I'm sorry, this is a short-answer forum. We are unable to answer questions that require this amount of research and evidence.
Orleanna is a strong woman. She places her main focus on the family, particularly her children. In Africa, her motherly instincts take over.... she has to protect her children but circumstances often make this impossible. In the end, she loses her daughter (Ruth May) and leaves her husband. Nathan is controlling.... patriarchal, and Orleanna fights against him to no avail.
My firstborn and my baby both tried to shed me like a husk from the start, and the twins came with a fine interior sight with which they could simply look past me at everything more interesting. And my husband, why, hell hath no fury like a Baptist preacher. I married a man who could never love me, probably. It would have trespassed on his devotion to all mankind. I remained his wife because it was one thing I was able to do each day. My daughters would say: You see, Mother, you had no life of your own.