Analysis Of The Poisonwood Bible By Barbara Kingsolver

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.

For example, poor Rachel never wanted to be at the Congo from the start and neither did the other girls, but as time went on in the novel the other girls had their own experiences at the Congo. Ruth May was lucky enough to be able to conform to the Congo culture and lifestyle and was able to handle the diversity, unfortunately Leah’s experience was not the same. Leah was somewhat integrated into the

By describing Orleanna as a botanical garden, it’s showing her growth flourishing, showing from beginning to end how she’s changing into something beautiful that she couldn’t be before. Through all of this there was reasoning, the quest itself; “the real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge”(Foster 3) which directly applies to Orleanna. The trip Congo would be considered the quest, in this case the reasoning is to “convert” others to Christianity. Instead the questor himself failed the task but so did his family. The quest resulted in self- realization, knowledge, and a warning that it’s not Congo that needs to be changed; it’s them and Congo teaches them

The Poisonwood Bible Everyone in the world has someone that they want to grow up and be just like them in every way, and in the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the reader views a young girl named Leah Price who is devoting her life to being just like her father. As a young girl, she absolutely adores everything about her father while trying to be his favorite; she follows him around doing everything he does until he makes them move across the world to a city named Kilanga in the deep Congo. Throughout the novel, Leah begins to change her viewpoints about her father as his decisions put their family in danger. The geography, culture, and the physical presence of others all contribute to Leah’s complex character and help shape her

One of the most important lessons a person must learn is how to balance everything in their life. From relationships to jobs and all that’s in between. In the play Guys and Dolls, originally directed by Robert Alda, the lead character Nathan Detroit has trouble balancing the ways of his crap game and his fiancé, Adelaide Lament, wants to get married. The conflict that Nathan goes through is caused by Adelaide wanting to get married, it causes Nathan to lie about the crap game and it creates many other problems for other characters.

In the beginning of the novel, Leah is a young Christian, American girl who looks up to her father, Nathan Price. Leah looks up to her father, describing him as “having a heart as large as his hands. And his wisdom is great” (42). This shows how much respect Leah has for her father. She puts her father on a high pedestal as he “understands everything” (66).

The title, The Poisonwood Bible, is an excellent title for the plot of this book. “Tata Jesus is bangala” (331), which has two different meaning because bangala means precious and also the poisonwood tree. Reverend Price says this phrase at the end of every sermon, but he mispronounces the word bangala so that it means poisonwood tree. So the locals think he is saying “Jesus is the poisonwood tree” instead of “Jesus is precious.” This makes the title very important because it makes the Congolese not want to know God because they think He is poisonwood.

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.

In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, a missionary family travel to the African Congo during the 1960’s, in hopes of bringing enlightenment to the Congolese in terms of religion. The father, Nathan, believes wholeheartedly in his commitment, and this is ultimately his downfall when he fails to realize the damage that he is placing upon his family and onto the people living in Kilanga, and refuses to change the way he sees things. However, his wife, Orleanna, and her daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, take the Congo in, and make the necessary changes in their lives, and they do this in order to survive with their new darkness that they are living in. Curiosity and acceptance help the ones with curious minds,

3. Kinshasa has a great number of people, but doesn’t have a good economy and most people live in poverty 4. Sophie witnesses so much suffering, abuse that she knows how to shut it all out. 5. Sophie’s mom life mission is to help animals from bushmeat leaders, she cares so much for this cause that she was willing to get a divorce so she could stay in Congo.

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!

The comparison of characters is something an author allows us to do while reading a story, by telling us about the characters’ looks, their personalities, their lifestyles, and also the traits that may describe a character. “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker, two characters named Maggie and Dee had a few things in common and many differences from each other. The characters Maggie and Dee, also known as “Wanergo,” are sisters who compete on who inherits the family heirlooms. The story is told from the mother’s (Mama’s) point of view.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver shows the women of the Congo as being the workers of the family. They take care of the children, going so far as to carry them around constantly once they reach a certain age, and they are responsible for all the housework. The females are seen as capable and have many responsibilities. In spite of this, the reality for the real women of the Congo is that they are in constant fear of being a victim of sexual violence. Sexual violence can happen anywhere, but in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) it occurs on a daily basis (Ganzamungu and Maharaj 737).

Spending a generous amount of time in the heart of the African Congo is bound to change an American family. After spending over a year in the small Congolese village of Kilango, the Price family comes to terms with the fact that they cannot leave Africa without being changed by it, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Living in the Congo at a time when their race was doing all in their power to Westernize Africa, the Price women left Kilanga feeling immense guilt for being a part of this unjust manipulation of the African people. By the end of the novel, all of the Price women leave with the task of reconciling the wrongs they have committed and learning to live with the scars of their mistakes. Kingsolver showcases the moral reassessments

Human development is an intricate process in which a society depends order to create a variety of religions, cultures, and authorities. In the novel, the Poisonwood Bible,​ the Price family lives in the heat of the moment as the Congo undergoes a transformation, while they adapt to living amongst the natives. The natives saw them as a threatening force that is able to jeopardize their way of living. In the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the process of colonization is shed to light through the family’s interactions with the native Congo people as they attempt to merge their religions, cultures, and authorities Religion is forced upon the Congolese people in the Poisonwood Bible. Nathan Price moves to the Congo to impose his beliefs