Themes In The Poisonwood Bible

LIST OF MAJOR EVENTS, SCENES, SPEECHES / SIGNIFICANT CONVERSATIONS Orleanna marries nathan (book 3, chapter 26) The prices enter Africa (Book 1 chapter 2) Nathan tries to grow his garden but fails (book 1 chapter 6) The underdowns evacuate Africa but Nathan refuses to leave(book 2 chapter 9) Leah participates in the hunt much against her father’s wishes and the chief's wishes.

As children develop, their attitude and perspective on viewpoints changes. They become more mature and aware of their situation and surroundings. In The Poisonwood Bible, Baptist pastor Nathan Price, his wife Orleanna, and daughters Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May travels to the Congo on a mission trip. Throughout the story, the children are exposed to the cultural differences of the Congo and their home state of Georgia, but because of Nathan’s focus on his pastoral duties while in the Congo, he does not present himself as a father figure for the daughters. Because of this, the daughters are left to mature and figure out their surroundings on their own which gives the story its core.

“ Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees.”

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

Kingsolver’s precise craft brings more meaning to the piece because she gives each of her characters a challenge. Their challenge is to overcome themselves. You must first alienate and be able to face yourself before you can face the world. Orleanna is a unique character through the Poisonwood Bible. Orleanna is silenced until the end of the novel which explains why her daughters narrate the novel.

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.

On the outside it would seem this flaw in Nathan’s values would be enough to push his wife away, however, it is his sacrifices that likely keep his wife satisfied. In fact, according to famous psychologist Pat Noller, “..people identified sacrifice, along with caring, trust, respect, and loyalty, as part of their conception of what "love" means.” In other words, Orleanna’s perception of her husbands values may be tremendously different than that of the reader of the rest of their family. Despite Orleanna’s disapproval of the family's move to the Congo, it is likely Orleanna admires her husband’s sacrifices as he attempts to save the souls of the Congolese.

She says that he doesn’t know how to raise a daughter without “owning her like a plot of land.” This exemplifies that she is bitter that Nathan raised her daughter in such a poor way. He did not know how to be a good father and that only made the situation they were put into, even worse. When explaining her daughter's life she begins to bring a dark tone to her words when she says that her daughter “grew from a devil’s seed.” Orleanna saying this only gives the reader more evidence to believe that Nathan really wasn’t a good father to their family.

Orleanna is the mother of four daughters and her being this character as well as her personality of being caring and invested in others creates her purpose for the story as retelling the story of her family and their trip to the Congo. She is creating this scene to show what happened and how she has learned from this experience and hopes to improve others lives based on her experiences. In the political allegory, Orleanna is the person in the world who has seen the wrong doing’s of the world, in this case the imperialism of countries, and advises those to step up and support the cause bettering lives of those less fortunate. Her character creates a call to action through the miseries she has seen her family struggle through. The author’s purpose in writing The Poisonwood Bible is to not only show the different influences and outcomes that colonialism has on people and nations, but to also show that it is wrong and not necessarily the superior way of doing something. Orleanna is the spokesperson for how the colonialism is wrong and something must

Sometimes in the novel the theme turns to a point when the narratives of the novel feels burden of guilt. Kingsolver writes this story from many different perspectives to show the guilt and show the narrow minded people like Nathan Price. It tells us their guilt about them when one of their sister died and the guilt they face as they are related in tragedies happened in the Africa. In the novel women’s subject is shown in the forefront. The Price’s family is missionary who are showing the violence and process of the colonization. Nathan Price is shown as a hero in the story who went to the Jungles of Africa and is fully devoted to his work. He as shown as both violence and ignorant man who took his family into the jungles. Orleanna Price believes in the god and care about her

The clash of the West and Africa entails foreign situations that society must face. The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver reflects on the impact of foreign situations on how it molds the way a society develops. In the novel, children are led by the missionary father, Nathan into the Congo, where they face the task of conversion. A molding of society is evident with the Price children, in their faith and their attitudes toward the Congolese. The way each child faces their faith is distinct and molds the person they will become. This sense of identity is impacted by the father and his obsession with God and the oppression of the Congo, creating an evident “evil” the children must overcome. Universally, in any situation people face, their faith evolves and changes the way they

In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver uses symbolism within her characters to portray the insidious nature of Western civilization asserting their ideals and politics into the post-colonial African Congo, undercut with a description of the events of the time.

She is never the same after Ruth May’s death and it is shown through the novel on multiple occasions. It is most prevalent when Adah says “My mother’s sanest position is to wear only the necessary parts of the outfit and leave off the rest” (Kingsolver 492). This does not only show the effect of the Congo on her, but of how she thinks that Ruth May is still with the Congo in spirit. This has greatly affected her emotionally as seen in this quotation. Orleanna when she first found out that Ruth May died acted differently than how most people would act to the news. Leah says that, Mother did not rant or tear her hair. She behaved as if someone had already told her,” (368). The death of Ruth May affected her so greatly that she did not know what to do with news of her death. This shows how much Orleanna loved Ruth May and that the shock of her death affected her emotionally very much.

Nathan’s abusive actions towards Orleanna leave her feeling more like “his instrument” or “his animal” then an actual person in a healthy marital relationship (Kingsolver 89). This dehumanization even extends out to the children with Adah saying that her and siblings are “players in [Nathan’s] theater” instead of leaders of their own lives (Kingsolver 213). Dehumanization is particularly detrimental as it inhibits an

breaks free from Nathan. Even though Orleanna finds her freedom, she loses her faith. Orleanna