The Poisonwood Bible Notes

Themes

• The power of nature is prevalent. The natives live in harmony with nature and take what they need and are very appreciative of the land. While westerners don't appreciate the land and take what they don't need.
• The western way of life is not suitable for the African population, especially when the African population is very fragmented with set customs for each tribe.
• The speaker is not set, everyone has their voice and the story is told like a folk-tale.

Plot

1.      Book One: Genesis

·         Orleanna Price mother of four girls. Price starts off by talking about a mother, her husband and four daughters trudging through a rain forest in the Congo.

·         Orleanna is deeply saddened by the death of one of the daughters that doesn’t make it out of the jungle.

·         This tale of a mother losing her daughter is one that can represent many things throughout this world. This event can be taken literally or seen in a larger scope. Orleanna’s story can be seen as allegorical to the relationship that the western countries have toward Africa and how they see the many conflicts yet don’t do much and try to handle the guilt.

·         The story flashes back to 1959 when the Price Family travelled from Sanderling Island to the Congo.The family is making a mission trip to Africa and they see how life is going to change immensely, from their sheltered lifestyle to an open poorer life during their trip. (From Leah Price’s POV)

·         Ruth May’s POV:  this five year old tells the natives that Blacks descend from Noah’s son Ham, he was a bad child and was made to be a slave and was given darker skin. She also talks about Jim Crow laws in the South and how they force segregation.

·         Rachel Price’s POV:  an adolescent girl is not as religious as her family. She notices a strong stench as soon as she gets to the town (Kilanga). She questions much of what the villagers do and is surprised during Nathan’s sermon when he yells out at a topless native.

·         Adah Price: Leah’s twin has hemiplegia and she cannot use the left side of her body. She describes the town to be rows of mud houses. She also says that the women of Kilanga are always topless.

·         Leah’s POV: she talks about how her father plants seeds for the family, but also shows the villagers how to plant so they too can have food. Mama Tataba tells Mr. Price that he is planting it wrong. The next morning his face, covered with poisonwood and eye swollen. They go outside and notice the plants were replanted with mounds above the ground.

·         Rachel: Mr. Price tries to get people to go to church by holding an Easter Sunday. He wanted to baptize people but none of the villagers agreed but there was some partying.

·         Ruth May: Ruth notices an important aspect about the village. Most of the villagers are disabled but don’t seem to care. Some with missing eyes, amputated limbs. Mr Price doesn’t like this and thinks that they should take care of their bodies.

·         Adah: The rainy season started early and then the Price’s garden is washed away, both Mr. Price and leah replant the garden but in mounds.

·         Leah: It is Rachel’s birthday and the family wants to bake a cake. Mrs. Price tries to use the Betty Crocker cake mix and it went bad. The bird Methuselah says “DAMN” and the three girls get in trouble for teaching it profanity.

·         Adah: Mama Tataba tell the girls that Mr. Price should abandon the efforts of trying baptize the villagers. Mr. Price tells the girls a story about a Mercedes truck with boys fanning elephant grass instead of a fan belt. He then says anything is possible.

·         Leah: Mr. Price gives a sermon on baptism and Tataba is infuriated, she leaves the prices. Mr. Price realizes the plants aren’t bearing fruit because the insects in Africa don’t recognize these plants.

2.      Book Two: The Revelation

·         Orleanna: The life for the Price family. After Tataba left, the family has had travel almost two miles to get water, and they had to eat a lot compared to the villagers. Orleanna was worried for her family and even dreamed about their death. Nathan still believed he was a figure of goodness in the community.

·         Leah: Orleanna makes her daughters study most of the time, but they have some time to play. They make a game of “Mother May I” and some of the village kids come play, they play for some days, but then the village kids stop playing with them except for Leah’s new friend Pascal

·         Ruth: Ruth May had to be flown to Stanleyville for a Broken arm, she was spying on some anti-Belgian forces and she fell. Ruth May sees that Axelroot has a bag with diamonds in it, he threatens to kill her mom if she spills the beans. The Doctor and Nathan get into an argument over the politics of the Congolese people, they talk about the Patrice Lumumba movement and how there was a riot that killed 12 people.

·         Rachel: Anatole is invited to dinner; he is the person that translates the sermons for the villagers. He relays to Nathan that Chief Ndu thinks that Christianity is going to demoralize the villagers. Anatole says that Tata Kuvundu is the religious leader of the town.

·         Adah: Leah and Adah go to the river to get water, Leah walks to fast and Adah is left behind. Then a lion comes up behind her and she is fearful that she is going to get killed, but she outsmarts it and gets home safely. Chief Ndu notices some footprints a lion and a girl. He sees blood too and he thinks one of the Price’s was killed he relays the information to the villagers, as he is happy. Adah comes out and she is still alive and surprises everyone. Chief Ndu is unhappy.

