Quote 7
When I go with them to the grocery, [Anatole and Leah] are boggled and frightened and secretly scornful. [...] It is as if our Rachel had been left suddenly in charge of everything. (5.7.6)
The grocery store, a foreign concept to anyone living in the jungles of Congo, can seem like a bright symbol of American excess (and a horrible place to hide from zombies). So much food that will never be eaten, and so many things we don't really need.
Quote 8
According to my Baptist Sunday-school teacher, a child is denied entrance to heaven merely for being born in the Congo. (2.8.4)
Once again, white privilege rears its ugly head. This is an imaginary injustice that leads to an actual injustice: when these people think the dark races of the Congo need "saving." The only thing they need to be saved from is these people.
Quote 9
If God had amused himself inventing the lilies of the field, he surely knocked His own socks off with the African parasites. (1.10.37)
It's easy to forget that we're not the only creatures on this planet. There are millions of them that we can't even see. Does their size make them unimportant? Not to Adah—but definitely to Nathan.