The Poisonwood Bible- Bel and the Serpent

Three major events happen in the fourth book of The Poisonwood Bible, Bel and the Serpent. The first, which leads to unrest throughout the Congo, is the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Between the uncertainty clouding the Congo's leadership and the drought which has persisted for months, tensions are extremely high. Due to the extreme lack of food in Kilanga, Tata Ndu organizes a mandatory village hunt, which divides the village and leads to fights for the meat afterwards. There is also a great quarrel over whether or not Leah should be allowed to hunt with the men, which results in even more outrage and an ominous warning from Tata Kuvudundu, whom is essentially a witch doctor. When the Price family returns home from the hunt, Nelson begs to be let inside instead of near the chicken coop where he fears a green mamba will be waiting for him (after Anatole woke up to one just beside his cot). After the girls help him lay a trap, they open the chicken coop in the early morning to find the green mamba before them. Before they even know what happens, it bites Ruth May, killing her within minutes, and the village pays their condolences.

Nathaniel

Nathaniel tries (unsuccessfully) to convert people for the majority of the chapter. His status has fallen from feared Reverend to pathetic lunatic. When he first arrived, his voice commanded the people of Kilanga, and even when they disagreed with him, they at least were absorbed in what he was saying. Now, the dwindling number of Congolese in attendance to his sermons are hardly paying attention, and things become worse when Tata Ndu enters the church and spontaneously calls for a vote for or against Jesus. Despite Nathaniel's protests that Jesus is above human voting, Jesus loses in a landslide. On top of being almost completely ignored by the villagers at his own sermon, at the village-wide hunt he begins to preach as well, and is ignored again. In a desperate attempt to either cope or finally find some religious success, as the rain pours on the Congolese children mourning Ruth May's death, he walks around baptizing each knelt child. Nathaniel's role in both the novel and the village has become less and less important and noticeable, which leaves me curious for what the remaining two books hold for him.

Orleanna

In the first chapter of the book, we gain insight into the assassination of Patrice Lumumba from her perspective. However, the most important moment for her by far is at the end of the book when Ruth May dies. She does not grieve; she uses the mosquito nets to make a shroud for her body, and she moves all of the family's furniture outside. She has fully committed to leaving the Congo as soon as possible, a decision that her family is likely in full support of (besides Nathaniel, presumedly). I look forward to seeing her new sense of conviction and to hopefully seeing the Price family finally escape Kilanga. 

Rachel

Rachel's entire engagement situation has been cast aside for the entirety of Bel and the Serpent, as her perspective chooses to focus hardly on her and more on Leah and her father. When she is thinking about herself, she focuses more on insignificant details, resulting in not much happening for her throughout the book. When she helps with the hunting, she initially decides to become a vegetarian, which she prepares to announce to the family before they enter disgruntled from the conflicts over meat (which she eats about an hour after becoming a "vegetarian"). The only moment that truly impacts Rachel is the death of Ruth May, which leaves her stunned like her sisters. She imagines her mother sleeping, blissfully ignorant to the fact she now has one less daughter, and she begins to sob. I believe that due to the motherly role which she has taken on, she now feels the loss of Ruth May as both a sister and a daughter. 

Leah

Surprisingly, Leah continues to question her father's decisions and beliefs. She even takes her rebellion a step further by talking back to him directly, which no other family member dares to do. During the village-wide hunt, the plan is to have the women and children guide a fire around a section of the woods, trapping the animals within. When the animals inevitably attempt to jump over or through the fire to escape, the men will shoot them and gather their meat. However, after Nelson's teachings on how to shoot a bow and arrow, Leah believes she is worthy of hunting with the men. The village people, primarily the elders and Tatas Ndu and Kuvudundu, disagree. As Anatole argues on her behalf and gains the approval of many of the young men, Tata Ndu suddenly (without consensus) puts the choice to vote, where Leah wins 51-45. She ends up successfully killing an antelope. Yet as she goes to collect the meat, Tata Ndu's son, Gbenye, claims that he deserves the kill because he shot it twice in the hind (yet Leah shot its neck, killing it). This starts a small quarrel, which blends in with the several other fights that men are having over who shot what and who gets to take home what. In a tragic scene at the end of Bel and the Serpent, she falls to her knees and prays in front of Ruth May's body, and children from across the village whom all knew and played with Ruth May join her. As rain begins to pour down, ending the drought in a fierce thunderstorm, she stays knelt alongside the other children. 

Adah

Apparently Adah has gotten over her feelings of abandonment, because we hear nothing of the subject from her whatsoever (much like Rachel's same feelings). Adah plays more of a minor role in this chapter, once again serving more as a medium to tell other stories rather than her own. She does, however, come up with the idea of setting up a trap for the green mamba, which ends up showing signs of a man with six toes on his left foot placing the snake in the chicken coop. The man, who we know to be Tata Kuvudundu due to previous descriptions of his left foot, is the same person who warned Leah that there would be consequences if she hunted with the men. It is unclear what his motives are (likely revenge for being disrespected), but either way I hope this detail is not swept under the rug like several other details have been in past chapters. 

The second half of The Poisonwood Bible has pleasantly surprised me, as the first half was generally quite slow-moving while the second half has had much more action. While I believe the exposition at the beginning was helpful to build the world and the characters, too long was spent on those details. In the second half, things have moved very quickly (perhaps too quickly), and there are seemingly very significant details like Adah's feelings of betrayal, Rachel's engagement, and Leah's conversation on the boat with Anatole which all end unresolved. I am glad that the story is becoming more entertaining because combined with Barbara Kingsolver's incredible talent for writing, the book is becoming a much more enjoyable read.