Analyble Response: The Poisonwood Bible Response

A Poisonwood Bible When describing Patrice Lumumba, Barbara Kingsolver uses complementary wording that makes the reader like him, or at least respect him. The Belgian doctor puts a cast on Ruth May’s arm on page 149 and calls Lumumba “the new soul of Africa”, which introduces Lumumba to the reader as a positive idea. When Leah sees Lumumba on pages 221-222, he’s described as “a thin, distinguished man” and that “when he stood to speak, everyone’s mouth shut... Even the birds seemed taken aback”. This portrayal makes him appear smart and scholarly and the reader is partial to him.

As a family most were reluctant in adventuring off from their safe haven in georgia. In The poisonwood bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the price family is taken to the congo and swung into a series of unfortunate events by the husband Nathan price in hopes of saving the congo through christ, but this also comes with many sacrifices and in time become horrific and unnerving, but an experience to learn from. Every character sacrifices something as their trip to the congo continues some minor like a piggly wiggly, working kitchen,and Martha Stewart baked goods but, some more major such as their life, morals, and their view on religion and politics. Orleanna price is a proud, strong, and hard working mother trying to keep her family together but not afraid to tell how she feels. ”You can curse the dead or pray for them, but don 't expect them to do a thing for you.

”― Patrick Rothfuss. There is power in words, power in the way they can bring new ideas and opinions to the people who perceive them. The people who understand this the most, are the people who use them to weave stories for their audience. It stands to reason that these practitioners might draw from each other, as a student who cannot help but to glance over at another student's work with the purpose of improvement.

In this way, Nathan is an example of a perpetrator of cruelty; for example, when the Price’s first arrive in Kilanga, the village people are in the middle of a celebration when Nathan begins to put them to shame and scorn their lifestyle and rituals. At this point, Lean still agrees with his teachings, and Orleana still respects him because his cruelty is still at a minimum. As time passes, Nathan neglects his family and attempts to force Christianity upon the villagers, even though they consistently deny the religion. In response to realizing how cruel Nathan is, Leah begins to develop her own morals and strays from her

What does this novel ultimately say about storytelling? The Poisonwood Bible claims that, in storytelling, everyone tries to reform their own version of their life into an appealing story, talking mainly about the struggles they face in their life and “how they live with it” (Kingsolver 492). Adah claims that all stories are exactly based off of this essential element, a type of archetype that has many archetypals, but are all still considered the same thing. For example, if a war hero wrote a story on his life in WWII and another writer, a biologist, wrote a story on a Grizzly Bear. Both are different in topic, setting, characters, and plot, but both address the story of a living being that lived and faced good times and hardships along the way.

In many ways the Congo changes the young fourteen-year-old girl into a strong independent woman. There are many encounters in the novel where she starts to question her faith in God as well as in her father. For example, hearing stories about rubber plantation workers getting their hands chopped off because they were not able to get the desired about of rubber startles Leah and makes her question race relations. Race becomes a dominant issue at this point and her experiences in Kilanga have invalidated all she had been taught about race in America. At this point, Leah starts to go on her own and figure out whom she is.

The Poisonwood Bible explores multiple different meanings ranging from love and loyalty, to ignorance and political oppression. While it is a story of the journey of the Price family in the Congo, Kingsolver uses these narratives to draw a bigger picture of the geopolitics that are at play in the Congo. I think the overarching theme of the novel is ignorance and its opposite: empathy. We follow the journeys of ignorant characters such as Rachel and Nathan Price and are given a parallel with the journeys of Adah, Leah, and Orleanna. However Kingsolver showcases the realities of life here or beyond by the end of the novel where it is clear that none of the characters we met at the beginning would end up with lives that fulfilled all their dreams

Title The title The Poisonwood Bible is very fitting. The poisonwood tree is described as “The tree that was plaguing us all to death” (29). Just as the painful, venomous and hazardous if mishandled poisonwood tree is, so is Nathan Price's theology. He mistranslates key words and therefore the biblical message doesn't make sense to the people to whom he preaches (73).

To the reader she comes off as level headed and just, even through the adultery committed by her husband

Her family, as she realizes the people they truly are, also change her thought process and mindset from when they lived back home in Georgia. As the Congo becomes their home, moral lessons were taught until the day the Price family departs from the Congo, but not all of them. Leah Price was introduced as a fourteen year old girl who is very intelligent and who idealizes her father, a godly man whose rules are stricter than most. The family is departing from Bethlehem, Georgia on a mission trip to Africa for a year with not much from home. Prior to the touchdown in the Congo, Kingsolver helps the reader understand Leah’s character by showing how she describes herself as the favorite and the smartest of the four girls.

In the Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver uses nature as a central theme of the novel. Barbara Kingsolver explains it perfectly right in the beginning of the novel “The Forest eats itself and lives forever” (Kingsolver 5). This quote is telling you how it is, that the forest has no mercy and just keeps on going forever. Barbra uses many symbols to show the theme of nature. Like the cause of Ruth May’s death, The Green Mamba.

She is constantly consumed with egotistical issues. Rachel could care less about anything related to the Congo and makes no effort to learn of its land, culture, or people. Being the most egocentric person in the novel, she perceives Ruth May’s death as the reason she will is never able to forget the Congo; and she did not feel bad. She continues her life--eventually obtaining a successful resort; all the while refusing to acknowledge the suffering that surrounds her. Her viewpoint on life is extremely relatable to that of a common American; we know there is suffering occurring in other parts of the world and we fail to acknowledge it-- and often times purposely neglect it so we may enjoy our peaceful lives.

This is the girls saying they could have a life with more meaning and more excitement, but every day they continue in their routine the more impossible it is to have that life. If they continue as things are and she has the abortion they will be stuck in their mundane lives. The girl is fascinated by this more exciting landscape and wanders towards it. The American quickly ushers her back to the table and away from the landscape because he does not want a life with a child. He wants things to stay the same.

The Bible was composed more than a time of about 1,500 years by various creators. In spite of the fact that it is seen as one book, its really a gathering of numerous books. It is called God's Word despite the fact that God did not physically compose it. Rather, God worked through ordinary individuals, motivated by Him, to record what Christians acknowledge as the Bible.

Like in other stories where the point of view changes they tell story differently. Like some people might tell the story similar but slightly different in small ways. Others might tell the story and sound nothing like any one else’s story cause