Examples Of Postcolonialism In The Poisonwood Bible

Lumumba plays an important role in not only the Congo, but also within the Price family. As a part of the Congo, Lumumba symbolizes hope for the people under oppression, as one character points out, “Reverend, I do not think the people here are looking for your kind of salvation. I think they are looking for Patrice Lumumba, the new soul of Africa,” (122). This shows that people didn’t want CHristianity imposed on them but rather they were looking for a leader that had their best interests at heart. This also shows what an important role Lumumba played in the Congo and within the Congolese people.

Rachel says as they arrive, “MAN OH MAN, are we in for it now, was my thinking about the Congo from the instant we first set foot. We are supposed to be calling the shots here, but it doesn’t look to me like we’re in charge of a thing…(Kingslover22),” this portrays the

The way that you develop and discover yourself and your personal attributes is largely impacted by the environment you grow up in, as shown in The Poisonwood Bible. Each member of the Price family reacts differently to their being thrown into a completely new location, culture, and livelihood; the maturation path of each child varies drastically from the others, and their exposure to the Congo impacts each of them in a different way, which we observe through each character’s language and behavior in the book. The stylistic formatting, tone, and figurative language used in Leah Price’s narratives in The Poisonwood Bible change as she grows, and the maturation of her physical structure and overall mentality correlate to her development in language throughout the story. Leah enters the Congo as a religious, rule-following adolescent from the suburbs of Bethlehem, Georgia, but as time passes and she becomes accustomed to the land, Leah begins to develop in ways that were once unforeseen by her and her family.

In The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, the aspect of biblical allusion is clearly present throughout the majority of the novel. For example, one of the most conspicuous allusions to the Bible is the way that Kingsolver has purposely named some of the main characters in her book after different people and images in the Bible. Kingsolver uses this biblical allusion to develop important themes, events, and characters in her novel. Kingsolver makes references to the Bible by tying in and creating similarities between important events and themes in the Bible and important events and themes in her novel.

He does not care about their welfare, only that he saves as many souls as he can. Adah, who can most identify with the Congolese, recognizes what it is like to be ignored and forgotten, much like the countries occupying the Congo do too. Imperialism. Instead of helping the country fend off invaders, the US becomes an invader; only caring when the invaded countries misfortune can benefit the intruders cause. Rachel says it best after reading a Belgian newspaper that claims the Belgians find the Congolese participating in cannibalism. “If they came to our village that day, they would have interrupted Mother in the middle of scrubbing the floor and about twelve little naked boys having a pee-pee contest across the road,” (161). The Belgians paint themselves as heroes to the Congolese instead of villains who enslave and cut their hands off, similar to Nathan who sees himself as the man of God saving the

Orleanna’s place in society is to play the “preacher’s wife” and to just shadow her husband from place to place. Even when Nathan is going to move to Africa, she packs up her stuff to follow him because that was her place in society. However, once the family arrives in Africa, her connection with her husband, although previously broken, altogether falls apart. He starts ordering Orleanna around more than usual and just downright acts mean to her and the girls. Kingsolver demonstrates this when Nathan says, “Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes. It’s hard to say which is worse, seeing it run out and waste the water, or seeing it hold in a wreck the shoes” (Kingsolver 1.8.7). The external conflicts Orleanna confronts are cooking a decent meal for her family, caring for her children, and surviving herself, while also dealing with internal conflicts such as ultimately leaving Nathan. The atmosphere that she lives in is not helping because at the time in Africa, women had little to no rights and men had no respect for the women. The people in the Congo look down on the Prices at times for not having a strong man in the household. Kingsolver says, “It troubles Leah that people thought our household deficient because we lacked a bákala mpandi- a strong man- to oversee us” (Kingsolver 3.4.8). This enabled Nathan to remain a strong figure in telling Orleanna what to do and gives her more chores while he was out doing more important things such as “sav[ing] Africa from evil”. All of this builds up to Orleanna’s inevitable departure after the last straw: Ruth May’s death. In The Awakening, Edna does not fit in with the Creole society that she marries into but is forced to, again, put on a face and pretend to enjoy

In the historical fiction The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver portrays the American perspective on Africa with the use of a physical representation. In the beginning of the novel, the Price family, the protagonists and narrators, have their own perspective of their journey in a village of Kilanga which is located in South Africa in a congo. The family came with mindsets of missionaries because the father of the family, Nathan, has the desire to spread the word of God and the religion of Christianity throughout the the Congo. However, his unusually amount of urge to change the faith and religion of the African people demonstrate the American perspective because of the ignorance and the lack of acknowledgement of the people and setting. Thus, Barbara Kingsolver uses Nathan as a physical representative of the American perspective. In order to demonstrate the arrogance of the American perspective on the African people, Barbara Kingsolver dramatizes the tension between Nathan and the African people, suggesting that the American people view their principles more superior than principles of the African people despite the difference in setting and influences.

On a “Trip to Congo” Sir Richard F. Burton writes a story during his exploration to the Yellalla or Cataracts of the Congo leaving some detail insights of the customs and behavior of the African communities. He only gives his point of view from an imperialist position and sometimes denigrates and diminishes the people and their culture. Even though Burton had a translator throughout his trip the language barrier prohibits interaction with the communities and the ability to empathize with the natives. Interaction and understanding is the key to appreciate their behaviors, instead Burton

In the Belgian Congo, rubber plantation owners cut off the hands of their workers if their quota was not met. Mistreatment of the people by the country imperializing them was a common practice. King Leopold II used the Congo as a cash cow while lying about helping the Congolese natives. Barbara Kingsolver wrote The Poisonwood Bible in order to shine a light on the United States’ and Belgium’s complicity in the Congo’s political turmoil. She was thought to be “one of the most controversial writers of her time” (“Barbara Kingsolver (1955-)”). Throughout many of her novels, she used allegory and satire in an attempt to open people’s eyes. More specific themes in The Poisonwood Bible include not only allegory and satire, but also cultural arrogance

In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, the reader is introduced to Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo, through the voices of the fictional Price women. Unlike the Price family, Patrice Lumumba was a non-fictional character who was elected and served only 7 months as the Congo’s Prime Minister. His reign was brought short by his execution in 1961. Though his tenure may have been short and occurred more than 50 years ago, Patrice Lumumba remains to this very day, an important man in history.

