Cultural Differences In The Poisonwood Bible

All cultures have their own ideals, religions, and social systems. The Prices are forced to learn this the hard way in The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Through the perspectives of the wife and four daughters of the Price family, Kingsolver conveys her message within the novel. Leah Price, being one of the more intellectual of the children, provides many differences in the African and American cultures through her observations she makes within the novel. These observations allow her to be one of the first of the children to accept the differences in the cultures when they arrive in the Congo. One of the many themes that is told throughout the novel is greatly pronounced because of it: In order to gain perspective of one thing, another
must be abadoned. Upon first arriving within the Congo, the first thing that she says to describe the Congo the moment she exits the plane is that it “smelled of urine.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 16). This seemed to cause her to wonder why it would smell like that and concludes that perhaps they “just hid behind a tree somewhere and squatted down” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 17). As soon as the family moves into their new house, she realizes just how much their belongings that they brought from Bethlehem stand out compared to the rest of the village. Some their items the villagers have never seen before like how “One woman… looked in [their] door and spied [their] scissors and asked right flat out if she could have them.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 47). Within the African cultures, many areas are still rural and very poor, people only barely able to provide enough to survive on their own. One of the many concepts that villages learn to develop right away, is the concept of sharing and that they must work together to survive in the village as a whole. Therefore, when foreigners come into the country and village, curiosity is one of the first reactions they will have upon wanting to have or even just see new things from the other side of the world. Leah shows that by simply observing and describing the imagery of the environment other people live, it can change the perspective that can be seen by a person adjusting to a new home in a new country. Another thing that Leah notices in the Congo is the way that the people dress and use their bodies.
Because of many of them having disfigurements, the people have adjusted to using parts of their bodies as tools and still continuing to go about their lives and work like normal people like how she observes the “lame Mama Mwanza who scurries down the road on her hands.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 102). They soon are able to recognize their neighbors because “People wear the same thing day in and day out, and that how [they] recognize them.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 102). One major cultural difference that she notices is that in the Congolese children, in “their married eyes” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 107), many of the children, some no older than Ruth May, are already pregnant and having families within Kilanga. She also notices just how generous the Congo people compared to those within the Americas. As mentioned before, the Congolese have learned early on that they must rely on each other and provide for one another to survive, compared to how in America, there is already so much that it is seen as ‘worry about yourself’ country. This is definitely shown when after the Congo gained independence that the only one that still helped them was Mama Mwanza. “She made her over on the palms of her feet to give us oranges, Independence or not.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 206). This display of not pity but generosity means so much to the Prices. Throughout the novel, Leah observes and accepts these differences within the cultures, mostly because she is aware that the people simply don’t know any better. The only thought in their mind is survival and they do what they must to do
so. Shortly after the ants attack the village, Leah begins to observe and even take part in activities and duties that the Africans wouldn’t consider proper for women. In Bel and the Serpent Leah wished to assist the village by participating in the hunt alongside the men. She recognizes in her mind how much the Congolese wish to stay to the old ways and are scared of trying new things for fear of “[turning] over the natural way” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 338) for allowing her to hunt. This displayed the differences in religion within the Congo, and how the normal religion was usually a form of animism. With her father being voted out of the very church that he was creating with “Jesus Christ [losing] eleven to fifty-six.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 334), she accepts that her father attempting to force change upon the Congolese who have participated in their religion for centuries simply isn’t possible. Ironically, she still insists on defining the ‘natural ways’ and hunting with the men, in which “[She] killed [her] first game.” (Kingsolver, 1998, p. 348). This shows that even though Leah seems to accept the African ways instead of her father’s, she’s still willing to defy them if she sees something as ridiculous as not participating in a hunt. People don’t realize how much an experience can change them until it happens. This is the case with the Price family’s experience in the Congo. Kingsolver’s message within the novel about the American and African differences and the impacts it left on the Price family are that in order to get perspective of one thing, another must be abandoned. By realizing the hardships and struggles that the family went through the social, religious, and cultural differences it shows just how lucky we are to be living in an environment where we don’t need to worry about obstacles like that. The differences in both countries are both positive and negative, but in the end, the Price girls learned that through love and perseverance they can always be connected to one another, no matter what trials life throws at them.