Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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Orleanna
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Author:  tracie_pendley [ Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Orleanna
For several weeks, Orleanna lies in bed, and the three older girls must find a way to feed and care for the family themselves. When Orleanna finally pulls herself together she is a changed woman. She speaks her mind to Nathan, instead of cowering before him, and she begins to search desperately for a way to get her daughters out of Africa.
If I were in her situation, I can't say but what I would give up and go to bed for a long time. It's a good thing God didn't give me a husband like Nathan-I couldn't handle it. I am very proud of Orleanna though. Once she "came back to life" she stood up to her husband with whom I began to hate during the novel, and she finally got her girls out of there. I wish she could have done this sooner. Maybe Ruth May would not have died then.
Author:  Elaine Deyton [ Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
Sometimes it's easier to retreat than to fight. Our minds and bodies will do that to us when we feel hopeless and we need that down time although we don't understand it or able to explain it. But Orleanna's retreat may unknowingly have been to prepare her for the battles that awaited her on down the road. Your right about having a husband like Nathan. It makes you wonder about pledging 'till death do us part' because the Nathan she went to Africa with wasn't the Nathan she's married. Yet, it's just a story. But still it makes you wonder....
Author:  Jen Davis [ Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:41 pm ]
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You know I found the "retreating" episode of Orleanna very appealing. It made her character very real and fallible. How many of us have not at some point ‘given up’ or wanted to so badly that we allowed it to wholeheartedly effect us as it did Orleanna? I must give much credit to Orleanna because of her ability to both reflect and accept responsibility in the outcome of the story (something she begins to do, even in the beginning of the book). In her narrative she shares of her woes and sorrows, but she also hints at the things she might have changed. The admittance of defeat, regret, sorrow and then the ability to stand back up again- is what gives her character depth and believability. Good point Tracie! I’ll be your “Amenâ€
Author:  suzanne_mcmahon [ Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:36 am ]
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yes, I certainly had some thoughts about people vowing in marriage, "till death due us part". I asked our priest about that. I said, "what if you're in a marriage and you know you said that vow but it has really turned sour. How do you know when to get out? And he said,"till you can't take it anymore." And that is what happened here, Orleanna just had enough.
She is an amazing character though. I just was in complete suspense the whole novel waiting to see how she ended up marrying this rotten egg in the first place. That kind of thing (how two people come together) has baffled me in so many ways when I look at the real world. You know what I'm talking about. Just sometimes you're thinking, "how on earth? or who would marry that one?" and so it seems to me, that a lot like my mom, that Orleanna was young and innocent and just ideal about the whole marriage thing. She really was a strong person to go with the flow like she did-absolutely amazing. And really, this novel makes me want to stay far from marriage because of all that she has had to go through. Being single ain't half bad I say!
Author:  suzanne_mcmahon [ Sat Jun 24, 2006 8:42 am ]
Post subject: 
and I have to go on and say that that is it grace or blindness or both that keeps people in marriages like these. And yet, we have to have compassion for Nathan. How can I really call him a bad egg when he had post war symptoms that were out of his control?
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