...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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...The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, is a book that involves many characters and their views on the issues they face. The main female characters, Orleanna, Leah, Adah, Rachel, and Ruth May all are telling the same story, but from different perspectives and unique interpretations of certain events. The events of the story deal with guilt, grief, forgiveness, the struggle for survival, and much more. It involved many parallels to different situations, mainly the Congo Crisis as a whole. Through the characters and events of the story, the reader gets an understanding of the issues of the Congo and is able to compare the situations faced between the characters to the main issue. To add, the novel is considered to be a frame story. A frame...
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...In Book 1, Kingsolver summarizes the beginning phase of the Price’s mission in the Congo to spread the word of God to the Kilanga tribes despite their reluctance. As Nathan Price forms the foundations of his religious work and aims to have complete control over the Congolese and the way they live their life, the section conforms with the quote and the title, Genesis. In Book 2, the quote is applicable to this section of the text in that Anatole urges Nathan and the family to leave the Congo because of the emerging revolution that will take place. However, Nathan refuses to hear Anatole out, especially since he keeps insinuating that his religion is corrupting Kilanga and its people. Nathan instead blocks out all noise and opposition, not hearing...
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...Summer Reading Essay In The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the idea that “everything you’re sure is right can be wrong in another place” (505) is a theme present throughout the whole book. Kingsolver portrays this idea by having many voices tell the story. What one man thought was right was contradicted by the clearer views of his wife and daughters who learned that the Congo played by different rules than America did. They learned that their view of the Congo was a “mirage of appearances.” The experience in the Congo hadn’t been what was expected. When leaving, Orleanna said that “[She could] only speak of the things [she] carried with [her], and the things [she] took away” (Kingsolver 10). She wasn’t the only one to take something, though. The Congo took something from her. It took her youngest. Before it took Ruth May’s body, it took her spirit. Towards Ruth May’s end, “[She]… crawled into bed with [mama] and… [didn’t] feel like getting up ever again” (Kingsolver 180). In the beginning of their stay in the Congo, it seemed like they would have an amazing experience while doing some good. In the end, it took away a part of them....
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...The Deep Roots of Colonization in The Poisonwood Bible. In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver explores the implications of colonial oppression on a colonized population. The story of the Price family serves as a potent political allegory for the broader effects of colonialism on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kingsolver uses the tool of allegory to explore broader political issues on a more personal level by giving the reader a direct, first-person insight into her characters’ point of view. This choice of narration is paramount to her message, giving the reader multiple lenses through which to view the events of the book. Each lens delves into colonial oppression in a unique way, allowing for the complexity of the topic to shine...
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...Throughout the novel The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Leah Price, a key character and narrative voice, evolved and progressed through her tone, which changed from optimistic to sadness to anger, and also through her diction, which shifted from using admirable things to describe her father to using words of hatred and resentment towards him, and lastly through her point of view on religion, which changed from being a faithful Christian to truly questioning her belief in God. Leah Price grows all through the novel and the readers get to witness her transformation from a child at fourteen to an adult woman. She changes her country, then her religion, and then her respect and admiration for her father. Leah lost everything all the while gaining...
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...society organized and run by men. Men make the rules and dominate in business and government. It is said to be a "man's world", men also make the rules and dominate in all forums outside the home. In virtually every known society past and present, women have not been treated as the full equals of men. A woman's main value is to support a man, bear children, and housekeeping duties. This is how it is and has been for millennia in most cultures. The novel, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, shows the paternalistic society in which the Price family lives in. In 1959 an obstinate Baptist minister named Nathan Price...
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...Many of Leah’s “homes” had their own unique personality which gave Leah a wide variety of personalities that she can adapt for herself until she eventually develops her own personality which is a combination of different aspects of the previous personalities. She seemingly takes the best qualities of each of her “homes” and shapes her own personality based on each of those qualities. For example, Nathan showed intense devotion to “saving souls” and dedicates his life to loving God; Leah took this quality upon herself and showed extreme dedication to the ones closest to her, and learned to stand her ground, “There’s enough of my father in me that I had to stand my ground”(Kingsolver, 401). She aspired to kill an animal during the hunt, and with the ambition that she obtained from her father, she succeeded in slaying a bushbuck. She acquired...
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...Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. Upon the death of her youngest daughter Ruth May, her mind evokes complicated and mixed feelings over time. These attitudes of confusion, guilt, and the need to move on are portrayed by the use of imagery in her mind. The initial shock of Ruth May’s death comes with a dose of confusion. After spending several years in the Congo at this point, and with that, living under the reign...
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