Tall and straight I may appear, but I will always be Ada you to remember what he did to us. inside. A crooked little person trying to tell the truth. The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our Though the verbal conversation between the successes” (496). two women ends after grim confession, Adah extends the dialogue in her mind. Her Adah’s imaginary conversation reveals the full extent of her belief in the power of remembering; though she knows that death would have brought Orleanna peace, Adah wants her to what he “remember to assume the burden of memory and maintain the words of a story that others will try did to us,” to forget. The conviction with which Adah speaks and the resolve behind her commitment to preserving memories mark her as the strongest subversive voice within the guilt register and, indeed, within the novel as a whole. Not only does she denounce colonial and neo-colonial activity by expressing complicity, but she takes this expression to a more constructive level than her family members by confronting and accepting her once colonizing position within the historical narrative and striving to preserve a story that must be told. Orleanna, Leah, and Adah all express guilt and complicity in ways that subvert, on some level, goals in the Congo. Though Kingsolver makes a number of blunders in this Nathan’s register—namely incorporating exotic descriptions of Africa and overemphasizing her desires to throw away their cultural identity and the burden that accompanies it—she characters’ nevertheless creates characters that differentiate themselves from their mission. These father’s women achieve subversion by creatively imagining alternative histories, by acknowledging their roles in their pursuits, by renouncing association with the colonizer and instead nation’s associating with the colonized, and by demonstrating a dedication to remembering and preserving the story of what happened in the Congo.
you to remember what he did to us. Tall and straight I may appear, but I will always be Ada inside. A crooked little person trying to tell the truth. The power is in the balance: we are our injuries, as much as we are our successes” (496). Though the verbal conversation between the two women ends after Adah’s grim confession, Adah extends the dialogue in her mind. Her imaginary conversation reveals the full extent of her belief in the power of remembering; though she knows that death would have brought Orleanna peace, Adah wants her to “remember what he did to us,” to assume the burden of memory and maintain the words of a story that others will try to forget. The conviction with which Adah speaks and the resolve behind her commitment to preserving memories mark her as the strongest subversive voice within the guilt register and, indeed, within the novel as a whole. Not only does she denounce colonial and neo-colonial activity by expressing complicity, but she takes this expression to a more constructive level than her family members by confronting and accepting her once colonizing position within the historical narrative and striving to preserve a story that must be told. Orleanna, Leah, and Adah all express guilt and complicity in ways that subvert, on some level, Nathan’s goals in the Congo. Though Kingsolver makes a number of blunders in this register—namely incorporating exotic descriptions of Africa and overemphasizing her characters’ desires to throw away their cultural identity and the burden that accompanies it—she nevertheless creates characters that differentiate themselves from their father’s mission. These women achieve subversion by creatively imagining alternative histories, by acknowledging their roles in their nation’s pursuits, by renouncing association with the colonizer and instead associating with the colonized, and by demonstrating a dedication to remembering and preserving the story of what happened in the Congo.
wallace_natalie_thesis.docx