Quote 4
To resist occupation, whether you're a nation or merely a woman, you must understand the language of your enemy. Conquest and liberation and democracy and divorce are words that mean squat, basically, when you have hungry children and clothes to get out on the line. (5.Prologue.8)
Once again the conquest vs. marriage idea raises its head. At this point, Orleanna is so soured on marriage that she considers a husband an "occupier" and an "enemy." Is there any truth to this sentiment?
Quote 5
Every few years, even now, I catch the scent of Africa. [...] Ripe fruits, acrid sweat, urine, flowers, dark spices. (2.Prologue.1, 2.Prologue.3)
The scent of Africa is a piquant blend, much likes its jungles, of the beauty of nature and the less-than-glamorous realities of human life. (We all sweat and pee. Even Bradley Cooper.)
Quote 6
"Your King Baudouin is living off the fat of this land [...] and leaving it up to penniless mission doctors and selfless men like my husband to take care of their every simple need. Is that how a father rules?" (2.7.44)
Try capitalizing "Father" and then asking the same question. Nathan Price's Father (a.k.a. God) is an absent ruler who takes all of the credit and none of the blame for events in the human world. Is that how God rules?