The Poisonwood Bible Analysis

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

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.

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

Just like the first book in the Bible, the first book of The Poisonwood Bible is named Genesis. As well as the beginning, Genesis can also mean rebirth. When characters arrive in the Congo they realize the things they brought with them are changed by Africa and can no longer be as they once were. In this way, Genesis symbolizes the process of becoming their new selves. For instance, the first chapter in The Poisonwood Bible, narrated by Orleanna, strongly shows the guilt that the Congo had left her to live with after the death of Ruth May. Likewise, Eve, the first woman in Genesis, forced all of mankind to shoulder the guilt of eating the forbidden fruit.

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.

the novel alone, which is that sometimes the sacrifices made for others can lead to your reward in

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

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.

Women are not often given the chance to tell a story from their perspective, especially not in literature written in the 20th century, as most books were dominated by the over barring voices of a singular male narrator. The Poisonwood Bible utilizes five female narrators, setting it apart from other books as it creates five different voices all telling the same story, all teaching the same lessons. In The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, Rachel's voice is used to demonstrate the difficulties in adapting to a culture that differs from one an individual is initially raised in.

Throughout many novels different characters are sent to a new place to explore and find new things in life. An excellent example would be how the characters in the novel Poisonwood Bible explore a new lifestyle in the Congo. While they are there they have to learn how to adapt to a new life, and they try and teach the Congolese people how to worship the God, Jesus Christ. Even though the Congolese people may believe in different Gods, the Price family, especially Nathan feels that it is their duty to teach them different ways. Thus the poem We Grow Accustomed To The Dark by Emily Dickinson, is similar because it is talking about how people become accustomed to a different lifestyle just like the Price family did in the Poisonwood Bible. In

This is apparent by the use of the character’s perspective about nature and the ultimate result it has upon them. This is in its most apparent shape when Orleanna says “We aimed for no more than to have dominion over every creature that moved upon the earth... Now you laugh, day and night, while you gnaw on my bones. But what else could we have thought? Only that it began and ended with us. What do we know, even now?” (Kingsolver 10). This quote by Orleanna about nature, shows the true power of it regarding the motifs of freedom and captivity. This is seen because of the fact that there is a progression and a change of thought that quickly evolves from the family and her thinking that they had the freedom to have dominion over nature, to she surrendering to nature and saying that she is captive forever because of nature that nature instead of being loving, betrayed her and is now seeking for the forgiveness of it. Another way this is seen it when Leah said “Its heavenly paradise in the Congo, and sometimes I want to live here forever,” (104). This extract from the novel at first glance may not seem like an important passage, but it is considering the fact that she feels that she has the motifs of freedom and love at her grasp as she feels free in the Congo and loves it. This ultimately will not last as their contrasting motifs will eventually kick in making her a prisoner of the Congo by her own merits keeping her captive in there for the rest of her life, while also betraying her because the land and the nature inside it made her lose her little sister. Finally, this connects to the thesis and the other paragraphs because of the fact that it shows this hope versus reality situation which is created when these motifs are combined, furthermore it shows the colorfulness of life in the book because of the fact that it shows the way

Even though Caroline Compson also dealt with the death of a child, her choosing to remain stagnate solidifies her place in a long line of passive women to go down with their men. Therefore, however many similarities that can be found between Orleanna and Caroline are utterly dismissed when the whole picture of their characters is taken into account. Though she had her faulting moments in the beginning I believe Orleanna Price was never truly submissive to her husband, but submissive to the time she lived in. Even though both Orleanna and Caroline were married to awful husbands, Mr. Compson never truly ostracized his wife like Mr. Price, however erratic she behaved, Mr. Compson still gave a small degree of respect to his wife, while Mr. price only viewed Orleanna as free home labor. This again highlights the differences between these two women, if we take a general tally Caroline Compson never experienced half the degree of hardships that Orleanna did in the Congo, therefore should not Caroline be the one more incline to become a better woman and mother? As we can see, when truthfully compared, 3even with their similarities, Orleanna can never verifiably be placed in the same category of passive as Caroline Compson, though similar, Caroline’s choice to remain docile in the face of disaster completely sets her apart from Orleanna, who in the end,

During the beginning chapter, Orleanna casually alludes to to disasters that will occur within the story. She informs that her and her children will suffer from hunger, for she states that they have are

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.