Poisonwood Bible Analysis

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

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

Leah, the tomboy of the family, opposes her father's mission and finds out the true man he really is; this changes her opinion towards religion. Leah puts forth tremendous effort to be accepted by her father, however then realizes that her father is an "ugly man." She sees that her father's "blue eyes with their left sided squint..had a vacant look. His large reddish ears repelled me. My father was a simple, ugly man." When Leah was younger she practiced religion based on her father's perspective, however after making the realization of her father's true colors, she chooses to practice her religion. Leah follows the path of the

People in some societies have faced situations that changed them in unique ways. The Poisonwood Bible written by Barbara Kingsolver represents how people are affected by horrific events and different cultures. This is caused by the missionary father; Nathan having led his family to spread their own beliefs in the Congo. In return, each Price woman is influenced in unique ways, according to their own perspectives. Unique ways is included in how transformations were due to the effects of losing someone or something. Ruth May’s death as well as individual experiences in the Congo, act as the catalysts for change in each of the Price woman, transforming their “core selves”

This can be read as a religious allegory because it talks about the Baptist missionaries. They had to deal with the rejection from the Congolese people. The Congolese people rejected the religion and the Price family since they were white. The Price family also had to deal with the same diseases and situations as the people of the Congo. They had to sleep with mosquito nets or the mosquitos would have eaten them alive. Some of the Prices (Leah, Adah and Orleanna) almost got eaten by

The closing of Poisonwood Bible recapitulates all that has happened throughout the eyes of no other than Ruth May, watching from the trees. She leaves the reader and he family with peace, she is not angry, she is not upset, she is content. “Being dead is not worse than being alive” (538). Ruth May’s insightful voice echoes that of her mothers in the beginning. Ruth May has matured, not only in her diction but her purpose has to morphed into

The Poisonwood Bible ultimately says a lot about storytelling. Unlike other books or novels, Kingsolver writes The Poisonwood Bible in the form of different perspectives. Instead of just reading the whole story in one point of view, it is told in a series of events by each Price sister and Orleanna. For example, Orleanna tells the story from a mothers’ view. She talks about her struggles in the Congo for her and her family. Orleanna is mostly depressed and exhausted throughout the novel, so the reader sees the story through a different point of view rather than what they would with the other characters, such as Leah, Rachel, Adah, and Ruth May. Orleanna

“The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver inclusion of Orleanna’s guilt contributes to how not taking action is as bad as doing the act. Orleanna continuously disregarded the way she and her children were treated and was determined to ignore it by doing this, manifested leading to her living in misery for the rest of her life.

She was born into this expectation, and she faithfully filled the honor as she looked up to her father. This fulfillment of her destiny of respecting and looking up to her father made the transition to the Congo, especially as he attempted to cultivate the Congo land with plants from Georgia. This pattern of trailing her father established happiness and stability for Leah as she made the transition to the foreign land that juxtaposed the safety of Bethlehem. She implored to be loved by her father, and this desire led her to conduct several actions, such as actively pursue Jesus in order to please her father. This changed when Leah discovered that although she adored her father and followed his every footstep in hopes of showing him how much she loved him, he showed her no affection in any regards. In fact, when Leah wanted to participate as a hunter in the town hunt, Nathan’s belief that women are inferiority to men was revealed. He stated that Leah shouldn’t participate due to the fact that she is a woman, and this was the watershed moment in which she no longer looked up to him as a figure worthy of worship. Likewise, as she renounced him, she denounced and abandoned anything he associated himself with, including religion, signifying that she abandoned worshipping her father and God at the same time as she was removed from her fantasy of a reality she believed herself to be in. The opportunity she had to support the family through her hunting was only present because the family lived in the Congo, but this opportunity would upend the destiny she was suppose to fulfill, and meanwhile nullify the father’s role of supplying for the family. This upset the balance of the family lifestyle they had grown accustomed to in Bethlehem, as Leah now had the ability to gather nurturance for the family while Nathan wasn’t even

The Poisonwood Bible is a book about a man named Nathan Price who takes his wife and four daughters on a mission into the Congo. All of their ups and downs are documented throughout the story. This novel was written by Barbara Kingsolver in 1998. This story was inspired from her own personal trip that her father took her on, to the Congo, where they lived without and water, electricity, and many other necessities. During the time period that this book was being written, a lot of feminist and post-colonial literature was being acknowledged. Feminist literature is both nonfiction and fiction that supports women by defending political, economic and social rights for women. Many works of feminist literature depict strong willed women who

1. TITLE and AUTHOR The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 2. HISTORICAL DATE THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED 1998 3.

Barbara Kingsolver uses green space to show the difference in culture between the American culture and the African culture. “Baza? he repeated, pointing at me. He delicately touched my forehead and recoiled, as if my skin might burn him. Any woman who has baza should take the two babies to the forest after they are born and leave them there” (211). The Poisonwood Bible is a story about a missionary family that travels to Africa to spread their religion. However upon arrival they are shocked to see the drastic difference between them and the natives. Throughout the book, the Price family deals with the cultural norms of Kilanga while trying to keep the family stable. The Price family life in Africa leads to a dangerous spiral of unfortunate

In The Poisonwood Bible, symbolism is widely explored to allude to and explore ideas in a nonliteral sense, Methuselah, a parrot left behind and adopted by the Price family, is an example of this. Throughout the novel, his role as a symbol of the Congo is examined.