The Things We Took Away Orleanna Chapter Analysis

The Things We Took Away Orleanna simply said it best: “We can only speak of the things we carried with us, and the things we took away.”(10) The five Price woman enter the Congo with certain things, materialistic mindsets, Betty Crocker cake mixes, white privilege, ivory hand mirrors, and American ignorance, to name a few. The things that they left with were significantly different. They took away experience, enlightenment, balance, guilt, and shame from Africa, and, most importantly, they lost Ruth May. The Congo molded the Price women, it shaped their souls. Orleanna, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May were all affected by their time in the Congo, and they vary greatly in their philosophical perceptions of it— they lie on a spectrum of apathy
As the plot progresses, it is clear that Orelanna struggles with her Complicity—in Ruth May’s death, and in the pillage of the African people by her own kind. Ruth May’s ultimate demise was most likely the trigger for Orleanna’s self-examination and paralyzing regret. She wonders “what trivial thing was I doing while they divided the map beneath my feet?” (320), showing her complex feelings of her own role in the events of the Congo, and examining her own ignorance and mistakes. She speaks of her ventures in Africa with a heavy and regretful tone, almost blaming herself for the robbing of Africa’s metaphorical womb. Orleanna and Leah both share common feelings of “white guilt”; however, the ways they handle these emotions are distinctively different. Orleanna deals with her feelings of complicity by becoming an active member of her local Civil Rights movement, something that Adah calls her “new religion.” She seeks to amend her supposed errors and ignorant mistakes in the Congo by aiding a cause for the advancement of human rights. Ruth May’s omnipresent snake fursona, however, suggests that forgiveness has been given, and it is time for Orleanna to walk forward into the light, and focus on her future happiness, rather
Their personal philosophies, meaning of life, and sense of harmony were all affected in an immense amount of different ways. Although, at first glance, the philosophies of Orleanna and Leah; and Ruth May and Adah, appear to be similar, they approach similar themes from different angles, fitting in on different spots of the spectrum. But while Orleanna takes her guilt to her heart, and constantly asks for forgiveness from her complicity, Leah obtains the relief on her own terms, comes to peace with her wrongs, and continues her search for justice. Adah views the balance in nature, observing the checks and balances in the natural system; Ruth May is the balance, and sees every event, every person who has ever lived, in a perfect ordinary harmony. Leah and Orelanna care about what they did to Africa, Adah and Rachel care more about what Africa did to them. Ruth May is everything in the middle, “‘All that is being is