Black Sun, Blood Moon
Jan. 10th, 2011 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
commonpeople1
"The sun became black & the moon turned to blood." (Revelation 6:12)
Originally uploaded by Stevie Steve Steven
The Revelation seems to refer to the Bible's Book of Apocalypse, where the end of mankind is announced, amongst other things, through hallucinogenic-based writings from an unknown author in the 1st Century.
Just a big Revelation or many small ones? Is the impeding liberation from Belgium the approaching Apocalypse? The soldiers equal to the horsemen of the Apocalypse?
Kingsolver plays with revelations in many levels. You have the mirror that the family own - the only one in the village - so that every Congolese who stares at it has a revelation of their own face. That the villagers flock to the church when one of the twins survives the stalking of a lion - another revelation (that Jesus is as powerful as their gods?) Perhaps Anatole standing up to the father is a revelation for the four daughters - here's a man from the Congo who has the intellect and power to brush aside this arrogant missionary.
Perhaps the Revelation that the family of missionaries made a mistake. The creeping certitude they made a mistake. The revelations the girls stumble upon as they spy on others in the village (private lives revealed to their innocent eyes). The revelation they each go through that there's something wrong with their religion... it's just an inkling at this stage.
I thought it was interesting the symbolism of the lion in this section. To me it represents the uncontrollable forces of this African country - whether in its politics, its soldiers or even in its villagers - something that cannot be tamed by sermons. The irony of it instigating more attendance in the church after Adah escapes being eaten by it will be unmade in the following sections (my prediction.)
Methuselah the bird gets killed and eaten by the lion at the end of this section. If Methuselah represented the converted African Christian (parroting Bible words it doesn't understand) then this is a terrible foreshadowing of what is going to happen to the family and the villagers... I just know there's some tough stuff coming up!!
I had a look as to the meaning of the name Methuselah, which sounds so Biblical: it can be translated to "man of the spear" (African?). He is the oldest person mentioned in the Bible. This is a neat use of the name to a parrot since this type of bird can live up to 100 years. I wonder if Kingsolve is also pointing at the longevity of African tribes - or the connection that humanity came originally from Africa. Methuselah died seven days before the Flood... again I wonder if the bird's death in this section is on the brink of some kind of "flood" too... (war? famine?)
What do you think is "The Revelation"?
