Although Orleanna was acting out of love for Ruth-May, she betrayed Adah and was ready to sacrifice her daughter for the safety of her youngest daughter. Kingsolver shows the theme of love and betrayal through the actions of Orleanna and her favoritism between her children in a dire situation. Words that Kingsolver utilizes to show the sense of betrayal Adah feels is “left….behind”. These words, with a noticeable pause, allow the readers emotions to grasp on the current situation, and how Adah was left to die purposely.  With this scene, the readers are able to learn more about Orleanna’s character and how she will sacrifice a loved one, to protect the other. Kingsolver uses the theme of love and betrayal together in many other scenes, and expresses how in order to want one thing, you must leave something of equal importance behind. When Adah comes to the boat with the help of Anatole, Orleanna’s consequences were the feeling of guilt and shame of her actions and how she just deemed Adah’s life as worthless compared to Ruth-May’s. They both sat in silence on their way to safety. 

Later in the book, when Orleanna and the Price sisters try to leave the Kongo after Ruth-May’s death, Orleanna is placed with another difficult decision to make. Who will Orleanna take with her on her journey out of the Kongo? Leah fell ill, and needed to rest, but they had to keep going. Orleanna chose Adah. Leah would stay with Anatole until she was ready to make her own journey out of the Kongo. One quote to explain Orleanna’s determination in taking Adah to safety is, “Mother was going to drag me out of Africa if it was her last living act,...” (Pg. 410) Although, Orleanna had to betray Leah, and leave her behind, in order to get Adah to safety. Kingsolver shows another scene of both betrayal and love coming into play when Orleanna makes her decision. Kingsolver also expresses the fact that Orleanna only chose to continue her journey out of the Kongo with Adah because of guilt. She didn’t wanted to betray her daughter twice, and Orlenna knows that Leah can fend for herself, as she previously said during the ant attack, “‘Leah will, Leah can take care of herself.’” (Pg. 305)

My original thought when thinking of “Love”, that has been shown in this book, would have to be Orleanna’s love for Ruth-May, her youngest daughter. I soon began to realize that the Love for her daughters wasn’t as strong as her love for her husband. If she had truly loved her daughters, then she would have disagreed with Nathan on multiple occasions, but she chose to stay quiet instead. Orleanna's love for Nathan is different from her daughters because she is blinded with fear, and is unable to see the flaws of Nathan. If she wasn’t so in “love” with Nathan, she could've gotten her daughters to safety without any repercussions. This explains how the “love” shown through most of the book is negative and gave horrible consequences. 

On the other hand, when thinking of “Betrayal”, I thought of it as negative. When I started to reread a couple scenes, I figured out the Kingsolver utilized betrayal to have an outcome where Orleanna and her daughters were able to make it out of the Kongo. For example, the only way they were able to escape the Kongo was after Ruth-May’s death. The love she originally had for Nathan started to disintegrate because she could’ve saved her little girl if she fought back against Nathan staying in the Congo. Orleanna’s vision started to clear up, and she soon realized, the only way she can protect her daughters is if she takes a stand for herself against Nathan. She betrays Nathan, going against his wishes to stay in the Congo as a family, and leads her daughters out of that nightmare. Betraying Nathan saved herself and her daughters. The consequence of betraying had a positive outcome as Orleanna and her daughters were able to make it out alive without any more deaths.

“... grabbing her arm hard and jerking the plate out of her hand. He raised it up over her head and slammed it down hard on the table…” - Rachel (Pg. 134)

“My baby, my blood, my honest truth.” - Orleanna (Pg. 382)

“Several other children remembered this game… asking again and again in a rising plea: Mother May I?” - Leah (Pg. 375) 

“Leah slung her bow over her shoulder. ‘I’m going with the men and that’s final.’” - Rachel (Pg. 340)