Symbolism 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

Opinions, self-assurance, and knowledge – these aspects of one’s character constantly develop throughout one’s lifetime. In some cases, opinions shift from one end of the spectrum to the opposite end of the spectrum, while the knowledge gained from the world guides one to become more self-assured. In The Poisonwood Bible, Leah, the daughter of a passionate preacher, gains several unfamiliar experiences after moving to Congo such as the peoples’ way of life and insight on what the Africans think about her family. Throughout The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver thoughtfully uses textual features such as figurative language, syntax, and tone to show how Leah’s character gradually progresses from a blinded worshiper who wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps to an individualistic young woman who strives to live a life without her father’s influence. To begin the novel, Kingsolver establishes Leah’s beliefs by utilizing different forms of figurative language.

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.

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

Everything is not always what it seems. The things one sees in everyday life may have a deeper meaning to each individual person. A toy may have a deeper meaning for a child, a song probably means something deep to a teenagers, and a certain thing in a book may mean something entirely different to a writer. In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, there are many symbols from trees to birds to gardens. The symbol of the poisonwood tree represents Nathan Price’s ignorance, pride, and cruelty.

Based on the book blurb, The Poisonwood Bible is described as a very straightforward story about a family of missionaries who travel to Africa to spread the good word, but run into problems when the Congolese people are not as open to the new religion as hoped by the missionaries. However, once the reader begins to analyze the text, they realize this family was not at all predictable or straightforward. From beginning to end, Kingsolver uses detailed imagery of the Price family, the Congo setting, the Congolese people and all activities the characters would partake in to lead the reader to a clear understanding of each scene. With elaborate descriptions and a vigorous tone, Barbara Kingsolver paints a picture of a classic white family who

In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel ,The Poisonwood Bible, Adah’s perspective of the events taking place gives a different opinion about the characters. The use of diction, imagery and point of view shows the sympathy Adah has for the women and her father’s unreasonable assessment. The use of diction helps the reader understand Adah’s sympathy for what the women are experiencing. The use of “Bi la ye bandu!

There are various depictions of opposite ideas in Barbra Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible”. Symbols of good and evil, lights and darks, sick and healthy, and social and natural balances are reoccurring images throughout Kingsolver’s work. Among these images is the one shown of Nathan Price and his counterpart Brother Fowles.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver uses two extremely contrasting places in the Congo and the United States in order to represent contrasting ideas. The United States represents civility and home for the Price family, while Congo in contrast represents a much more savage, sinister, and less developed country throughout the novel. The two places are major contrasts of each and represent entirely different ideas.

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.

The white man's burden is the idea that saving those who are considered less than is a burden that has been placed on the white “superior” race. The Poisonwood bible shows this burden through a Baptist family who goes on a mission trip to the Congo to save the unsaved. The author, Barbara Kingsolver, presents the idea of the white man's burden through the missionary trip that the price family is on. The father, Nathan, has different views towards the saving of the Congolese people than the wife and daughter, while he believes that his journey to please God should be prioritised, his family soon begins to question their views on all things God.

In the novel The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver an American family seeks to change the Congo through the use of their Baptist faith. While in truth the father Nathan Price sets out to change the world and ends up dragging his wife and four daughters along for the ride. His family supported his mission on changing the Congo in the beginning, but his second daughter would be the one to support him long after his plan began to falter. Leah Price would follow Nathan anywhere he wished to direct her until she realized that maybe it was her that need to direct herself. Through the development of Leah Price and her new found independence and loss of respect for her father, Kingsolver shows that the arrogance of preconceived ideas of one body of people can cause one to overlook

“The Poisonwood Bible” was published in the year 1998 which is the time that the second Congo War began. Due to this war there is believed to have been 5.4 million fatalities. This was occurring in Africa.

When one is faced with a difficult situation, they react in a way that they believe is that best way to cope with the problem. Throughout the novel, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the narrator switches between different female members of the Price family between each chapter. This adds a unique outlook on the events of the story. Each character has their own views on the circumstances that the family faces as a whole, and on circumstances that each faces individually. By allowing the reader to see how each character reacts to the problem at hand, the novel adds depth to each character and the story as a whole. This depth helps the development that each character has to be more detailed and complex, since the reader knows each character’s behaviors and thoughts at a more personal level, making the plot captivating, enlightening, and powerful.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a must-read book, I found when reading the book that it was almost impossible to put down. Aside from the book being page-turner, you could find biblical allusion on almost any page you turned to. Right off the bat, the title of the book has the word “bible” in it.