...Cherry picking verses from the Bible has become a norm for many modern self-proclaimed Christians. Phrases are taken completely out of context, and stated as though they are stand-alone quotes, or a series of one-liners, rather than part of a comprehensive story. It is not exactly their fault, though. Over time, today’s society has become one of 140-characters or less and 6-second long snippets; any longer, and our attention is lost, being vied for elsewhere. It is much easier to just pass on what one has heard from others, hence “Jesus said ‘do not judge,’” because that is what people have been told. However, if a person researched the context of the verse that this phrase stems from, they would realize that there is a lot more to it, including the way in which one judges, as well as recognizing good from evil in order to judge righteously....
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...In Barbara Kingsolver's novel, The Poisonwood Bible, one can obviously see support for Edith Wharton's claim that "lighting up episodes" serve as windows into the significance of a work. Here, Kingsolver uses the passing of most youthful girl Ruth May as a window into the subject of blame and its place on the planet. Through the family's responses to her passing and Ruth May's message to her mom, Kingsolver builds up the subject of blame and obligation. It is fascinating to take note of the diverse responses and ways of dealing with stress every relative utilizes in reacting to Ruth May's passing. Her dad promptly says "She wasn't purified through water," and spends whatever is left of his life going insane in the wilderness attempting to...
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...In book two of Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, it is gradually revealed that the Congo is being exploited for their resources such as diamonds and rubber, which leads to a fight for independence. What the girls learned during their stay in the Congo is the political unrest, the culture and the language, and the villagers' perception of Christianity. The girls learned about the villagers' perceptions of Christianity through Anatole, the culture and language through the Congolese children, and political turmoil through the Underdowns. The girls learn of Congolese culture and language through Nelson and Pascal. Nelson works for the Price family in exchange for sleeping in their chicken coop and eggs, but he teaches Ruth May about saying string instead of snake at night and gives her a matchbox with a grigri. Pascal became Leah’s first friend in Africa and he taught her how to recognize poisonwood and many other games that are based on survival. An understanding of the culture that surrounds them gives insight on what the villagers thought of their...
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...“That one, brother, he bite” (Kingsolver 39), Mama Tataba says as she warns Father about the Poisonwood. The white sap seeps from the frayed bark, but this doesn’t stop the Reverend. He forces Africa to conform to him, yet it fights back leaving him with a repulsive rash the following day. Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Poisonwood Bible shows a vivid explanation of how the Congo controls its natives and guests. The feverish father, husband, and Baptist priest, Nathan Price, drags his four girls and wife to do missionary work into the center of the Congo. Little did they know, this would be the start of a whole new world. Shortly into the book Father, with the green thumb, begins to start his vegetable garden. “You can’t bring the bees” (Kingsolver...
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...Who is God? A question that has pervaded mankind since the search for a higher power began. To many different people, the definition of God varies. He was presented to humans long ago, “Early people did not have science to help them find answers. So they had to invent answers for themselves. And they passed their ideas on to their children and grandchildren in the form of stories and legends” (Moskin 22). People have always attempted to translate and interpret who God is. Yet the Bible clearly establishes the relationship between man and God, “Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’…So God created man in His own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he Created them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Man is the creation of God, and with those words declared from the Gospel, man has tasked themselves with interpreting exactly who God is and who he should be to the people on Earth. In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver uses Nathan Price to represent man’s inaccurate portrayal of God which drives people away from religion and she uses Brother Fowles to refute all men inaccurately portraying God. The search for God and who he is is built through these two men, and the impact of them on others....
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...The family of white, Southern Baptists, led by their overbearing missionary father, could be labeled as outsiders the minute they landed in the Congo. Set out to bring Christianity into the jungle of Africa, this family would soon be devastated by their new home. However, it was not the jungle itself, or the native people that tore the Price family apart but their own inability to change. Specifically, Nathan Price, the patriarch of the family, who led them to this fate and, determined to convert the village of Kilanga, remained in his missionary role long after the women of the family had stopped believing in him. In this novel, The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver addresses the barriers the family faced. She uses the perspective of the Price women, Orleanna Price and her four daughters, to show the family’s own turmoil as well as their difficulties in the culturally proud village their husband and father is trying to change. Her insight into the Price’s time in the Congo focuses on the message that one trying to change others must be able and willing to change themselves....
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...The world we live in is comprised of diverse cultures and beliefs which add to define the complexity of the societies and political structures that man has established. Yet, as much as diversity could be used as an advantage, humans have constantly disputed with each other because of opposing viewpoints. After reading the Poisonwood Bible, I suddenly realized that Barbara Kingsolver wanted her audience to picture the effects that occur when we refuse to appreciate and accept one another's beliefs. Nathan Price, after moving his family to the Congo, could not understand that his beliefs would and could not simply be accepted by the villagers in Kilanga. He could not fathom the refusal of Christianity, and therefore, insisted on 'reforming'...
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...The darkness is closing in on all sides and breath comes only in short painful gasps. The same words repeat; they are inescapable. They think in an eternal loop, ‘It’s my fault. It’s my fault. It’s my fault.’ Guilt is one of the most destructive forces in the universe, rated just above bullets and just below nuclear weapons. It eats away at the mind, and brings even the strongest of humanity to a screeching halt, for nothing can hurt someone quite like themselves. The Poisonwood Bible, a novel by national humanities award winner Barbara Kingsolver, presents a poignant example of the effects of guilt and its sister, blame. In this novel, Kingsolver indubitably exposes the fact that not only can guilt be placed upon those who need not be guilty,...
