The Poisonwood Bible: Book 5, Chapter 68 Summary & Analysis

Leah stands outside a train station and remembers all the things that have happened to her recently. That morning, she killed a snake that was crawling through her and Anatole’s home. The date is January 17, the anniversary of the day on which the Congo lost its newfound independence and Ruth May lost her life.

Anatole has been released from prison and miraculously allowed to live, despite the fact that many Congolese dissidents have been executed. While in jail, Anatole made friends with his guards, and taught them how to read and write. As a gesture of thanks, they gave him the books of the politician Agistonho Neto. Neto and Anatole struck up a friendship via correspondence. Anatole sympathized with Neto’s struggle as an educated, pro-Lumumba Congolese man—Neto was beaten up by the police for expressing his political views.

After being released from prison, Anatole and Leah moved to the town of Bikoki, where Anatole lived as a child. Recently, Leah reunited with the Fowles family, who told her that one of Anatole’s old students in the village, Pascal, was murdered on Christmas Day for opposing the Mobutu government. Brother Fowles also told Leah that Nathan had been continuing with his missionary efforts until very recently. Nathan was forced to leave Kilanga, however, when he became sick. As a result, nobody knows where he is now.

Leah faces the truth: she’s lost her family, one member at a time. She can only feel hatred for Rachel, who she believes has “sold out” by marrying a “powerful mercenary.” She can’t communicate with Orleanna or Adah. Her only real family nowadays is Anatole. Anatole works as a secondary school teacher. Yet Leah carries the memory of her little sister, Ruth May, deep inside her.