Rachel Price is the eldest of the Price girls, and is one of five narrators of the novel. Rachel is an egomaniac just like her father, but instead of worrying about the safety of her soul she worries about the safety of her body. This is exhibited by her most prized possession being a small hand mirror, which is what she risks her life for during the plague of ants. Throughout the novel Rachel makes no attempt to learn about the culture of the people in the Congo. She only focuses on maintaining her beauty, beliefs, and remains ignorant to the political problems around the Congo. She is the most eager to leave Africa, and plans on never thinking about it once she does leave, even though it did consume most of her "childhood". When Rachel is grown up, she remains to be the same materialistic person, even though she never actually leaves Africa. She ends up marrying an ambassador which causes her to stay in Africa, but she does live a life of luxury to fit her passion for beauty and materialism.
Significance of the name "Rachel"
In the Hebrew Bible, Rachel is a prophet and the wife of Jacob. Jacob and Rachel decided to flee from Rachel's father with their 12 children back to the land of Canaan. Rachel's father found them, and accused Jacob of stealing his idols. Jacob denied having the idols, not knowing that Rachel had stolen them, and he set a curse on whoever had stolen them.
This relates to Rachel Price because she always cares more about possessions than her own well-being. This relates back to the plague of ants as stated above.
