Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible Question 1 “What is the conqueror’s wife if not a conquest herself?” This quote sums up Orleanna’s feeling of guilt she has towards her daughter’s death and towards the crimes of the US against the Congo. By identifying herself as the conqueror’s wife, Orleanna places herself in a position where she is not the chief criminal but connected enough to feel responsibility. In Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, she uses diction, imagery, and selection of detail to develop and convey Orleanna Price’s guilt and uneasiness throughout the journey that she was against from the start. The diction used by Kingsolver portrays many negative emotions from Orleanna. Orleanna’s hopelessness is evident when she says “… none of them really needed me all that much” when referring to her children. The way that she says that is almost in desperation; she wants her children to be in need of her because she feels like her children are gravitating away from her and if she loses her children then she doesn’t really have anything left. However, her children are not the only thing on Orleanna’s mind. Kingsolver makes it clear to the reader that Orleanna does not want to be in Africa. On page 9 she says “Or say I was afflicted with Africa like a bout of a rare disease, from which I have not managed a full recovery.” Using a simile to compare living in Africa to getting infected by a rare disease that one is never fully revived from really emphasizes Orleanna’s viewpoint of Africa. Orleanna was restless because she went to the Congo with enthusiasm and hope but as the reality of the Congo settled in, she became irritable and depressed. She felt like she didn’t belong anywhere. The author’s word choice brings to light Orleanna’s feeling of exclusion from her family and her queasiness towards Africa.
Kingsolver’s use of imagery in this passage really highlights Orleanna’s discomfort and pain about the whole journey. On page 8, Orleanna