Orleanna In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible

In Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, Adah’s birds eye view of the world and descriptive voice brings a different view to the events that occur in the Congo. Her character demonstrates this through her genuine compassion towards the Congolese women and by saying that her father’s assessment of the women was illogical through her diction and point of view. Adah’s attitude towards the Congolese women is shown to be compassionate through her diction when describing the mourning women. She used words like “why, why, why” and “crawled” to demonstrate the women's broken hearts. Unlike her father she viewed the women in a state of loss and grief while her father saw them as the culprits behind the childrens death.

Without compassion the world would be a dark place, there would be no such thing as love and there would be no one to lend a helping hand. Even in society today, people approach situations with no compassion, humans discriminate against others because of differences in color or appearances. In the book "To Kill a Mockingbird" the author, Harper Lee, writes about a town that shows no compassion towards people of color even when there are lives at risk. In the book, we learn that "[you 'll] never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. "(Lee

The love for her father dissapears when she enters the congos and sees the culture within the congos. Leah strays away from her father and he belief in God when she watches her fathers actions and the words he speaks to the other people. Through out the novel you will see Leah change

Pre-Reading Notes Major Characters Nathan Price - Father of four daughters, One of the major masculine roles in the book, Nathan is married to Orleana. He moves his family to the Congo due to his work because he is a baptist minister. He was a veteran of World War II. He is the antagonist of the book, due to his actions that he exhibits throughout the book. He creates a type of tension within the book between the other characters, he is not very friendly with the people from the Congo.

But she finally realizes what life is about. “Just so, my family and Perkin and Meg and Gerd and Aelis and the barn cats and even my father are part of me, and I part of them, so even in my new life I will still be me. Mayhap I can so what I must and still be me, still survive and, please God, even thrive. I have grided my lions like a warrior from the Bible and am going forth to do battle with the enemy. He shall not find a comfortable prize he has won, this gray-eyed, sun-browned beauty.

As the story progresses we come to understand the reason behind all of this. Unfortunately her home life is not the best as she lost her brother and her mother a victim of attempting

That if none of us confessed it, we could hold back the curse that was going to be our history.” (Kingsolver 438) regarding Ruth May’s death, and shortly afterward flew away from the Congo to another part of Africa with Eeben Axelroot. Adah went home to America with Orleanna, and Leah hopped back and forth between America and the Congo with her husband and children. After Ruth May’s death, Orleanna never saw her entire family together again until after her family shrank down by one living Nathan. After the exile of Nathan was confirmed to be permanently over, Orleanna went back to the Congo and met with all three of her surviving daughters.

It is clear she meant to say philanthropist but she doesn't prove it until four husbands later when she ends up becoming the racist, gold digging, vain philanthropist she said she would become. Her way of survival is to work her way with these men so that she can fulfill her fixation of having money, comfort, and good looks. Who cares if nobody would ever truly love her other than the family she practically left behind. She was a basic 60's rich white girl. Her characteristics identify her more with a royal family than a girl who will adapt greatly being thrown into the Congo in the middle of Africa.

When Orleanna first arrives at the Congo she is not tremendously effected by the sudden change in her life, though as her stay in the Congo drags on it leaves her grasping to try and stay obedient. In the beginning of Orleanna living in the Congo she maintains a neutral tone towards her circumstances because she has the help of Mama Tataba. When Mama Tataba dies Orleanna states “everything turned on the day we lost them both” which uses diction to give a glimpse into how her death effects Orleanna (90). From this point on Orleanna’s strength and optimism starts to decline. Right away Orleanna takes on a different tone, sarcastically stating “what a day that was” (99).

She started to become more Chaya than Hannah. She forgot the feeling of love, the taste of food, the comfort of having a bed, it all went away. However, she had her friends, and part of her family who helped each other go through those tough times of being

This further expands on the meaning by showing the contrast of how little the Congolese care for others’ appearances when compared to the American view. The Congolese shared their view on appearances near the beginning of the novel when describing Mama Mwanza and Mama Nguza. The Americans think Orleanna became tainted while she was in the Congo. Even though Orleanna used to live in Bethlehem, the other residents of the town don’t view her the same way as they did before she went to the Congo. Adah even commented on their reception: “...welcome home the pitiful Prices!

Atlee Carr Professor Penwell English 1101 14 April 2016 The Poisonwood Bible Evaluation Draft The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is narrated by Orleanna Price and her four daughters. The Price family moves to the Belgian Congo in 1959 with hopes to spread their faith of Southern Baptism to the Congolese. While there, the Price family had to endure many struggles that the Congolese had to experience in their entire lives. In the middle of the story, the youngest daughter is killed by a green mamba snake that was placed by the local witch doctor.

This prominent incident has lead Adah to establish a clinical yet indifferent attitude towards relationships and this mindset persists throughout her entire life. This conviction is further reinforced by the “ant tide” incident in which Adah was deemed to be of lesser value to her mother Orleanna Price. Adah's distraught emotions are clearly felt as she states, “ help me”(305). Adah’s first words to her mother yet she was “left behind”(306). Her mother as everyone else has viewed Adah a lesser than those who are able body or whole.

The closing chapter describes the Price women returning to Africa many years later as group. The significance of this final chapter is marked by the narration of the deceased Ruth May, who though she is not alive, has came to a spiritual reassessment of her own. Ruth May, who seems to have encountered the worst trial of Africa, death, comes to one of the most preeminent reconciliations of any of the characters. Ruth May offers her mother advice stating, “you can still hold on but forgive, forgive and give for long as long as we both shall live I forgive you” (pg. 543). Orleanna, like Leah, deviated from the ways of Nathan Price after succumbing to the guilt of complying with of his overbearing and disrespectful actions towards the Congolese.

Obviously, her worst decision was to marry the controlling missionary, Nathan Price. After going through the years with her mentally abusing husband, her family moving to the Congo, and her daughter Ruth May dying from her husband 's decisions to stay in the Congo, she finally understands how Nathan is treating her and the injustice he is causing his family. Orleanna Price finally becomes successful on her own after packing up her kids that were still alive and moving back to America for freedom from her husband and for her kids to be safe. It 's just sad that she had to witness her daughter dying before she finally realized she didn 't need Nathan in her life which would make her life better for not only herself but her kids as well. From all the events that happened in Orleanna life, she finally understands the meaning of justice and making her search for justice successful.