The Poisonwood Bible Analysis

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

A noticeable pattern in The Poisonwood Bible would be plain old ignorance from the Americans regarding the African people. A huge part of the story is showing how ignorant the west is of the culture in Africa. Nathan Price is constantly showing this off by wanting to baptize children in a river filled to the brim with crocodiles and other awful, dangerous things. Even once this is explained to him he still continues to push the issue because he feels he is right even when it is blatantly obvious he is not. Also he says, “Tata Jesus is bängala!”(Kingsolver 276) Thus constantly pronouncing “bängala” incorrectly; instead of calling Jesus “dearly beloved” he ends up calling him a dangerous tree making any arguments about his religion sound irrelevant

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.

1. Barbara Kingsolver explores a quest in her novel “The Poisonwood Bible”. The criteria of a quest consist of a quester, a destination, a purpose, challenges, and reasons for the quest. In this instance the quester is Orlenna Price whom demonstrate guilt consistently. Orlenna is going there to accompany her husband, who is seeking to convert others. She feels guilty due to the death of her daughter and now that guilt remains as one of the challenges she faces. This is mostly transparent when she says “How do we aim to live with it?” (Kingsolver 9). Her guilt revolves around the destination to the Congo. Due to the Congo her one of her children survives. Now she has to deal with that challenge which is her guilt.

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

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.

Rachel is the oldest of the four daughters, at 15 years of age, the whiny would-be beauty queen who "cares for naught but appearances," can think only of what she misses: the five-day deodorant pads she forgot to bring, flush toilets, machine-washed clothes and other things, as she says with her willful gift for malapropism, that she has taken "for granted," the bible and her faith were no where near the top of her list. Her only way of surviving in the Congo was simply to not adapt at all; as she says ''The way I see Africa, you don't have to like it but you sure have to admit it's out there. You have your way of thinking and it has its, and never the train ye shall meet!'' Thi

Another way to deal with past regrets that is brought to light is the idea of repressing that memory in the first place. Unlike her sisters, Rachel Price is the only one who ignores her guilt. After Ruth May’s death and their departure from Nathan, Rachel rarely ever brings these major events up again. Instead she talks about her new life, speaking about her newest boy toy and complaining about the African’s culture. The night of Ruth May’s death, since Rachel is

Dinah was the only girl born by Jacob and his four wives. Her mother Leah, Jacob’s first wife, raised her with the aid of her three sister, all who shared the same husband as Leah. After having grown up as second youngest alongside her 12 brothers Dinah reached womanhood with elegance and grace due to the teachings of the women around her. She was taught from a young age the work of a midwife through her mother-auntie Rachel and Inna, a close family friend. Rachel and Inna worked together as midwives and delivered many children for any women that sought their help. However, as time grew on Inna grew older it was hard for her to travel and assist in births. To make up for Inna’s absence Rachel took Dinah ton as her apprentice. One particular job called Dinah and her aunt to the city of Shechem to deliver the son of the king’s concubine. While visiting the palace she meets the prince Shalem and instantly falls in love with him. “... Shalem, whose name I had not even learned, whose presence made me dumb and weak.” (Diamant

In the bible The Book of Ruth follows the story of the widowed Naomi and her two widowed daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Throughout the story, the three experience life during biblical times. Although the time frame of this particular passage of the bible is widely debated amongst scholars, most believe that it took place during the Period of the Judges. Through reading about these ordinary people, one can tell that their everyday life was generally uneventful. People often worked in fields to provide for their families and for generations to come. The women of the Book of Ruth lived simple lives, placing high value on loyalty to the family, the continuation of family lines, and marriage.

Dinah tells her story because of her fear that her tragedy will not live on, and will mean nothing. Dinahs story, in the Bible, is a footnote in the Bible, while the stories of her mother's, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah live on, although the Bible misrepresents the powerful women in Dinahs life. She holds on to her memories, as an anchor so that when faced with a fresh start and a new life, she is afraid of moving on, as Dinah is still living in her tragic past. Childbirth/midwifery

Elizabeth, John’s mother, is the mother of John the Baptist in the Bible (Luke 1, NLT). Deborah, Gabriel’s first wife in the novel, “was a prophet who had become a judge in Israel” (Judges 4:4, NLT). Her main role was to encourage people to obey God, much like the Deborah found in Go Tell It on the Mountain. Esther has an entire book in her name in the Bible while the Esther in the novel was born into a family of “sinful people…, who never, except at Christmastime or Easter, appeared in church” (Baldwin, 1952, p. 113). Gabriel has an extramarital affair with this woman who gives birth to his first son, Royal. Elisha in the story was much like the Elisha of the Bible, at least in John’s eyes. Elisha cared about John’s salvation just as biblical Elisha cared about the people of Israel (2 Kings 5, NLT). Even John’s younger sisters who are not mentioned much in the story are named Sarah and Ruth- two well known biblical names.

The book of Ruth is a book about sacrifice, faith, patience, love, kindness, restoration, and fruitfulness. The basic literary is narrative and the authorship is believed to be Samuel written between 1020 – 1000 BC. The main personalities of this book are Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. The Book of Ruth is about how a man named Elimelech takes his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion from living in a town known as “the house of bread” in Bethlehem to the land of Moab on his own will to escape death. Here the two sons married unequally yoked Moab women by the names of Orpah and Ruth. All within a decade Naomi loses her husband and two sons to death. One day Naomi hears that God’s favor has returned to Bethlehem and that food is available so Naomi decides to return. Not too far into the journey back to Bethlehem, accompanied by Orpah and Ruth, Naomi tells Orpah and Ruth to return to Moab but Ruth decides to continue with Naomi and follow God. Upon their arrival, the whole town was in a frenzy at the return of Naomi. When confronted about her identity she told them to call her Mara, which means bitter, and no longer Naomi which means pleasant. Ruth and Naomi returned at the beginning of the barley harvest and the next day Ruth took it upon herself to go to the field collect food. While out on the field a man by the name of Boaz, who is related to