The Poisonwood Bible: Book 5, Chapter 75 Summary & Analysis

Leah now has four children: Pascal, Patrice, Martin-Lothaire, and Nathaniel. Each son is named after a man who died suddenly. Nathaniel, her youngest child, was born last year, shortly after Anatole was released from jail. Pascal, the eldest child, studies engineering in Luanda. Patrice is quiet and tender, and looks a lot like Anatole. He reminds Leah of Adah.

Leah remembers how, ten years ago, it briefly seemed like the tribes of Angola would finally find peace under the leadership of Agostinho Neto. But within two weeks of Neto’s rise to power, the U.S. armed Neto’s opposition, ensuring a violent, bloody war that ended in Neto’s defeat. Some, like Rachel, would call Leah brainwashed for believing this, but Leah knows she’s right. She thinks back to the definition of Communism that Anatole gave her years and years ago: “they think everybody should have the same kind of house.” Leah’s current house is full of food, books, and children. Ten years after Neto’s defeat to the U.S.-sponsored opposition, it seems like the U.S. is finally losing its control of the greater Congolese area.