Analysis Of The Poisonwood Bible By Barbara Kingsolver
When a little girl is growing up she is influenced by everything around her, by the people most of all. As she grows she begins to take on the beliefs and ideas of her society. When the four Price girls head to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver they are at four different point of accepting the beliefs of their society. Rachel, being the oldest, has taken on most of the common beliefs. She loves her material belongings and just want to be a normal girl, and she holds the common racial prejudice of the 1960’s. Even though she is a preacher's daughter she obsesses with being modern. Leah and Adah are at very different points, even though they are twins. Leah begins the book in her father’s footsteps, devoted to God and to the
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Reverend that is her father. She has been so influenced by both of their “holiness” that she hasn’t had much influence from anyone else. She is intelligent and has also had her mind opened to her by books. Adah is intelligent too, but because of her disability, the one side of her brain that works has taken little influence from the outside world. She has always seen herself as the outsider and therefore her opinions are cynical and often the opposite of what society believes. The youngest, Ruth May, is yet to be influenced by the world around her and has very little bias or hate for the people of Africa. Having the book told through these four perspectives allows for the reader to see the story from a variety of mindsets. Having them being the opinions of children allow for the author to portray a sense of learning in the writing. Having a little girl, like Ruth May, who isn’t hateful and who hasn’t been changed by society yet creates an opportunity for the author to show how happiness and fun can bring people close. Ruth May as a narrator is meant to show how living through acts of happiness can bring people together but they can also be a person’s downfall.
When the Prices first arrive in the Congo they are not welcomed. Seen as outsiders and freaks because of their skin color the girls don’t have any friends. The older girls have grown up in a world of bias and traditions. The only people that do not work all the time are the small children, so Rachel, Adah, and Leah feel it is below them to ask to play in the games. They also have the belief that Whites are different and better, so they don’t really want to socialize. But after a certain point they begin to crave others company, they want to play with the children. They don’t do anything about it though, because society has trained them to believe that they are above that. Ruth May on the other hand jumps right in and becomes friends with the children of the Congo. “It was midway through September when Ruth May made her inroads. I came back from my spying foray one afternoon to find her playing ‘Mother May I?’ with half the village’s children. I was flabbergasted. There stood my own little sister in the center of our yard, The focal point of a gleaming black arc of children strung from here to there, silently sucking their sugarcane sticks, not even daring to blink.” (Kingsolver 111) Ruth May had no trouble using a game to connect with the villagers. Until this point they had made no contact with anyone other than at church and when absolutely necessary. Through the game, Ruth May becomes friends with the children and her sisters follow suit, and eventually even they look forward to seeing their friends everyday. Ruth May created a bridge between the two cultures by playing a game because she wanted to be happy. Through this act of happiness she brought the villagers and her family closer together.
In the Congo the people are only some of the Kintu, or beings in the world, that the Prices have to make their peace with. Where the people they can communicate with and create a bond, the animal are not so easy. The villagers have superstitions and knowledge about the animals that the Price’s don’t have. The girls don’t trust the wildlife the way the Kilangans do, the locals have an understanding of the animals around them and how closely they all live that the girls are not used to and are often disgusted by. They don’t like living with the animals of the Congo, but with their lives they need to. Again Ruth May is the first to take that step and be the one to accept the animals. “Nobody ever even gade me the mongoose. It came to the yard and looked at me. Everyday it got closer and closer. One day the mongoose came into the house and everyday after that. It likes me the best. It won’t tolerate anybody else.” (Kingsolver 117) When the others are quick to dismiss the wildlife as unimportant and a nuisance Ruth May treats them with love and kindness, as before she is accepting and open-minded about them. Eventually after she takes on more pets the other Price’s begin accept the animals as well. Ruth May created a connection and an understanding between the animals and the Prices by doing something that makes her happy, thereby making her family closer with life in the Congo. Ruth May is always motivated by her own happiness, and often that helped those around her and brought them closer together. But sometimes it would lead to something bad for her. When the Price’s arrived they were told to take one Malaria pill a week, or else they would be susceptible to the deadly disease. The problem with these pills was that they tasted horrible and had a nasty texture, something that did not bring happiness. Ruth May didn’t understand the importance of taking the pills, “Mother stood looking at them for a good long while. Then she left, and came back with a table knife. Carefully, she pried the pills off the plaster wall, one by one, into her cupped hand. There were sixty-one, Adah kept count and wrote that number down. Exactly how many weeks we’d been in the Congo.” (Kingsolver 267)Ruth May didn’t take the pills because doing so didn’t make her happy. She put herself at risk of getting the sickness and dying because she wanted to be happy and not eat the pills. Through this act of happiness she puts herself at risk instead of bringing people closer together. Sometimes these acts of happiness are not purposeful acts that will make her happy.