·         Leah: Anatole leaves a boy at the Price home and he helps around the house for pay and a basket of eggs to pay for a wife. This boy’s name is Nelson he learns English pretty quickly. The village is then hit by a bug that causes digestive problems and is fatal. Orleanna keeps her daughters away from the sick villagers. Leah catches malaria because they weren’t counting their quinine doses accurately.

·         Ruth May: More of the villagers go to the sermons because of the lion incident. They think Jesus was watching Adah. Leah finds an owl and keeps it in the house. Nelson and Pascal think the owl is a soul-eater, but Nathan allows Leah to keep it. She walks around pompously and is beaten for pride. Leah then releases her owl.

·         Rachel: News arrives to the Prices about an election for the Congolese. It is an opportunity for them to elect to be free. Orleanna is saddened because they are going to have to leave the Congo; also their mission wasn’t officially sanctioned by the Missions League. Nathan decides to stay until July to greet the next missionary.

·         Adah: The election takes place and each candidate is symbolized by something because the villagers cannot read.  

·         Rachel: Lumumba wins the election, the Underdowns tell the prices to pack-up so they can leave the Congo. Orleanna wants to leave but Nathan decides to stay.

3.      Book Three: The Judges

·         Orleanna talks about how she cannot get the family to go home. Nathan is not listening and Orleanna doesn’t have any power. She thinks God is assisting Nathan

·         Nathan served in WWII and was injured but he saw many people die. He believed it was his duty to create a missionary to save more people than what he saw died in the war. This was to make his supposed amends with God.

·         Leah: The Prices aren’t getting any money from the League anymore, and the villagers aren’t selling them food either. Only Mama Mwanza gives them free oranges.

·         Adah: Nelson tells Adah that the only reasons why some people even go to the sermons is because that they are already social outcasts in their religion. Some are lepers, and murderers.

·         Ruth May: both Ruth and Orleanna stay in bed daily due to sickness

·         Adah: Nathan scolds Orleanna and Ruth for laying in bed sick. He wants them to do things too. At night the girls hear Orleanna plead Nathan to let them go home. Nathan tells her that God works in mysterious ways.

·         Leah: Leah gets Ruth out of bed and gets her to play on the swing. Anatole gives the Price family a rabbit to eat. Southern Congo breaks away from the rest of the Congo.

·         Ruth May: Ruth lies sick in bed and listens to her parents talk. They say that in Stanleyville many whites were murdered and that they may come to Kilanga. Nelson gives Ruth an amulet in the middle of the night and it supposedly holds a soul in it just in case she dies.

·         Leah: Orleanna gets better and is finally able to take care of the family. She stops heading to Nathan and looks for a way to get her daughters home. She tries to get Axelroot to fly them out but they have no money. Leah starts to feel defiant of her father for keeping them in the Congo.

·         Rachel: Brother Fowles visits the village everyone is excited. He tells the Price family that the villagers are really close to nature. Nathan comes home and isn’t too happy to see Fowles.

·         Adah: A drought causes famine in the area and Ruth gets worse. Tata Ndu brings gifts to the Price family, he wants to make Rachel his wife.

·         Leah: Tata Ndu’s marriage proposal cannot be turned down because the village would be outraged. Rache is scared about the situation. Orleanna moves Ruth into the living room to watch her, they find that her quinine tablets are stuck t the cement by her bed and that she has malaria.

·         Rachel: The Prince gets the village and Tata Ndu to believe that Rachel is engaged to Axelroot. Rachel and Axelroot become acquaintances and Axelroot tells Rachel that he is part of the CIA. Rachel doesn’t believe him but tries to get Axelroot to fly them out of the village.

·         Ruth May: ruth thinks she got sick for seeing Axelroots’s diamonds. She wants to return as a mamba snake when she dies.

·         Rachel: Turns 17 and is astonished to see that nobody is paying attention to her. Ruth gets a fever of 105 degrees and Adah gets stung by a scorpion.

·         Adah: Ruth gets better, and Leah teaches at Anatole’s school. She teaches math and english and learns French.

·         Leah: Leah tells Anotole about the U.S. and the huge cities. Anatole thinks that she is lying. Leah asks Anatole why he translates the sermons if he doesn’t agree with the message. Anatole wants the others to make their own decisions.

·         Rachel: goes with Axelroot to the forest and they kiss. He informs her about Lumumba’s assassination. Rachel doesn’t believe him.   

·         Adah: Adah, spying on Axelroot, learns about the assassination and hears that it is affiliated with Eisenhower. She doesn’t believe that the U.S. is going o kill an innocent man.

·         Leah: Driver ants take over the village and everyone leaves the village. Leah doesn’t seem to care and just sits there as the ants crawl on her.

·         Rachel: Selfishly she tries to escape the ants by getting onto her neighbors boat. She is kicked off and her mirror breaks.

·         Ruth May: Mrs. Prices takes Ruth but lets someone else carry her Ruth is frightened and thinks about being a snake.

·         Adah: Orleanna is torn between who to carry Ruth or Adah, she picks Ruth and Adah falls and almost get trampled. Anatole rescues Adah and takes her to a boat.

