How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She grew strong as I grew weak. (Yes! Jesus loves me!) And so it came to pass, in the Eden of our mother's womb, I was cannibalized by my sister. (1.4.14)
If Adah believed in God, she'd probably blame Him for her disability. As it is, she accepts it … but kind of holds Leah responsible.
Quote #2
If [Nathan's] guilt made him a tyrant before men, it made him like a child before his God. (3.Prologue.28)
Correction: it makes him a petulant child before God, the type of child that tries to manipulate his parents (in this case, the Father) to get what he wants and throws a tantrum when it doesn't happen.
Quote #3
"This is your penance for sixteen years of pulling up your nose at my cooking." (3.7.18)
Orleanna plays the blame card on Rachel, although the emotion of guilt never seems to register in her. (Hey, that's moms for you.)
Quote #4
How could I leave Adah behind again? Once in the womb, once to the lion, and now like Simon Peter I had denied her for the third time. (3.18.10)
If you don't have our Bible guide open side-by-side with this one, you'll want to check out Simon Peter, or Saint Peter, here. In one of his not-quite-finest moments, Simon Peter denies knowing Jesus after Jesus gets captured and hauled off to be crucified, and Leah similarly believes she has, once again, denied her sister Adah.
Quote #5
"God hates us." [...] "Don't blame God for what ants have to do." (3.21.12)
This interaction helps Leah transition from believing that God has the good of mankind at heart, to blaming Him for all the world's troubles, to maybe not believing in Him at all. Talk about a character arc.
Quote #6
I shook [Ruth May] too hard and screamed at her. Maybe that was the last she knew of her sister Leah. (4.9.5)
Even though Ruth May was probably insensible at this point after her snake bite, Leah still blames herself for making Ruth May's last seconds less than serene.
Quote #7
Was I the booby prize? [...] Am I alive only because Ruth May is dead? (5.3.22)
Adah's a little different than her sisters. She doesn't blame herself for Ruth May's death; she blames Ruth May's death for her own life.
Quote #8
What if I marked [Pascal] with some English word I taught him, as stupidly as we doomed our parrot? (5.6.26)
Even though Leah's practically in another country when Pascal is murdered by rival soldiers, she finds a way to take responsibility for his death. Now that's an overdeveloped sense of guilt.
Quote #9
You would be free too. And I didn't want that. I wanted you to remember what he did to us. (5.12.48)
While Rachel and Leah don't blame their mother for what happened to them (or they don't articulate it), Adah makes no qualms about her mother's culpability. She wants to make sure she lives with the guilt. (Hey, daddy issues aren't the only issues these girls have.)