Essay #1

All humans have a tendency to become accustomed to routine; it's just human nature. Adjusting to being ripped out of the norm is a tough process, one that is not always received with warm welcomes. Some have a better time than others at the adjusting process. Leah Price is a fourteen year-old tomboy from Georgia who worships her father, Nathan Price, and blindly follows his faith. She has grown accustomed the posh (compared to African) lifestyle, like all Americans do. And when she and her family are forced to move to Africa for Nathan's mission trips, she does not make a smooth transition. Leah is excited about the trip to Africa. She thinks that leaving her home will be worth the interesting experience of visiting there. However, as she spends more time there, she discovers the flaws in being ripped from her home in Georgia and settling down in the unstable country of Congo. As she faces political and daily realities, she begins to disagree Nathans's teachings. She becomes disillusioned with him after seeing the way he acts, having put him on such a high pedestal before. After witnessing his many arguments and narrow-minded preachings, she loses faith in him. Moving to Congo put such a strain on her family, and they could not go back to the way things were before. The immigration amplified Nathan's strict and insular ways. And having done so, Leah comes face to face with her father's true character, which disgusts her. She begins distancing herself from him, and by the time she's an adult, she has completely detached herself from him, even switching from Baptism to African religion. 

Not only does Leah alienate herself from Nathan, she becomes estranged from the rest of her family, although not on purpose. After getting dropped off in Bulungu, her three sisters and her mother, Orleanna, go their separate ways. Leah finds solace in her longtime friend, Anatole. She goes on to forge her own path with him, marrying him and having three sons. While Leah creates new bonds with her husband and children, she loses connections with her other family, losing contact with them. Had she and her family stayed in Georgia, stayed in the United States, she would still be surrounded by them, see them, interact with them everyday. 

However, even though Leah alienated herself from her family because of the move to Congo, she became a better, more enlightened person. The trip to Africa is not all for naught. As the story progresses, Leah begins to mature and expand her horizons. She finally realizes that her father is not the wonderful man she thinks he is. Leah lets go of the idea that Nathan is the perfect man, the perfect father, the one who should be held above everyone else. And Leah's relationship with Anatole helps her reach out her comfort zone to open a school and help the natives of Congo. Anatole helps bring enrichment and a new meaning of life. He opens the gate to let in new ideas. Without having been exiled from Georgia, she would have never met Anatole and never gained so much wonderful experience and had her beautiful family.

Change always has its ups and downs, sometimes more downs than ups and vice versa. But no matter what the ratio, good and bad still come from it. Like Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter once said, "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of places, if one only remembers to turn on the light." And Leah made sure that she found her light at the end of the dark tunnel. Her move to Africa brought sorrows (alienation from her family) and joy (Anatole and their three sons, and enlightenment). And through it all, she was able to keep a strong head and make it out to the other side of the tunnel.