Destiny Ebright
Mrs. Gilchrist
11th Grade IB English SL
27 July 2013
Analysis of Book Titles
1. Genesis - For this book, I believe that Kingsolver chose to name it ‘Genesis’ because it foreshadows what is going to happen in this section of the novel. In Genesis, this is where God creates this new world. Essentially, this is what the Price family is doing on their expedition in Africa. They’re doing this by bringing all these modern things, and opening their eyes to thing that they’ve never noticed before, for example, when Mr. Price explained how nudity was a bad thing; “But Father skipped over all that and went straight to the dire consequences: ‘The emissaries of the Lord smote the sinners, who had come heedless to the sight of God, heedless in their nakedness.’” (37). Also, in Genesis, God warns Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree, however they ignore his word and do so anyways, which ended in severely bad consequences. The same thing happens to Reverend Price, for when Mama Tataba warned him that the Poisonwood Tree would “bite,” he ignored it, and the next day his arms and hands were covered in a painful rash, and his eye was swollen shut as well. “‘That one, brother, he bite,’ she said, pointing her knuckly hand at a small tree he was wresting from his garden plot. … My father woke up the next morning with a horrible rash on his hands and arms… Even his good right eye was swollen shut,…” (39-40).
Ebright
2 - The Revelation - I think Kingsolver named this book ‘The Revelation’ because several things are revealed in this book. For example, the Price women, especially Orleanna Price, realize how difficult life in the Congo really is once Mama Tataba leaves. “The longest journey always began with sitting up in bed at the rooster’s crow, parting the mosquito curtain, and slipping on shoes - for there were hookworms lying in wait on the floor, itching to burrow into our bare feet.” (90). Another realization that came to the Price family was