The+Poisonwood+Bible




 * Title:The Poisonwood Bible **
 * Author: Barbara Kingsolver **
 * Date of Publication: 1998 **
 * Literary Period: Modern **
 * Genre: Postcolonial fiction **


 * Describe the setting and then explain the relevance of the setting. African Congo, southern Georgia "the bible belt," Johannesburg, South Africa, and the French Congo. **
 * The book takes place primarily in the African Congo an underdeveloped area in the middle of a overgrown jungle. The land suffers from flooding rains and stifling droughts. The people of this region live in extreme poverty - many suffer from kwashiorkor disease due to poor nutrition. The harsh conditions test each member of the Price family creating stress on each of the families relationships by bringing survival into the picture**


 * Themes (These statements should be complete sentences and completely developed ideas) **
 * Light and dark - In the Poisonwood Bible Kingsolver uses the motif of light and dark clearly, from the most obvious the color of the skin to the less obvious the darkness of nathan towards his family juxtaposed with the light nature of **


 * Plot Summary (Please do not copy and paste. Simply list the high points of the novel) - Consider creating a visual flow chart or graph and posting it here. **
 * The Poisionwood Bible tells the story of a baptisit family who has moved into the African Congo for one year to convert or "save" the African people from their sins. the story is told through the voices of five different characters: Orleanna Price - mother, Rachel Price - eldest daughter/shallow, Leah Price twin/not crippled, Adah Price twin/crippled and mute, and Ruth May Price - the youngest daughter only 5 years old. Throughout the story each woman must come to grips with the guilt she has brought into the Congo almost as if they are in greater need of redemption that the people their Father/Preacher Nathan has come to save. as the story progresses the families ties are stressed as this western family must face the drought and flooding of the Congo causing starvation of the stomach and of their faith in God. each one comes to question their faith and finally when they all start working together Ruth May the youngest is killed by the bite of the poison green mamba snake that they saw while walking into the congo at the begining of the novel. now that Ruth May is dead the family breaks apart each going seperate ways- all leaving behind their father who has put his faith over his family and decided to stay casting them off each as sinners in the eyes of Christ. in the end of the book after many years spent apart the family reunites each one holding a different piece of the puzzel each one finally redeemed **


 * Memorable Quotes and their SIGNIFICANCE. **
 * 1**"The forest eats itself and lives forever."(5 Poisonwood) The forest swallows death and makes it new life - new strength from pain. No matter the monetary value of the white man the forest does not discriminate. once you enter it you have made the decision to hand it your life and it hands you its life as well all organisms living symbiotically off one another.


 * 2**"The red mud dried on his khakis like the blood of a slain beast." (38 Poisonwood) Early in the book Nathan is depicted as a man who has killed - suggesting he commits one of the seven deadly sins - it is foreshadowing here that Nathan will be a man without redemption.


 * 3**"He was out there pushing his garden up into rectangular, flood-proof embankments, exactly the length and width of burial mounds"(63 Poisonwood) - this quote is significant in its foreshadowing it is almost as if Nathan is building the burial mounds of his family predicting that death will come to this house. Just because he is from the western world in the same way that he is not exempt from the gardening methods of the Congo he is also not exempt from the death and sorrow that each Congolese family knows.


 * 4**"Do you get the notion //we// are the branch that's grafted on here, sharing in the riches of these African roots?"(252 Poisonwood) Here the preacher that lived in Kilanga before the Price family asks slyly if Nathan has considered the possibility that he is the outlier in this land sucking off the Congolese life source instead of the other way around.


 * 5**"//...// it's still //something.// it doesn't care what prayers we say at bedtime, or whether we admit we believe in it. Does it believe in //us,// that's the question."(358 Poisonwood)


 * 6**"walk forward into the light."(375 & 543 Poisonwood) The light is symbolic it holds truth and knowledge and can be viewed as the light of Christianity or the light of God and forgiveness


 * Describe the significance of the opening scene. **

Orleanna opens the book by talking about the past we are about to read from some unknown point in the future. she sets up the tone of the book when she asks "how we will live with it" showing a theme of guilt

When we read the final chapter of Poisonwood we hear the voice of Ruth May the youngest daughter and the one who was lost to the ways of the Congo. this final chapter is redemption each sister now fully grown adults themselves returns to the village of Kilanga with their mother. here they walk the path they walked so long ago this time though is much different. this time they know what the forest holds. the soul or Ruth May and the pain of the deaths of thousands of other children. As they walk each sister is redeemed of the guilt she lived with in the Congo so many years ago we see the redeption as Ruth May closes the book with the line "walk forward into the light"
 * Describe the significance of the closing scene. **


 * Describe the author's style and provide examples from the text. **


 * List importance characters and their significance. **
 * Nathan - America and its self righteous attitude, believing that the westerns ways will solve the problems of the world **
 * Orleanna - Africa strong and beautiful before the west (nathan) showed up telling her she was wrong and in need of saving. she lives in peril until she (africa) breaks frees of foreign rule and influence **