Essay #1

Poisonwood Bible AP Essay

A missionary trip set for Kilanga, Congo; a family is ready for what seems to be a whole new world with new customs, lifestyles, and gods. The Price family consisting of Orleanna, Nathan, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May are all part of this rift from a missionary trip to Africa in the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The rift creates both negative aspects and positive aspects in the Price family’s life. They experience some traumatic events, but there are also character building events that shape most of the characters.

The story is set in a period of turmoil in the Congo. The Price family leaves behind a well balanced American lifestyle from Georgia to live in a poverty ridden village in the middle of the Congo. The family hopes to spread the word of Jesus Christ. The story flashes back to a time after World War Two where Nathan regrets his actions during the war, wishing to help his lost comrades he decides to commit to saving others through Jesus. The rest of the family comes along because they too would like to share the power of Jesus. During their stay their life begins to spiral downward, Congo was free from Belgian control, the Missionary League wasn’t funding the Prices any more Ruth May died of snakebite and the neighboring villages began to kill the white people in town. Orleanna wanted to leave and return home, but the rift was already established they were too poor to fly home and Nathan was too stubborn to leave. The family is torn apart as all the girls find a way out of Kilanga, Nathan still works tirelessly to get the villagers to convert. Rachel later on in her older age is mildly depressed about how she never reconnected to American culture. Leah hates the American way after the coup of Lumumba, she forgets all roots of her American past and is now an African at heart. This is how the cultural rift affects the family negatively.

On a more positive note Adah and Orleanna go back to Georgia and are safe in their home country. Adah forgets about her past in Africa and goes to Emory College and becomes a doctor, her limp is gone after therapy and her mom is happy. Orleanna lives close to her daughter and the two girls are much closer and appreciate what they have due to the rift. Leah visits her mother and sister and is thankful that they are alive and safe. Leah is also affected positively by the rift and is happily married to Anatole as they help teach in Angola.

Though the rift ruptured the Price family, it also helped them grow, similarly to the plants at the beginning of the story they were lost and destroyed at first by the nature around them but when planted right they grew. The jungles of the Congo taught a few westerners to value their life a little more because they will never know when all hope seems to fade away and family begins to tear apart.