Wife, Bird, and Country

It has already been established that Methuselah (the parrot) is connected to the Congo in some way ("Methuselah was a sly representative of Africa itself." p.60). However on closer inspection of the text, it seems Orleanna is somehow also connected to the Congo and Methuselah. It is true for all three that someone else entered their world and demanded a certain way of life. For Orleanna, she met Nathan, who brought her to the Congo after they married. He expected her to adapt to living in the Congo and be a humble, submissive wife. For Methuselah, he had been brought out of the wild and was expected to survive and live in the civilized world. For the Congo itself, the Europeans arrived and brought with them new ideas in terms of ways of life: the Christian religion and what could be considered the "civil" lifestyle.

In a way, Orleanna, Methuselah, and the people of the Congo all no longer have their freedom. They are no longer in charge of their own life, so to speak, and have lost their sense of self or identity. This is because other people have entered their lives and taken control of their way of living. As a result, they now are only a mere shell of their previous identity and could be thought of as puppets who now have no free will or the choice to make their own decisions. For example, Orleanna says that she "was lodged in the heart of darkness, so thoroughly bent to the shape of marrriage [she] could hardly see any other way to stand. Like Methuselah [she] cowered beside [her] cage, and though [her] soul hankered after the mountain, [Orleanna] found, like Methuselah, [she] had no wings (201)". Orleanna had changed after her marriage and found herself without the ability to do anything about it.

Also, it was suggested in class that it is as if the voice they speak with now is not their real voice. Methuselah only imitates other people's voices, such as Brother Fowles' or Orleanna's; he really doesn't have his own voice. For Orleanna, she must accept and go with all of Nathan's decisions. Furthermore, she can't speak her own mind around Nathan because he won't let or listen to her. Finally, with the people of the Congo, they were not able to voice their opinions on the arrival of the Europeans. The Europeans had simply come and immediately attempted to change the way of life of the Congolese people. All in all, Orleanna, Methuselah, and the Congo were perhaps all unjustly forced to do things they might not have originally been comfortable with. Therefore, the connection between the three of them must be significant.