Juxtaposition In The Poisonwood Bible

While reading The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver we understand the biblical influence in the Prices family and the overall book, however upon closer examination one finds many biblical allusions. Yet, rather than simply portraying the story and message in an attempt to convey it to the world, it seems as if Kingsolver desires that those who analyze her seemingly complex book through these allusions will understand her characters on a deeper level and experience what they’re going through personally. As read in How to Read Literature Like a Professor’s sixth chapter “... Or The Bible”; biblical allusions are meant to provide in-depth analysis of a story or character. The reason these biblical references are used, according to Thomas C. Foster

Sophia Hancock Goodwin World Experience 15 May 2018 Formalist Analysis Kingsolver’s Use of Allusion and Symbolism in The Poisonwood Bible and How it Relates to the Plot and Characters When looking at The Poisonwood Bible through a formalist lens, there are many elements of the formalist analysis that are present within the book—two main elements being allusion and symbolism. Throughout the book, Kingsolver incorporates allusion within the text and she makes use of literary, historical, and pop-culture references many times throughout the book. Kingsolver also utilizes symbolism as a way to convey deeper meaning within the text. Kingsolver’s use of these two elements of formalist analysis help to further add meaning to the plot and characters

In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Kingsolver uses different literary techniques to develop the harsh setting and have the characters look weak and overwhelmed. The literary techniques used to define the characters and the setting are violent imagery and violent juxtaposition.

Before Leah move to Congo, she clearly believes that her father is a God-like figure. When Mama Tataba and Leah’s father, Nathan, argue about how to correctly tend the soil, Leah observes how her father “stood his ground… tall as Goliath and pure of heart as David” (40). Comparing Nathan to biblical figures such as Goliath, a long-time undefeated warrior, and David, a man who defeated Goliath with his faith in God, shows how Leah views her father. Nathan has an undeniably strong relationship with God, and that Leah aspires to have that kind of strong bond with her father, who represents an almighty figure like God in her life. Because Leah sees her father as an idol, she believes that although “Not everyone can see it… [her] father’s heart is as large as his hands” (42). Leah chooses to ignore others’ opinions about her father because she is unaware at the time of her father’s true character; she sees her father as an inspiring, caring, and knowledgeable man. She uses Nathan’s past experiences, such as his participation in the Second World War, to justify his wisdom and actions. Leah, therefore, devotes her early life to gain her father’s approval. When Leah and her sisters take the blame for teaching Methuselah, the parrot, profanity, Nathan

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.

Writers use a variety of manipulative stylistics and structural elements to further emphasize the language within their pieces of literature. Whether the purpose is to frame the basis for an autobiography, essay, fictional, mythical or nonfictional tale, they always strive to integrate certain textual features to add distinction to their work. In Barbara Kingsolver’s, The Poisonwood Bible, she composes the novel with the intention of creating a multi-voice layout with distinctive narrative voices and perceptions. About the tragic undoings and miraculous restoration of a missionary family moved to a village in the Belgian Congo, the setup of the novel is unquestionably not one sided. The narrative voices are broken down between the main characters, allowing for each of them to tell their stories.

There is strong juxtaposition in The Poisonwood Bible when it comes to American versus Congolese culture. While Mama Mwanza is viewed as equal in the Congo for her disability, Adah is considered an outcast in American society because of her hemiplegia. Ruth May talks about Mama Mwanza’s disability as if it is something strange, yet she reveals that the people living in their village do not look at Mama Mwanza as any different from them. She says that “Why, they just don’t let on, like she was a regular person. Nobody bats their eye when she scoots by on her hands and goes on down to her field or the river to wash clothes with the other ladies that work down there every day.” The phrasing of this implies that the Price family looks at Mama Mwanza

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.

From the time people are born to their last moments of childhood, they invest in an object of security, something to keep them safe, something to always be there. The true mark of adulthood comes from abandoning this security item to walk forward without any weight. Just like all people, Leah in Barbara Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible” was no different. Leah spent her whole life clinging on to her father, Nathan, and as a result, she was blinded to what truly mattered to her. The loving presence of a family could not be seen behind his controlling ways. Her dependence on him kept herself from realizing whom she actually cared about. Moreover, the reliance on Nathan meant her actions were truly not her own. Rather

Throughout The Poisonwood Bible, various characters gave up valued possessions, including materialistic items such as a mirror or significant losses such as ones life. Adah, a disadvantaged yet brilliant character gave up on her own remarkable self for the belief her family would be better off without her. In The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver, Adah sacrificed her own life in hopes of providing a better one for her family, thus highlighting how little she values her self and how highly she values others.

Book two is entitled “The Revelation” and the girls’ sections is entitled “The Things We Learned.” The Revelation was intended to mainly the Price family, excluding the father. The theme revelation has another definition: apocalypse. In the bible, the apocalypse leads to destruction and demise right before when God makes it a better place. In connection to the book, at this time the new prime minister, Patrice Lumumba was elected. This election set the stage for the independence movement in the Congo. In addition, Methuselah (the parrot) passes away as soon as he is freed, after being banned from liberation for most of his life. This foretells the destiny of Congo and the delicate independence they acquired. The Book of Revelation explains about how God’s creation encountered savagery and anguish so that it will become altered. The Belgian doctor who treats Ruth May for her broken arm has a little conflict with the Reverend. He prophesies that Congo will experience savagery and anguish if it changes to a self-determining state from a colony. In the Revelation section of the story, all the members of the Price family come to face a new sense of comprehension about the Congo’s culture, plants, animals and tradition. Throughout the book, the characters go through many hardships and success which permits them to learn

The Poisonwood Bible is the story of the Price family and their journey in the Congo. The novel is told from the perspective of the daughters Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May. The family suffers because of their father Nathan Price’s selfishness. The villainous acts of Nathan result in the loss of a family member and the feeling of guilt bestowed among all of the characters.

Throughout a lifetime, many things are gained; experience, wisdom, knowledge, as well as a sure sense of self. But along with all these great things come regret, guilt, and shame of past events. Everyone deals with these in different ways, sometimes turning to religion and denial as coping mechanisms. In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, By Barbara Kingsolver, each member of the Price family deals with a personal guilt either gained while on their mission in the Congo or long before. This novel exemplifies the different types of guilt the Price family experienced throughout their stay in the Congo, and shows various means of reconciliation and forgiveness as the guilt is absolved.

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.

In “The Poisonwood Bible” written by Barbara Kingsolver, we see Leah Price spending the first half of the novel following in her father's footsteps, Even though he never looks at her, or talks to her directly. Her childhood has been dictated by her father, a man who forbids women to do anything and then gets angry when the women in his life don't do what he dictates for them to do. Since Leah’s relationship with her father parallels with her relationship with god; when she loses her relationship with her father she also loses her faith in god. The Congo provides her an opportunity to grow up without being told how to by her father. Unfortunately, her defying the gender norms in the Congo to provide for her family, goes over about as well with