“Listen. Slide the weight from your shoulders and move forward. You are afraid you might forget, but you never will. You will forgive and remember.” 

After reading The Poisonwood Bible I am astonished by how much the book related to my own life. I think cultural awareness is so important especially as our world is becoming more connected than ever. Through this book I have gained a broader understanding of ideological imperialism and the cultural ignorance of the west on less developed nations such as the one in the book. The book offers individualistic perspectives of the outcome of intertwining cultures. The book can be magnified on larger themes of cultural interaction, how to deal with guilt, and how we should learn from historical mistakes. It is very easy to get lost within our own way of life that we forget that the majority of the world does not live like western civilization. For the Price family this is exactly what happened. They went into a culture that live on the edge of life and death every single day and through Ruth’s death they too would enter this reality. So what is the take away after reading this book? Did my worldview change or did I find this book predicable? I would say after reading this book, I want to learn more about western influence and how its changing other parts of the world. What are the outcomes of all of our new technological advancements on societies that do not even know they exist. I think as we go into a future where there will be obstacles to endure, we must have this larger understanding where we come together as a world, not just as a nation. I do not have any problem with religion, science, or any other ideological principles wether the issue arises when we sacrifice respect for the benefit of ourselves. I think that is why Kingsolver wrote this book, to warn, and to educate a society that is constantly in a bubble of ignorance forgetting what the majority of the world is like.

New historicism is a lens at which the more you study the text the more you learn about the history, and the more you study the history the more you understand the text. Through reading the Poisonwood Bible there were incidents where i wish I better understood the political history behind he events occurring in Africa. The author uses this critical lens to show the importance of the understanding the political situation in the Congo. There is a constant ideological comparison between the politics that the Price family is use to and what the Congolese people are use to. For example Nathan Price is for a democratic system but when it comes to the election of Jesus, it becomes a dictatorship. This is that new historicism lens, that the political representation of an area can be represented by the individual characters. Kingsolver utilizes this to demonstrate the hypocrisy that Nathan has.

After Apple-Picking

This poem works in a state that is a continual confusion of dream and knowledge, between the human idea of nature and its elusive reality always on the verge of transformation. Which is why I think it is so comparable to The Posionwood Bible, because the Prices were always on the edge of what was reality and what was their inability to see the objective truth. “It’s frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from what you have always known(Kingsolver 197).“ There is this constant internal animosity between knowledge and what their initial vision was. They went to Africa not expecting the things that would happen and their dreams were constantly shattered by reality. The man picking apples felt these similar concepts. He began turning something that was as simple as apple-picking into something fundamentally divine. It is embedded within the human nature, that we can find meaning and purpose in anything. The poem also discusses a “Long sleep, as I describe its coming on” which I believe is perceived as death. This also adds to that elusive idea of reality portrayed through nature, the constant cycle of life and death and how it effects all living things. Death is also very prevalent when Kingsolver writes “I used to threaten Ruth May’s life so carelessly just to make her behave. Now I had to face the possibility that we really could lose her(Kingsolver 130).“ Death seemed to always be at the Prices doorstep especially when Ruth was bitten by the snake. As in the poem, death is part of the journey, and it is not given any negative connotation. Instead it’s just compared to the “essence of winter sleep”, which can easily be portrayed as a season, always coming and going. I think that is why I love this poem, due to how Robert Frost takes something as simple as apple-picking and turns it into something profound about the human nature. Similarly, Barbara Kingsolver takes a unique family with a diverse range of perceptions and makes direct connections to the political and cultural awareness that is much needed in western civilization.

“Then I stared for a while at a traffic light, which was suspended elaborately on wires above the intersection. I couldn’t look at the cars themselves. My
brain was roaring from all the color and orchestrated metal movement. From the open building behind me came a blast of neutral-smelling air and a high
hum of fluorescent lights. Even though I was outdoors, I felt a peculiar confinement. One discarded magazine lay on the edge of the street, impossibly
clean and unblemished. A breeze gently turned the pages for me, one at a time: here was a neatly coiffed white mother beside a huge white clothes dryer
and a fat white child and a great mound of bright clean clothes that would be sufficient, it seemed to me, to clothe a whole village; here were a man and
woman holding between them a Confederate flag on a vast lawn so flat and neatly trimmed their shadows stretched behind them for the length of a fallen
tree; here was a blonde woman in a black dress and pearls and long red fingernails leaning over a blank white tablecloth toward a glass of wine; here
was a child in many kinds of new clothes hugging a doll so clean and unrubpled it seemed not to belong to her; here was a woman in a coat and hat,
hugging a bundle of argyle socks. The world seemed crowded and empty at the same time, devoid of smells, and extremely bright. I continued to stare at
the traffic light, which glowed red. Suddenly a green arrow popped on, pointing left, and the row of cars like obedient animals all went left. I laughed out
loud(Kingsolver 443).”

