Connect the Biblical quotation from Exodus that introduces Book Five to the narrative in Book Five. 1. Explain the Biblical quotation itself and 2. Make the connections.
"... And ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey... and encamped... in the edge of the wilderness... He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night."
The Book of Exodus, which is the second Book of the Hebrew Bible, tells of how Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt to the Mountain of God. After a countless years of submitting to slavery and oppression by the hands of the Egyptians, Moses's people trek through the wilderness, receiving miraculous sustenance and guidance from God, until they reach their final place of encampment.
The connection between this Bible passage and the events in Book Five are easily recognized. Finally, after withstanding what seems like unbearable treatment under her husband's "righteous" rule, Orleanna Price takes her daughters and walks away from her life in Kilanga. Like the Hebrews that Moses led, she escapes a life of oppression, out of determination and inertia combined, in search of something intangible yet powerful, like the fire and clouds that God used to lead his people on. However, Orleanna isn't heading for some sort of promise land, like the Hebrews were. She is simply running away; she is escaping, or, in her words, trying to "flee from the grief" that the death of her youngest daughter caused her (Kingsolver 382). She has lost everything and is left empty, only moving "because [she] still has feet to carry [her]" (Kingsolver 383). She even loses sight of her surviving daughters. She doesn't abandon them, but instead walks onward, willing them to follow or stay, no longer imposing herself on them as a mother would do. Her children are left to find promise lands of their own. And, in a way, they each do. Ada finds her niche in an intellectual community, and emerges like a butterfly from a cocoon of disability. The always simple Rachel finds happiness in her hotel business, and Leah (who went from being the character I disliked the most - after the Reverend- to my favorite character) finds love and purpose in Africa, fighting for the freedom she believes in alongside Anatole. Orleanna simply finds peace in her gardening, and in herself. However, as free as all these women may be, they, like the Hebrews in Exodus, always carry the bones of their past with them. Africa is, and always will be, with them, regardless of how far away their exodus might take them.
I am a teacher of AP English Literature and Composition, American Literature, Journalism and Creative Writing at Escuela Americana in San Salvador. This blog was developed for my AP English Literature class. Its original purpose was to allow two literary units to run simultaneously: Frankenstein would be an independent study via this blog, while the class time was devoted to Informal essays. Since then it has been a way to add depth to several literary units.
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"... And ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey... and encamped... in the edge of the wilderness... He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night."
The Book of Exodus, which is the second Book of the Hebrew Bible, tells of how Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt to the Mountain of God. After a countless years of submitting to slavery and oppression by the hands of the Egyptians, Moses's people trek through the wilderness, receiving miraculous sustenance and guidance from God, until they reach their final place of encampment.
The connection between this Bible passage and the events in Book Five are easily recognized. Finally, after withstanding what seems like unbearable treatment under her husband's "righteous" rule, Orleanna Price takes her daughters and walks away from her life in Kilanga. Like the Hebrews that Moses led, she escapes a life of oppression, out of determination and inertia combined, in search of something intangible yet powerful, like the fire and clouds that God used to lead his people on. However, Orleanna isn't heading for some sort of promise land, like the Hebrews were. She is simply running away; she is escaping, or, in her words, trying to "flee from the grief" that the death of her youngest daughter caused her (Kingsolver 382). She has lost everything and is left empty, only moving "because [she] still has feet to carry [her]" (Kingsolver 383). She even loses sight of her surviving daughters. She doesn't abandon them, but instead walks onward, willing them to follow or stay, no longer imposing herself on them as a mother would do. Her children are left to find promise lands of their own. And, in a way, they each do. Ada finds her niche in an intellectual community, and emerges like a butterfly from a cocoon of disability. The always simple Rachel finds happiness in her hotel business, and Leah (who went from being the character I disliked the most - after the Reverend- to my favorite character) finds love and purpose in Africa, fighting for the freedom she believes in alongside Anatole. Orleanna simply finds peace in her gardening, and in herself. However, as free as all these women may be, they, like the Hebrews in Exodus, always carry the bones of their past with them. Africa is, and always will be, with them, regardless of how far away their exodus might take them.
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