The Poisonwood Bible

Orleanna recounts the story of President Eisenhower authorizing a coup against Prime Minister Lumumba. After the UN-funded mercenary army led by Mobutu, a man more willing to accede to Western interests, took control, Lumumba was put on house arrest. He escaped house arrest but was eventually murdered near Kilanga. His body was not returned to his wife, which has serious cultural implications.

Orleanna wonders what, precisely, she had been doing during that time. She states that she had been consumed by the daily life in Kilanga, particularly with keeping Ruth May alive, and had not paid attention to the greater scale of events. Orleanna reflects that both she and Lumumba lost a life that day and that she felt that, on some level, she had been waiting for such a loss to justify leaving her husband without remorse.

Leah considers the many contributing factors that led to the dramatic confrontation between her father and Tata Ndu, namely the drought, hunger, ants, and recent elections. Tata Ndu arrives at church and interrupts Reverend Price’s story on Bel and the Serpent, a story taken from the apocrypha in which Daniel uses ashes to prove that the priests of Bel were eating the offerings themselves.