ESSAY #1

 I did spend an extra half hour finishing the essay beyond the forty minutes allotted. I didn't plan out what I would say and that was my consequence. 

    Although she is exiled away from her homeland in Georgia, Adah Price is, and has been, alone in her thoughts already because of her disorder. Ada has grown knowing that she can never be like any of them and accepts that. She is not only exiled, but exiles herself from her family, as Leah mentions several times.  

     In the Congo, Adah has come to realize how alone she really is. She and her twin, Leah, secretly resent one another and keep a constant battle between themselves. When Leah leaves her- one of several times while walking- she was almost eaten by a lion. Her mother had to choose who to save when the deadly ants came to the village, Ruth May or Adah, and left Adah there to fend for herself even though Ruth May was perfectly capable of holding her own while Ada could hardly walk. She wonders about her self worth and how important she is to the family since making sure she was okay was not important to them . She is not only exiled from her home, but can now see the alienation from her family. 

    Adah does learn that things are not what they seem. The many definitions of one word give her a kick. The jungle shows her things that she couldn't have known before. There was a point when her exile and alienation were resolved on the outside, but still could never be mended completely. When her mother spoke of how from the "last to first" mothers cared for their children and how she was next in line so naturally Orleanna was to save Ada from the jungle. Good can come from bad. In the states, Ada speaks and learns how to walk without a limp. She improves herself physically after being damaged emotionally. 

     The juxtaposition of two strong characteristics, alienating and enriching, show how a person has the capacity to lose and gain at the same time. Although she loses her life back home, she gains a new one in which she can be truthful in how she presents herself and in her relationships. Each Price woman goes through a  similar transition from being something once but ending anew.  The book has a way of gradually transitioning from what one once knew, to what one knows now.