Sometimes Ruth May does something, or something happens to her that reflect something she thought would make her happy. When she first meets Nelson, the little boy who is helping them survive in Kilanga, he gives her a charm to keep her safe from death. To use it you just need to think if a safe happy place and when you die you will go there instead and be safe. Ruth May trusted her friend and when she believes she is dying because of the ants she thinks of where she would be happy and safe. “I know what it is: it’s a green mamba snake up in the trees. You don’t have to be afraid of them anymore because you are one. They lie so still on the tree branch; they are the same everything as the tree. You could be right next to one and not even know. It’s so quiet there. That’s just exactly what I want to go and be, when I have to disappear.” (Kingsolver 304) Ruth May see’s the green mamba as a sign of happiness. She thinks it’s something that means safety and happiness. When they find one in the chicken house, she doesn’t see it as particularly dangerous, but upon its exit the mamba proves that it is. “I could only stare at Ruth May’s bare left shoulder, where two red puncture wounds stood out like red beads on her flesh. Two dots an inch apart, as small and tidy as punctuation marks at the end of a sentence none of us could read.” (Kingsolver 364) The same thing that brought her happiness and that she didn’t see as a threat became her undoing. The same snake that was suppose to keep her safe killed her (AAAAHHHHH still mourning tbh). Ruth May act of happiness in believing that the snake would make her safe was what caused her to die instead of bringing people closer
together. Ruth May was made of happy acts, she only seemed to do something if it caused her happiness. Sometimes, like when she played a game with the children, or when she showed kindness to animals, happiness brings people closer together. But when happiness is done for oneself alone, like when Ruth May didn’t take her pills or when she trusted the snake, it can lead to very bad things. Ruth May was an important perspective and character to the story because she came to the Congo without hatred weighing down her heart and her mind, this caused her to act out of happiness. By having all of these horrible things happen to Ruth May because of her choices to be happy Kingsolver shows the harshness of the Congo, and of life when a person acts only for their own happiness without thinking of the consequences.
Reverend that is her father. She has been so influenced by both of their “holiness” that she hasn’t had much influence from anyone else. She is intelligent and has also had her mind opened to her by books. Adah is intelligent too, but because of her disability, the one side of her brain that works has taken little influence from the outside world. She has always seen herself as the outsider and therefore her opinions are cynical and often the opposite of what society believes. The youngest, Ruth May, is yet to be influenced by the world around her and has very little bias or hate for the people of Africa. Having the book told through these four perspectives allows for the reader to see the story from a variety of mindsets. Having them being the opinions of children allow for the author to portray a sense of learning in the writing. Having a little girl, like Ruth May, who isn’t hateful and who hasn’t been changed by society yet creates an opportunity for the author to show how happiness and fun can bring people close. Ruth May as a narrator is meant to show how living through acts of happiness can bring people together but they can also be a person’s downfall.
When the Prices first arrive in the Congo they are not welcomed. Seen as outsiders and freaks because of their skin color the girls don’t have any friends. The older girls have grown up in a world of bias and traditions. The only people that do not work all the time are the small children, so Rachel, Adah, and Leah feel it is below them to ask to play in the games. They also have the belief that Whites are different and better, so they don’t really want to socialize. But after a certain point they begin to crave others company, they want to play with the children. They don’t do anything about it though, because society has trained them to believe that they are above that. Ruth May on the other hand jumps right in and becomes friends with the children of the Congo. “It was midway through September when Ruth May made her inroads. I came back from my spying foray one afternoon to find her playing ‘Mother May I?’ with half the village’s children. I was flabbergasted. There stood my own little sister in the center of our yard, The focal point of a gleaming black arc of children strung from here to there, silently sucking their sugarcane sticks, not even daring to blink.” (Kingsolver 111) Ruth May had no trouble using a game to connect with the villagers. Until this point they had made no contact with anyone other than at church and when absolutely necessary. Through the game, Ruth May becomes friends with the children and her sisters follow suit, and eventually even they look forward to seeing their friends everyday. Ruth May created a bridge between the two cultures by playing a game because she wanted to be happy. Through this act of happiness she brought the villagers and her family closer together.
