The Poisonwood Bible: Book 2, Chapter 13 Summary & Analysis

Orleanna still remembers the smell of Africa—a smell she finds almost impossible to bear. The smell reminds her of her mistakes as a mother: one of her daughters remains “buried” in Africa (we’re not told which one). In Kilanga, she thinks, she could have been a better parent. She remembers a Sunday, when she was walking through the town with her daughters. At times like this, Orleanna thought of herself both as one of her own daughters and as Nathan’s wife. “We’re all women,” she thinks. Orleanna still can’t imagine how her daughters—now grown women—managed to grow up in such a sad family. She also notes that she misses coffee more than she misses Nathan. (We’re not told what happened to Nathan.)

Whenever Orleanna sees an orange or a packet of detergent now, she remembers a man named Eeben Axelroot. Axelroot was a “hanger on” in the Congo: he knew how to get things, most of them from the local Mission League. Even the simplest things Orleanna was forced to buy from Axelroot, often for absurdly high prices.

Over time, Orleanna learned about life in the Congo. Most of the Africans in the community survived on a thick paste called fufu, made from a tuber growing in the ground. Fufu isn’t very nutritious, and it even contains trace amounts of cyanide—and yet it’s the only reliable food that the Congolese have. Orleanna also considers Mama Tataba. She was driven off, she thinks, by Nathan’s “frightful confidence.”

Orleanna thinks about Africa and the Congo’s place in the world. John F. Kennedy claimed that American leadership in the Congo was poor and callous, and Eleanor Roosevelt called for American intervention to “bring Africa into the 20th century.” Orleanna concludes, “It was beyond me to weigh such matters.” Orleanna had no time to consider the Congo’s place in the world—she was too busy trying to contend with her husband. She realizes now that when she was in Africa, her children seemed not to love her half the time—probably because they, too, were so frightened and intimidated by Nathan. Orleanna remembers that Nathan used to play football in high school. Perhaps this gave him his competitive, single-minded character.

Orleanna continues to think about Nathan. As time went on in Africa, Nathan’s Christian mission became increasingly difficult to achieve. The leader of the village, Tata Ndu, publicly denounced Nathan for “feeding children to the crocodiles.” Nathan was forced to apologize to Ndu, something that he was extremely reluctant to do. Even after his apology, Ndu refused to give Nathan his “blessing.” This meant that Nathan was becoming an outcast in the village, with few people continuing to come to his sermons. In private, Nathan tore out his hair. He neglected his children and ignored their development.