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 Poisonwood Ending 
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Joined: Tue Jan 21, 2003 9:13 am
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I was sad about the ending. I'm not sure if the girls and the mom are happy. They have so many regrets. Yes, the last chapter told them to forgive and go on, but I'm not sure they did. Africa really did a number on them. I just felt so sorry for them. I wanted them to have a happy ending. I was left to wonder about them. Did anyone else feel this way?
I wanted more information.

I was so upset by the death of Ruth May. How sad!! :cry: :cry:
The funeral for her was a tear jerker.


I was glad that the "Crazy Rev" got his due in a "Blaze of Glory!" :twisted:

DANA


Mon Apr 14, 2003 10:13 pm
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dana, i thought leah found some measure of peace in her life with anatole. adah went on to become whole physically but not spirpitually. the mom...... i don' t think she ever was whole to begin with..... and rachel got exactly what she deserved.... lonliness and a commercial life centered on things being bought and sold....i was thrilled by the nathan's blaze of glory too.
it was sad....

i asked my husband if he thought people ever completely "got over" or overcame such huge things in their childhood and he said "no. they just learn to go on." it makes me think again of sophie's choice.

how do we move on from ravaged lives? an interesting question.


Tue Apr 15, 2003 8:59 am
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Airlie,

I disagree with you that Adah was not whole spiritually. I think she had her own beliefs and that she acted on those. I also feel that in the end, she would be the most beneficial to the Congolese. She was starting to study the bacteria that caused the diseases that they faced. I think that in some way this will be more beneficial to the people than what Leah was attempting to accomplish.

I am sticking to my guns that Adah is the most changed, most spiritual, most beneficial, and the strongest of all the Price family.

And I find it ironic how the author chose to have Nathan die...in a blaze of glory?

Randy


Tue Apr 15, 2003 10:56 am
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Dana,
I really think they were happy in their own way. Even though, I know I wouldn't be too happy in any of their situations. They had so many struggles to deal with. I was just glad to see that the struggling seemed to be coming to and end, at least the physical struggles anyway. It was just really sad that the women weren't close to each other at the end. I guess strife can either bring you really close together or drive you apart. At least they had a little control over their lives at the end, unlike before, and could make the decisions that best suited them even if it meant they wouldn't be together.


Sun Apr 20, 2003 5:20 pm
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I don't think any of them were really happy. They couldn't seem to leave behind what had happened to them in Africa. Leah said that her whole marriage had been a "long convalescence." She couldn't give up on the idea of becoming a part of the African culture. It was as if she was trying to make up for what her father had done by devoting herself to a life in the Congo. She also was very ashamed of being white and ashamed of all the things Americans had done to the people of Africa. It seems that she was trying to make up for the sins of her father and America on her own. Adah was not happy that she could walk upright. She limps around her apartment trying to recover her old ways of seeing and thinking. She said that "the arrogance of the able-bodied is staggering. Yes, maybe we'd like to be able to get places quickly, and carry things in both hands, but only because we have to keep up the the rest of you, or get The Verse. We would rather be just like us, and have that be all right." I think Rachel may have been the happiest if any of them can be considered happy. Her life turned out as close to what she had dreamed - being wealthy. But she can't be too happy because she describes her life by saying, "one thing leads to another, then you're mired in." She said she dreams everyday of what her life may have been like if she had returned to the USA, but she is afraid that she won't fit in. I seems that they all are struggling because their experiences in Africa have changed their way of thinking and they no longer seem to fit in anywhere.


Sun Apr 20, 2003 7:16 pm
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