The novel The Poisonwood Bible begins with a narrative directive that grasps the reader’s attention. It suggests everything that is about to occur can only be witnessed by the people of Africa. Portraying a hint that something is going to happen to their family that leads them to ruins. I believe the “you” Orleanna is speaking to is the daughter that she lost in Congo as she introduces herself as “Southern Baptist by marriage, mother of children living and dead” (Kingsolver 7). This reveals the biggest disaster that occured during their time in Congo. Orleanna speaks from a time in the future to further enhance the feeling of guilt. She feels that she helped her husband accomplish his ungodly actions while failing to properly take care of her children. Kingsolver uses traits to differentiate the voices of each sister, which allows the reader to single handedly pick them out in a crowd if needed. Ruth May is exhibited as a child by the manipulation of grammar to make her sound more childlike. Kingsolver uses high sophistication to develop Adah’s voice making her one of the most intelligent of the four sisters which is ironic considering her decision to remain silent. Leah is blunt and straightforward reflecting her true nature. Lasly Rachel reflects her snobbish and conceited attitude through her short sentences. Adah Price’s voice is the most compelling to me for her large span of vocabulary and simply her injury. Reading her chapters are the most interesting based off of

This is apparent by the use of the character’s perspective about nature and the ultimate result it has upon them. This is in its most apparent shape when Orleanna says “We aimed for no more than to have dominion over every creature that moved upon the earth... Now you laugh, day and night, while you gnaw on my bones. But what else could we have thought? Only that it began and ended with us. What do we know, even now?” (Kingsolver 10). This quote by Orleanna about nature, shows the true power of it regarding the motifs of freedom and captivity. This is seen because of the fact that there is a progression and a change of thought that quickly evolves from the family and her thinking that they had the freedom to have dominion over nature, to she surrendering to nature and saying that she is captive forever because of nature that nature instead of being loving, betrayed her and is now seeking for the forgiveness of it. Another way this is seen it when Leah said “Its heavenly paradise in the Congo, and sometimes I want to live here forever,” (104). This extract from the novel at first glance may not seem like an important passage, but it is considering the fact that she feels that she has the motifs of freedom and love at her grasp as she feels free in the Congo and loves it. This ultimately will not last as their contrasting motifs will eventually kick in making her a prisoner of the Congo by her own merits keeping her captive in there for the rest of her life, while also betraying her because the land and the nature inside it made her lose her little sister. Finally, this connects to the thesis and the other paragraphs because of the fact that it shows this hope versus reality situation which is created when these motifs are combined, furthermore it shows the colorfulness of life in the book because of the fact that it shows the way

Since the start of the Sierra Leonean war in March of 1991, innocent civilians have been the primary target of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF)’s wrath. The people of Sierra Leone have faced significant problems due to the invasions and attacks by the Rebel Forces and are the main population that is being affected by this group’s disapproval of the government. One person who experienced profound changes in her life due to the start of this war is Mariatu Kamara, a victim of a Rebel attack that cost her both her childhood and her hands. Throughout her memoir, “The Bite of the Mango,” she is faced with numerous traumatic events and meets an abundance of people who were very significant in her life and some of whom helped her survive the war. Kamara also gives the reader a variety of themes to use as a foundation to understanding war life, which also serve to help readers learn more about life, grow as people, and rise above to help others in need. Mariatu Kamara has not only changed the lives of people all throughout Sierra Leone by giving them a voice and an outlet to share their experiences, but has also proved to be an inspiration for countless amputees around the world.

In a world full of blame and lack of accountability, an individual’s role in injustice needs to be questioned. In the early 1960’s, after many years under Belgian rule, the Congolese people formed an uprising and gained independance. However, the Congo was ill prepared for the organization that independence demanded. The Soviet Union offered aid to the Prime Minister of the Congo. Since this was during the Cold War, the United States retaliated and supported a coup led by Colonel Joseph Mobutu. Mobutu ruled with an iron fist, resulting in pain and oppression of the Congolese. Looking back on history, it is easy to see who was at fault. But at the time, it was not easy to identify blame, especially for the Americans. Barbara Kingsolver wrote about the Congo’s trials much later in 1991. She used a narration from baptist missionary family to symbolize the different kinds of guilt Americans share. In Anne M. Austenfield’s narrative journal, she described Kingsolver’s ability to use, "several character-focalizers whose limited perspectives project highly subjective views of history" (Austenfeld). This technique allowed for Kingsolver to not only produce a more reliable account of what occurred, but to depict her desired theme and message. Kingsolver, in her novel The Poisonwood Bible, uses a political allegory to explore the different notions of guilt through the limited perspectives of her characters.

1909, over one hundred years ago, was the death of King Leopold of Belgium the sole owner of the Congo. Even years after he has left this earth and is no longer in the reign, the long-lasting effects he has had on the people and the land has forever changed the Congo. The memories left behind from the atrocities that occurred and the diminished resources due to extreme exploitation has prompted the author Adam Hochschild to write the novel, King Leopold’s Ghost. Using an Afrocentric point of view Hochschild describes how the events that took place under Leopold’s orders were acts of true terror and inhumanity.