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...The Impact of Childhood The Poisonwood Bible ,by Barbara Kingswood, is a remarkable tale that expresses the several political transitions in the Congo through the eyes of a Baptist family. Nathan Price , a cruel and ironically a fiercely religious man, is the head of this family followed by his once effervescent wife, Orleanna, and his four daughters; Rachel the eldest and vainest, Leah, a tomboy who strives for her father's attention, Adah, Leah's disabled and genius twin, and Ruth May the youngest of the family. In the midst of several familial struggles, the conflict between Adah and Nathan Price is one that greatly contributes to the interpretation of this piece. At their birth, Adah and Leah appear to be a healthy set of twins. However, as time passes it is discovered that the left side of Adah's body is paralyzed because of a lack of nutrients in the womb. Due to her condition, she spends her detached from the world and maintains a cynical perspective at a young age which can be seen in her words concerning her twin," But I am a lame gallimaufry and she remains perfect" ( Kingsolver 34). Over the course of her early life, she maintains her position as an observer in the life of others and absorbs much information. Clearly, Adah's disability greatly affects her outlook on life....
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...Believing that what they’re doing is the right thing not only for themselves, but for humanity for a whole, both actively and implacably pursue their goals, “Yet from Kingsolver’s perspective, the president and his administration acted from positions much like that of Nathan: arrogant, persuaded they spoke for God and goodness, they pursued a course founded on America’s exceptionalist identity as the world’s chosen people” (Strehle 416). This arrogance then blends into his teachings, and the treatment of not only the Congolese, but his daughters as...
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...Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible tells the story of the Price family's arrival and failed assimilation of baptism in the village of Kilanga. Reverend Nathan Price selfishly leds his wife and four daughters to the harsh and unforgiving African Congo in hopes to exoterically save the souls of the villagers. Nathan failed to see the significance in unchanged traditional culture and only wished to promote his self interest. This same selfish promotion tragically brings the Price family to it’s end. The novel is told through the eyes of all four daughters(Rachel, Adah, Ruth May, and Leah Price) and Nathan’s wife, Orleanna Price. Since we are given numerous perspectives from the Price family, we see Nathan’s actions happen first hand. Within the first few chapters we see Nathan’s decision of completing a mission in Africa consume the already established life of the family. Although the daughter’s fail to understand the significance of the mission, the family reluctantly follows. This decision creates conflict from the very beginning of the novel, and initiates a line of dominos pieces, placed with conviction, that...
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...The Poisonwood Bible essay was a stylistic essay, and we had to choose the stylistic moves we believed what moves Barbara Kingsolver made throughout the book. I wrote my essay based on how Kingsolver expresses feminist ideologies throughout her book. This essay uncovers my skills of analyzing moves of an author and shows my improvement on my punctuation and the way I lay out my commas. I chose this essay, because it’s an essay that gave me a chance to convey my passion for feminism through Kingsolver’s work. On the other hand, there are still improvements...
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...Moving to a different country is difficult enough but moving to Congo with the intention to convert the illiterate locals to a new religion takes immense dedication and patience. Nathan Price an opinionated, evangelical, Baptist from the town of Bethlehem, Georgia brings his family of six to do just that. Nathan, his wife, and his four daughters are located at Kilanga an isolated village in Congo. Nathan is very confident that he will convert all the locals in the name of God but he is forgetting something, Nathan is forgetting that he is in a place where not just the language is different but also the inherent perspectives. The story of The Poisonwood Bible starts with the frantic commotion of the Price family after they have just been told that there is a wieght limit for their bags which are overflowing with seemingly essential pieces of their once known life. It seems as if the reason the Price family insisted on stuffing cake mixes, books and other western novelties was not to have them in case but to have some connection with the world they grew up in. For Orleanna, Nathan's wife, her special bone-china platter with the blue flowers has a “protective power of primitive amulets and charms, that is an assurance that the arrow, the flames, and the flood are not as brutal as they seem.” (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, p107)....
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...Looking at literature that’s based off post-colonialism, it’s hard to find a point of view that is unbiased and lacking western Orientalism that taints writings about less civilized cultures. Two books paint both sides of the equation: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. In both novels, the author depicts a character going through both an internal and external struggle dealing with exile. The authors conclude in different variations that it’s after the alienation, or exile, of a character that lets black African Orientalism to cause change, not in the character’s enlightenment, but to change them into a sacrificial character for others’ enrichment. In these novels, it reveals how Africa faces...
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...“The Congolese sense of balance is spectacular” and that, too, becomes true for the five female narrators in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible (Kingsolver 107). The intricate and diverse nature of the women’s relativity creates a novel that consists of a fickle balancing act. The five narrators are similar to the year rings on trees as they experience daily life, but then grow from the previous narrator’s perspective, or in the case of trees, the previous years. A sturdy thematic structure is created by the narrators, Ruth May, Leah, Rachel, Adah, and Orleanna Price, that supports a complex storyline made of different observations of the Congo. In The Poisonwood Bible, the quintfecta of narrators, a perfect group of five, gives structure...
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