Poisonwood Bible Comparison

Rachel Price is a character within the novel who is very self-centered, arrogant, selfish, racist, and independent. Although some of these characteristics go along with each other, others seem to contradict each other. Rachel’s selfishness shows through in many parts of the book. She is typically only focused on her successes and issues, without much regard to anyone else.

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

Orleanna Price is presented with the difficult task of moving her four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, and her husband, Nathan. However, this is not a typical move to another house within their city limits or even to another state. Orleanna has to move her family of six from southern Georgia to a less than rural village in the Congo. Her husband, Reverend Nathan Price, believes God wants him to travel to the Congo, bringing his family along with him, on a mission to share the teachings of Jesus Christ. Since their marriage, her husband has slowly disregarded Orleanna as a significant other. Due to this, when Orleanna did not show enthusiasm or trust in this adventure, Nathan was not hesitant to disregard her feelings. Losing this battle, Orleanna had to meticulously choose what to pack for their excursion. Once their luggage bags reached the weight limit for the airline, Nathan refused to pay any more than what the airline allotted. Therefore, Orleanna had to pack their remaining things within the clothes of her and her daughters, as Nathan 's only thing he had to take was the message of Jesus, which was confined within his brain. After two uncomfortable airplane rides, the Prices finally landed in Kilanga, Congo. They were presented their church and their home after being speculated by the numerous women, men, and children of the village. These villagers, many of

In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, the reader is introduced to the Price family, Baptist missionaries who are attempting to “Christianize” the country of Congo, more specifically the village of Kilanga. As the story progresses, the family realizes that they are not changing the Congo; instead, the Congo is changing them. The development of the characters within the novel is due to the instrument of cruelty. Although distasteful to regard it as such, cruelty motivates the development and choices of its subjects, whether politically, culturally, or socially. Rendering itself as a main theme throughout the book, different aspects of cruelty are illustrated through the interactions of the Price family, internally and externally, as well as the overall relationship between the “white men” and Congo, or more generally the continent of Africa.

...Or The 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 we find 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 we analyze her seemingly complex book through these allusions in an attempt to understand her characters on a deeper level and to 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 is because “most of the great tribulations to which

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.

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.

In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, the reader enters the Congo through the narration of the five females of the missionary Price family, who arrive bearing Western ideals. Kingsolver portrays Western characters, such as the Underdowns, Belgians who work with the missionaries, as meddlers. Kingsolver identifies the social group of the Westerners at local level as the Prices, while also on a larger political level too, commenting on the arrogance of the missionaries and the Western governments who believe that they can imprint a superior type of civilization onto the Congo. Kingsolver mainly uses the Price family’s experience in the village of Kilanga as a symbol of how the outside Western governments were intruding into a different land.

The wrong and sinful actions people commit lead to a life of guilt and sense of ineluctable culpability. In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, Nathan Price, a reverend and father of four, leads his family to the Congo during a time of political chaos to compensate for his guilt stemming from his past. As his religious motives incline him to convert the Congolese people, he finds it difficult to do so, and struggles to reconcile with himself after his unintentional evasion of the Bataan Death March. As he struggles to forgive himself, he drifts from his family, placing them second to the Congo mission. Nathan's ineptitude in syncretizing his beliefs with the Congolese leads to his failure in absolving himself from his past sins, which becomes a symbol of

(464) Rachel's attitude towards Anatole and Leah and his kids is very negative and judgemental. Family is obviously not one of Rachel's main priorities, she is embarrassed to consider herself related to those boys. She is set on her opinion and initial view of African people, they are not accepted. She discriminates against them, even though that used to be her, in Kilanga people did not treat her the same because she was white or her blond hair.

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

Her adaptation enhances into a complete immersion of culture. Rachel however, still does not. While Leah is mostly around brown, Congolese natives, Rachel surrounds herself by people of her own race. Rachel’s inability to adjust to native South African ways is enhanced when she becomes the owner of the Equatorial. She explains the hotel’s upbringing as her being “free to express [her] talents” (Kingsolver 461) and talks of how she has “built this place up from what it is...The restaurant is for paying guests only which is, needless to say, whites, since the Africans around here wouldn’t earn enough in a month to buy one of my Prix-fixe dinners.” (Kingsolver 461-462). Rachel doesn’t intentionally ward off African guests, but still prides herself on an establishment that really only attracts people that she deems worthy in terms of wealth, and race. She doesn’t wish to adapt to African culture so she goes to South Africa, a segregated country in turmoil, and runs an establishment of her own making. This quote represents a pattern of split order. Just by Rachel using the interruption, that it was needless for her to say whites, proves her failure to readjust to change, as well as her inability to be open minded. She stays in the western mindset and refuses to change. Rachel’s refusal could be due to her age upon coming to The Congo, because while Leah was still young enough to be tainted with new ideas,

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.

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.

Life isn’t black and white and this is a sentiment that the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver tried to express. The aforementioned book is about an American family from Georgia, which leaves the comfort of the USA to go to a missionary mission in the country of Congo, in the town of Kilanga. Throughout the novel, it can be seen how the Congo either changes or reveals the true personalities of its 5 narrators (Orleanna, Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May). This can be seen through the use of different motifs, some which even contradict each other help bring life into this novel by creating complex characters and revealing how true personalities are in their own way as, state before, life is not black and white,