The passage I chose is about the culture shock of being back in a materialistic society. She uses metaphors comparing the things she sees back in the United States to things in Africa, such as the animals. I love this passage because Kingsolver gives this amazing picture of what culture shock looks like from a different perspective. Most people think culture shock only occurs when people go to a less developed region like at the beginning of the book when the Prices move. Here, we have the coming full circle where the culture shock is being back into a city with flashing lights, “roaring from all the color and orchestrated metal movement”, which is why this passage holds a lot of value. Kingsolver method of using African associated words is absolutely brilliant, not just adding to the diction, but allowing the reader to truly feel the power of this feeling of isolation in such a busy city. It gives deeper meaning to the parallels between these two completely different realities.

“It is impossible to describe the shock of return. I recall that I stood for the longest time staring at a neatly painted yellow line on a neatly formed cement
curb. Yellow yellow line line. I pondered the human industry, the paint, the cement truck and concrete forms, all the resources that had gone into that one
curb. For what? I could not quite think of the answer. So that no car would park there? Are there so many cars that America must be divided into places
with and places without them? Was it always so, or did they multiply vastly, along with telephones and new shoes and transistor radios and cellophane wrapped tomatoes, in our absence(Kingsolver 443).”

The deeper meaning can be found here, after years in a completely different environment she finds herself questioning the industry. The vast amount of resources that are wasted can be directly correlated to her personal trauma of people she knows in Africa who would actually benefit from that so-called waste. She knows the constant battle between life and death.

Symbolism is prevalent through each and every life and the way we utilize symbols often has greater impacts than we realize. Whether it be the cross that represents Jesus Christ or the sign that tells you which bathroom to walk into, we are constantly dependent on symbols. Kingsolver utilizes symbols quite often in The Poisonwood Bible to demonstrate the cultural ignorance that the Price family portrays. For example, the title of the book is a symbol within itself. It shows the lack of understanding when it comes to mending the two cultures together. When Nathan Price, or the reverend, tries to speak the local language of the people of Kilanga he often does not try with diligence. The language, Kikongo, is complicated and simple changes in tone can change the meaning of the word. He failed to attempt the complexity of the language because he lacks the ability to care about it. Nathan’s wife says “But Nathan wouldn’t hear my worries. For him, our life was as simple as paying in cash and sticking the receipt in your breast pocket”(Kingsolver 96). He is a stubborn man who is culturally unaware and who is so fixated on his personal goals of conversion that he fails to immerse himself in the culture. He views learning the peoples way of life as taboo and sinful which is quite ironic being a missionary. Due to his inability to learn, most of the time he preached to the people and they could not even understand him. If they did understand it, the message would come out differently than he intended it.

My name is Jeffery and I am a senior in high school. This blog is going to offer some close and personal insight into my mind on some difficult discussions. The book we are going to delve into is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This book talks about the cultural ignorance of western civilization through the perspective of a missionary family. We will discuss concepts such as the influence of western religion on underdeveloped nations. Are these influences positively affecting these nations or not? These topics are very close and personal to me because I have been involved in the missionary life for over 5 years now. I will offer my opinion and how it correlates to this book. The Poisonwood Bible is a way for me to relate to another’s perspective and reflect on my own at the same time. I am beyond excited to continue this blog, not necessarily for the public to see, but for me to learn more about this book and its influence on my life. International interaction is something I’m extremely passionate about and it is something that I will continue to learn about as long as I’m able. So let us get passionate about this book and talk about religion, politics, and international relations with the guidance. I will be comparing my mission trips to the missionary life discussed in the book and hopefully we can all learn something together.

Puerto Maldonado, Peru