·         Leah: Anatole goes on the boat with Ruth and Leah, she confides in Anatole and tells him the issue about Lumumba. She starts to freak out and then tells Anatole she loves him.

4.      Book Four: Bel and the Serpent

·         Orleanna talks about the political events in the Congo. Lumumba was overhrown and Mobutu was put into power. Lumumba was under house arrest, he tried escaping so he was sent to jail where he was killed.

·         Leah: Tata Ndu stands up in the sermon and questions Nathan for a vote on if Jesus should be worshipped or another god in Kilanga. Nathan doesn’t like the idea because it is blasphemous. The election still proceeds and the vote is 56-11 Jesus loses.

·         Rachel: The entire village is desperate for food as a famine has struck. The villagers vote for a fire hunt to get all the animals out of the forest. Leah wanted to participate but the other villagers didn’t want a woman in the hunt. Leah goes anyway defying her father. There is an evil symbol outside their home and someone put a Mamba snake under Anatole’s bead.

·         Adah: The rest of the girls stay home and kill bugs for food. Adah can see some of the hunt and is disgusted.

·         Leah:  Leah kills an antelope. Gbenye takes credit for her kill, but Nelson says otherwise and pulls Leah’s arrow out of the carcass. Gbenye makes Leah skin the animal.

·         Rachel: Rachel is grossed out by the killing and goes home takes a bath and becomes a vegetarian.

·         Leah: After the hunt the village fights over who gets what. Kuvundu repeats his concern for the animal uprising.

·         Leah Nathan doesn’t punish Leah for hunting, at dinner Nelson comes and asks if he could stay the night. The girls are curious about who keeps leaving snakes in the chicken coop so they leave ashes and dust to find footprints.

·         Adah: They found that the footprints are Tata Kuvundu’s. With 6 toes on his left foot.

·         Leah: They watch the snake leave but hear a noise and it was Ruth May. Nelson tell Leah to get milk, Leah stays and notices a bite mark of the snake on Ruth May’s back. She dies

·         Rachel: The girls and Nelson watch the body to afraid to tell Mrs. Price. Rachel tries to forget about the Congo.

·         Leah: They tell Orleanna and she simply cleans Ruth and lays her o the table. Nathan says that he wanted to baptize her first with the villagers. Leah is disgusted by Nathan’s response. During her funeral it rains, Nathan baptizes each and every child.

5.      Book Five: Exodus

·         Orleanna Price: she is grieved after Ruth’s death and decides to leave with her daughters

·         Leah Price: While the girls are leaving to Leopoldville in the jungle Leah gets malaria and cnnot keep going. They were with some women headed to bulungu so Leah was able to rest in a hut of Anatole’s old student. Rachel goes with Axelroot and escape the Congo. Adah and Orleanna continue to Leopoldville.

·         Rachel Axelroot: She arrives in Johannesburg and pretends to be married to Axelroot to get a place to live in the “white” part of town.

·         Adah Price: Orleanna and Adah are traveling to Leopoldville until they are sighted by soldiers. They are taken to Leopoldville and the Belgian embassy takes them and treats them for diseases. They are sent to Georgia. The two girls move into a cabin. Orleanna starts selling flowers while Adah goes to Emory college for science.

·         Leah Price: Leah and Anatole go to Stanleyville but Leah is left at a mission along the way because they people in Stanleyville don’t like white people. Anatle is arrested for supporting Lumumba. Leah waits for Anatole to get out of jail.

·         Rachel Axelroot: Rachel unhappy that Axelroot didn’t marry her yet she seeks a new husband. Daniel a French politician is her go-to man.

·         Leah Ngemba: After Anatole was released from prison the two go to Bikoki to live. Leah works at the clinic and Anatole at the school.

·         Adah Price: Adah goes to med school and learns to walk better. Leah visits her in Atlanta with Anatole and Pascal. Orleanna moves closer to Adah too.

·         Leah Ngembe: Leah and Anatole both hate Mobutu immensely as most citizens live in poverty and Mobutu has everything. Leah also hates tht the west is supporting such a terrible and how it is only causing great harm for the Congo.

·         Rachel Dupree Fairley: Rachel isn’t married to Daniel anymore then her next husband, Remy, died. She was left with a hotel in Brazzaville. She

6. Book Six: Song of the Three Children

·         Rachel Price: She finishes off living in Africa at 50. She never got hold of American culture. She stayed mentally stable throughout the story.

·         Leah Price: At  the end Leah’s children are on their own except for Nathaniel, living in Angola and she teaches health classes

·         Adah Price: She abandons being a doctor and does scientific research. She thinks viruses have right to be on earth.

7. Book Seven: The Eyes in the Trees

·         The book ends in Ruth’s point of view. Orleanna wants to see her daughter’s grave one more time but she cannot enter the Congo because of the mass scale of war. Orleanna finds a woman from Kilanga that sells wooden animals, she buys some.