates me, because she lacks the ability to look ahead into her life and make fair judgments of what is good and bad for her and her family. This could be because she is clouded by religious fervor and her crazed husband, however she seems surprised to be simply stuck in Africa. No she didn't look for hardship, but she married young and was wed to a man hard to live with. Orleanna is evidently a strong women and mother, yes I feel is complaining for much of the book and feels sorry for her unfortunate situation. It is also interesting that the book opens with Orleanna describing things on her own not including her children. She needs time to find her self and obtain stability before her family really needs her help.
In the section of the book that we just read, Orleanna did not really say a lot, and there were also not many moments when her daughters said a lot about her. I feel like even though she sort of came out of her shell of depression to help her family, the girls don't really see her as one of the more important parts of their lives right now. That helps me understand a little why when she is the one talking she says such odd things. Being unappreciated by the family which she has to work so hard to keep alive would make me depressed as well. It seems like the only one who really appreciated her is Ruth May, and she doesn't show it that often either because she is so sick. Orleanna tries hard to make her daughters happy, like when she gave Rachel her earrings and bracelet, but Rachel especially is unappreciative, and only thanks her mother and acknowledges that it was a nice present, but it wasn't really wholehearted. Even though in this past reading we didn't read a lot from Orleanna, it still helped me to understand her more as a character.
At the end of the book, I view Orleanna as a different person than when the book started out. Towards the end, she doesn't get to say anything herself, so its through the other daughters that we learn about her. I found that through the eyes of her daughters, she was much different than she was when she spoke. At the end I didn't see her as the crazy person that I saw toward the beginning of the book. She was just a poor woman who had lead a difficult life because of a man who could never have truly been a husband to her, and then she was just a mother who lost a child and desperately needed the forgiveness that she couldn't get. I was a little mad at her reason for taking Adah with her back to the US, which was because after Ruth May, Adah was her youngest, and according to Orleanna, a mother has a need for the youngest. This upset me, as i am not the youngest in my family, and so i disliked her for that. But after reading everything that she went through and the way that people treated her because of things that she couldn't control, like the death of her child and her crazy husband, i did feel bad for her and understood her character more.
8 comments:
I will write about Orleanna
***that was laura, i have no idea why it says jennifer
"One has only a life of one's own," (8).
I thought this was such an odd comment when i read it. I felt like it was the kind of thing that a lot of people think but nobody would ever actually say, especially not a mother. A mother is usually so busy with the lives of her children and husband, not to say that she doesn't have a life of her own, but more that she'd be less likely to think this way. In a way i kind of agree with her, that one only has a life of one's own, because everything that happens to a person is seen from their eyes, and not another person's perspective. The way that Orleanna writes/talks is also really odd, its like she's whispering her story instead of speaking it at a normal voice. That definitely sounds weird, but what i mean by that is that whenever I read what she's writing it always seems like she has some huge secret about what happened in Africa. And many things she says like this quote are insightful, but in a weird way. Its like she often finishes the sentence "nobody would say it out loud but..." I think she is a very odd character, but when she is described by her daughters she doesn't seem as odd as when she is talking. I wonder if something happened to her during her experience in Africa that made her act this way, or if she was just always like that.
Great thougt's Jennifer!
“I would be no different from the next one, if I hadn't paid my own little part in blood. I trod on Africa without a thought, straight from our families divinely inspired beginning to a terrible end.”
Orleanna is a steadfast Mother from Dixie who comes to Africa with enthusiasm and hope. As the smoldering hot African climate and extreme poverty settle in she becomes irritable and depressed as the story progresses. She describes being just another white women doing her righteous work in Africa and being “no different from the next one” but tells of a future conflict that separates her story from the norm. Being a women of great faith her tone can often sound cynical and dark and hints the possible death of her child.
Orleanna gets weirder and weirder as the book goes on. At first she said things that seemed like nobody would ever say them but everyone was thinking them (like how everyone has only a life of their own), and this section she started out by referring to the reader (or to whomever she is speaking) as "little beast". That seemed so out of place. She started and ended with that, but in the middle she told her story and the mood was very different, as she was telling her sad story. I her life before the Congo was so helpful to know because it helped me understand her a lot better, and why she seemed so depressed. However, her children still think differently of her than I do as a reader, because they can't see what is going through her head. From her history and how she is acting in Africa, i wonder if she will end up even more depressed and what will happen to her relationship with Nathan and if she will end up leaving, with or without her daughters
"My downfall was not predicted. I didn't grow up looking for ravishment or rescue, either one."(192)
Orleanna is slipping into a deep dark depression as time in the harsh African climate grow longer. Sometimes Orleanna frustrates me, because she lacks the ability to look ahead into her life and make fair judgments of what is good and bad for her and her family. This could be because she is clouded by religious fervor and her crazed husband, however she seems surprised to be simply stuck in Africa. No she didn't look for hardship, but she married young and was wed to a man hard to live with. Orleanna is evidently a strong women and mother, yes I feel is complaining for much of the book and feels sorry for her unfortunate situation. It is also interesting that the book opens with Orleanna describing things on her own not including her children. She needs time to find her self and obtain stability before her family really needs her help.
In the section of the book that we just read, Orleanna did not really say a lot, and there were also not many moments when her daughters said a lot about her. I feel like even though she sort of came out of her shell of depression to help her family, the girls don't really see her as one of the more important parts of their lives right now. That helps me understand a little why when she is the one talking she says such odd things. Being unappreciated by the family which she has to work so hard to keep alive would make me depressed as well. It seems like the only one who really appreciated her is Ruth May, and she doesn't show it that often either because she is so sick. Orleanna tries hard to make her daughters happy, like when she gave Rachel her earrings and bracelet, but Rachel especially is unappreciative, and only thanks her mother and acknowledges that it was a nice present, but it wasn't really wholehearted. Even though in this past reading we didn't read a lot from Orleanna, it still helped me to understand her more as a character.
At the end of the book, I view Orleanna as a different person than when the book started out. Towards the end, she doesn't get to say anything herself, so its through the other daughters that we learn about her. I found that through the eyes of her daughters, she was much different than she was when she spoke. At the end I didn't see her as the crazy person that I saw toward the beginning of the book. She was just a poor woman who had lead a difficult life because of a man who could never have truly been a husband to her, and then she was just a mother who lost a child and desperately needed the forgiveness that she couldn't get. I was a little mad at her reason for taking Adah with her back to the US, which was because after Ruth May, Adah was her youngest, and according to Orleanna, a mother has a need for the youngest. This upset me, as i am not the youngest in my family, and so i disliked her for that. But after reading everything that she went through and the way that people treated her because of things that she couldn't control, like the death of her child and her crazy husband, i did feel bad for her and understood her character more.
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