Kingsolver uses strong diction, metaphor, and many other literary devices to describe Leah’s internal conflicts throughout the novel. While discussing Anatole and Leah’s time spent in Kilanga during their youth, she describes the hunger experienced as “starvation burning bitter on the backs of our tongues.” (Kingsolver 504) The word choice and personification used here adds a deeper sense of nostalgia and relief, as though you can almost taste the hunger yourself. The diction and imagery used in this passage suggests Leah and Anatole both have their farfetched dreams and are still clinging on to their past, hoping they can defeat the guilt and contempt they still hold, as Leah describes when saying she wishes to “walk on a compassionate earth