In the Congo the people are only some of the Kintu, or beings in the world, that the Prices have to make their peace with. Where the people they can communicate with and create a bond, the animal are not so easy. The villagers have superstitions and knowledge about the animals that the Price’s don’t have. The girls don’t trust the wildlife the way the Kilangans do, the locals have an understanding of the animals around them and how closely they all live that the girls are not used to and are often disgusted by. They don’t like living with the animals of the Congo, but with their lives they need to. Again Ruth May is the first to take that step and be the one to accept the animals. “Nobody ever even gade me the mongoose. It came to the yard and looked at me. Everyday it got closer and closer. One day the mongoose came into the house and everyday after that. It likes me the best. It won’t tolerate anybody else.” (Kingsolver 117) When the others are quick to dismiss the wildlife as unimportant and a nuisance Ruth May treats them with love and kindness, as before she is accepting and open-minded about them. Eventually after she takes on more pets the other Price’s begin accept the animals as well. Ruth May created a connection and an understanding between the animals and the Prices by doing something that makes her happy, thereby making her family closer with life in the Congo. Ruth May is always motivated by her own happiness, and often that helped those around her and brought them closer together. But sometimes it would lead to something bad for her. When the Price’s arrived they were told to take one Malaria pill a week, or else they would be susceptible to the deadly disease. The problem with these pills was that they tasted horrible and had a nasty texture, something that did not bring happiness. Ruth May didn’t understand the importance of taking the pills, “Mother stood looking at them for a good long while. Then she left, and came back with a table knife. Carefully, she pried the pills off the plaster wall, one by one, into her cupped hand. There were sixty-one, Adah kept count and wrote that number down. Exactly how many weeks we’d been in the Congo.” (Kingsolver 267)Ruth May didn’t take the pills because doing so didn’t make her happy. She put herself at risk of getting the sickness and dying because she wanted to be happy and not eat the pills. Through this act of happiness she puts herself at risk instead of bringing people closer together. Sometimes these acts of happiness are not purposeful acts that will make her happy.
Sometimes Ruth May does something, or something happens to her that reflect something she thought would make her happy. When she first meets Nelson, the little boy who is helping them survive in Kilanga, he gives her a charm to keep her safe from death. To use it you just need to think if a safe happy place and when you die you will go there instead and be safe. Ruth May trusted her friend and when she believes she is dying because of the ants she thinks of where she would be happy and safe. “I know what it is: it’s a green mamba snake up in the trees. You don’t have to be afraid of them anymore because you are one. They lie so still on the tree branch; they are the same everything as the tree. You could be right next to one and not even know. It’s so quiet there. That’s just exactly what I want to go and be, when I have to disappear.” (Kingsolver 304) Ruth May see’s the green mamba as a sign of happiness. She thinks it’s something that means safety and happiness. When they find one in the chicken house, she doesn’t see it as particularly dangerous, but upon its exit the mamba proves that it is. “I could only stare at Ruth May’s bare left shoulder, where two red puncture wounds stood out like red beads on her flesh. Two dots an inch apart, as small and tidy as punctuation marks at the end of a sentence none of us could read.” (Kingsolver 364) The same thing that brought her happiness and that she didn’t see as a threat became her undoing. The same snake that was suppose to keep her safe killed her (AAAAHHHHH still mourning tbh). Ruth May act of happiness in believing that the snake would make her safe was what caused her to die instead of bringing people closer
together. Ruth May was made of happy acts, she only seemed to do something if it caused her happiness. Sometimes, like when she played a game with the children, or when she showed kindness to animals, happiness brings people closer together. But when happiness is done for oneself alone, like when Ruth May didn’t take her pills or when she trusted the snake, it can lead to very bad things. Ruth May was an important perspective and character to the story because she came to the Congo without hatred weighing down her heart and her mind, this caused her to act out of happiness. By having all of these horrible things happen to Ruth May because of her choices to be happy Kingsolver shows the harshness of the Congo, and of life when a person acts only for their own happiness without thinking of the consequences.