Revenge of the Dead Beasts

In the Poisonwood Bible, a book by Barbara Kingsolver, in the section entitled: Bel and the Serpent, we come to the part where Leah hunts with the rest of the men and gets her first kill (pg. 348). After the big hunt, the village gathers around the pile of meat that was going to be shared about the village people. Instead, what happens is that the entire scene erupts in a violent scrabble for meat. The sacred idea of sharing amongst everyone was lost within the rage and starving bellies.

Leah gives us this quote from the scene: "We tried to ignore his strange remarks, but we all did hear him. In some corner of our hearts we all drew back, knowing he was right. The dead beasts in our hands seemed to be cursing and mocking us for having killed them. In the end we all crept home with our meat, feeling hunted ourselves. What was surely the oldest celebration of all, the sharing of plenty, had fallen to ruin in our hands." (p. 354). This quote shows how changes to village life were brought forth due to the changes around them. In the chapters before the hunt, the Congolese people in the village of Kilanga decide to vote on whether Jesus Christ is a savior and should be an official and overall religion for the Congolese people in Kilanga. They used the white man's idea of "Majority rules" and voted that Jesus wasn't so Bangala after all. As the new attachment to the white men's ideas become lodged into all the villagers minds, some of the old ways slowly lose affect on people. Like the belief in sharing things between the entire village instead of just keeping things entirely to yourself, as the Price family did with their supplies from home. This example might lead up to things in the future, changes brought about because of the changes in thinking. Metaphorically, this quote could be compared to the situation going on politically with the independence of the Congo and how the Congolese way of things were falling more and more into the hands of the white man, their ideas and thinking.