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Bel And The Serpent Short Story

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“Not all those who wander are lost”- J.R.R Tolkien. During the “Bel and the Serpent” portion of the novel, Ruth May is killed by a poisonous Cobra- a common death in the Congo. Out of all of the Price sisters, “It is Leah who takes it the hardest and shows the most obvious signs of emotional damage”. Ruth May was a symbol of freedom and innocence in the Price family. She died on the same day as President Lumumba. Readers are able to draw the connection between the two deaths as a symbol for the future of the Congo. After hearing news of the assassination on president Lumumba, under the suggestion of President Ike, Eisenhower- who thought that “Lumumba threatened the state of the world”- the united states finally decided to take action. Leah …show more content…

After having Malaria, and having Anatole take care of her, risking his life on accounts of “treason”, Leah once again confesses her love to Anatole. This time they decided to get engaged despite the endangerment that it put Anatole and those around them in. This shows that Leah still had a selfish nature that she needed to work out. She gets to reflect on this nature at a nunnery after Anatole goes to prison on treason charges. She once again has to be ripped away from her home in order to assess how to better herself. In this experience, she becomes very humble and proceeds to make any other decision concerning herself with caution, being sure to put others and their needs first. When he returned, Leah is much more appreciative of what she has and works more toward building and making good relationships with others. She feels that the only way to help reconstruction and independence in the Congo is to come at it from an angle of selflessness and not self righteousness. America may be thought of in the same way. America wanted the rich minerals that could be gathered from the soil in Africa, mainly the Congo. They tried to have relations with them in order to get these resources, and provide help and introduce democracy. Nonetheless, the United States caused more harm than good from these interactions and it took them having to take a step back to evaluate

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