Literature Circle 5

New Critic

"So that's my advice. Let others do the pushing and shoving, and you just ride along. In the end, the neck you save will be your own. Perhaps I sound un-Christian, but let's face it, when I step outside my own little world at night and listen to the sounds out there in the dark, what I feel down in my bones is that this is not a Christian kind of place. This is darkest Africa, where life raras by you like a flood and you grab whatever looks like it will hold you up. If you as me, that's how it is and ever shall be. You stick out your elbows, and hold yourself up" (517).

I thought that this quote from Song of the Three Children was really interesting. It is in Rachel's section of the chapter. I thought it was interesting because it basically summs up Rachel's view on life and what she has learned throughout the years. This has been what Rachel has done for the entire book. She just stays in her own little world, where ever that is at the time, and doesn't get involved in all of the terrible things going on in the Congo. After all these years the only thing that Rachel still cares about is herself.

"Such childhood energy I spent on feeling betrayed. By the world in general, Leah in particular. Betrayal bent me in one direction while guilt bent her the other way. We constructed our lives around a missunderstanding, and if ever I tried to pull it out and fix it now I would fall down flat. Misunderstanding is my cornerstone. It's everyone's, come to think of it. Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization" (532).

I also thought that this quote from Song of the Three Children was interesting. It is in Adah's section of the chapter. I thought it was interesting because Adah was talking about the way she used to see the world around her, and when she was younger she spent a lot of time feeling betrayed because she was born with her disability and how this affected her and Leah's relationship. She finally sees that she shouldn't have spent all that time feeling betrayed because all it really was is a missunderstanding in her mind.