For many feminist authors, and others who do not take the time to
             understand the themes of the Bible, the story of Lot's wife presents a huge
             number of emotional and philosophical problems. The story, in short
             version, tells of Lot and his family's hasty exodus from the cities of
             Sodom and Gomorrah just before fire falls on them from heaven. The cities
             are havens of immoral behavior, and all the disease which accompanies
             indiscriminant sex between men, woman, children, prostitutes and animals.
             These cities has fallen into rampantly immoral behavior, and whether of not
             today's readers agree, the God of the bible chose to destroy them rather
             than let the behavior, and disease spread to neighboring town, tribes, and
             Batey's poem identifies the one person who is the seemingly pure
             victim of the entire episode. As Lot and his family flee the town, Lot's
             wife, forever without a name, turns back and is "turned into a pillar of
             salt." Mrs. Batey picks up where the biblical writer leaves off, and fills
             in the gaps of Mrs. Lot's feelings and emotions. She is leaving the home
             she knows. She is leaving the flocks, herds, and lifestyle she has
             faithfully worked to create just because some whimsical God decided to burn
             down the town. She is the victim of her husband's poor judgment, or his
             devotion to a God she does not understand, but she is a victim none the
             less. And in the final picture the biblical record leaves, she appears to
             be the victim of that other patriarchal figure in the story, that whimsical
             god who turn her into salt just for glancing over her shoulder at her
             Anna Akhmatova's poem by the same name strikes the same chord. The
             woman who is forced from her home by a man who follows an angelic visitor
             looks back over her shoulder for just a moment, and is instantly turned
             into salt. Both authors seem to ask "In what world is this the picture of
             ...