Similarities Between Rachel And Ruth May

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In regards to narrative perspective, Ruth May and Rachel both take completely opposite directions in their stories. However, there are a few similarities. Right after Ruth May dies, Rachel is contemplating on how to tell her mom. At this time, Rachel says “the whole world would change then, and nothing would ever be all right again” (Kingsolver 366). This is probably the time that Rachel is the most objective because she doesn’t know how to feel about everything that is going on. However, her being the oldest of the Price daughters, she feels as though she has this weight to carry in order to break the news to Orleanna. At the end of the novel, the voice of dead Ruth May in her message to Orleanna says “you are afraid you might forget, but …show more content…

For example, Ruth May is usually very objective in her descriptions of things and enjoys people viewing her that way. For example, she says that her parents “won’t talk about the bad things in front of my sisters, but me I can listen all the livelong day while I’m getting me a banana in the kitchen house and peeling it” (Kingsolver 51). Not only does Ruth May remain objective, but the majority of her views come from her parents and sisters rather than directly from herself since she is immersed in their life and everyone else around believes that she is too young to have a view or opinion on anything. On the contrary, Rachel is very subjective in the novel and tries to involve herself in a variety of situations. For example, she is very self-centered and focused on what will happen to her. This is still the case when she says “the instant we get back to Georgia I am filing for an adoption” (Kingsolver 268). So not only does Rachel put herself directly in the middle of a situation, she declares it and wants everyone to know. Rachel has a difficult time remaining objective throughout the novel and therefore often loses her unreliability as a narrator. Each of the other characters have differing narrative perspectives than Rachel and Ruth May. However, it is this that shapes the novel and its structure as a circular

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