The Verse Character Analysis

Finally, the main reason for Leah’s transformation from a young girl who wants to be just like her father to a rebel child who wants nothing to do with her father is from the physical presence of others in her life. Leah’s psychological turmoil is fueled by all the people surrounding her in her day to day life. In the beginning, Leah was surrounded by a church family and her father a pastor so it was ideal that she was a religious child. It wasn’t her choice but more of her father’s choice because his punishment for his children was “The Verse” (Kingsolver 67) which was a section of scripture of 100 verses that they had to write out by hand for him. The author is a genius for putting this into the novel because it foreshadows Nathan’s controlling …show more content…
He is very demanding and forces his family to move to the Congo, he forces Leah’s mother to do all the work around the house, and he forces his own religious views upon the Congolese. When the Price family moves to Kilanga the people that surround the family is very different from what they are used to. While in the Congo the women surrounding her are carrying water on their head and doing all the housework or yard work. This catches the eye of Leah and she begins to understand that women are worth more than just being a housewife. Leah states "In all our time in the Congo I'd been awestruck by what the ladies could carry (on their heads) but had never once tried it myself. What a revelation, that I could carry my own parcel like any woman here!" (Kingsolver 390). Leah has never seen women do so much physical labor because in America they had amenities such as running water and such so to see these helpless women like Mama Muanza caring for their family through physical labor pushes Leah to think that she is worth more. Their hard work shows Leah that she can do more and she is able to see that independence is needed, and Anatole is the one that pushes her to go for