Book Report on The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: Significant Characters and Themes of the Novel

List of the Major Characters

Nathan Price- a Baptist minister who makes his family move to the Congo in order to spread the Word of God. He separates himself from his family, has a temper and is aggressive; feels the need to right his wrongs in Africa due to his previous cowardice in the war.

Orleanna Price- Takes on the role as a wife and a mother; makes it her job in life. Finds courage to leave the Congo and her abusive husband after Ruth May’s death; moves back to America and becomes consumed with gardening.

Rachel Price- The eldest daughter; she is too focused on materialistic things and is often seen as vain; leaves her family to save herself showing she only cares for herself.

Leah Price- Twin to Adah Price; adores her father and always looks for his approval. In time, feels resentment towards him for leaving her family so helpless; learns to disrepute him. Marries Anatole and lives out her days in the Congo with him and their children.

Adah Price- Twin to Leah Price; is bitter towards her family, but especially towards Leah—has a negative outlook on life and is the only member of the family to “unpass her judgments”. Crippled at birth, very intelligent, rarely talks, has a unique way of thinking; has some contempt for her family’s religion. Eventually learns to remake herself and changes her mirrored outlook on life.

Ruth May Price- The youngest daughter; has a simplistic view on the course of events and tries to act in an affirmative way for God. States things how she sees them and gives the reader a relatively unbiased view of their situation, dies in the Congo by snake bite.

List of the Significant Minor Characters

The Underdowns- the founders of the mission in Kilanga; leave the Congo due to its dangerous state.

Mama Tataba- temporary live-in help for the Price family

Brother Fowles- previous resident of the Price home; went somewhat “crazy” by entering unconventional alliances with the locals—in reality, he made many friends and connected with the community positively.

Mr. Eeben Axelroot- pilot of the plane and only other white person in Kilanga, is a cheat and receives most of the Price’s earned money by selling them their own goods; participated in illegal activity and eventually marries Rachel.

Tata Ndu- Chief of Kilanga; does not agree with Christianity.

Anatole- schoolteacher and translator for the church services; only “ally” in Kilanga, relies messages from Ndu and sends the family Nelson; eventually marries Leah

Methuselah- house pet left by Brother Fowles; the native African parrot held the family’s and previous family’s secrets; was released by Nathan.

Pascal- Leah’s first friend in the Congo; teaches her simple speech and behavior of Kilanga; through him Leah also starts to notice major gender roles.

Patrice Lumumba- leader for reformation in the Congo; wishes to take the nonviolent road to independence; mentioned as the “new soul of Africa”.

Nelson- help sent by Anatole; intelligent student who assists with the Price’s survival.

Tata Kuvundu- supposed town-drunk who turns out to be an opposing preacher, or nganga; acts as an advisor and a prophesier. Nathan sees him as a witch doctor.

Mama Mwanza- neighbor to the Prices; lost her legs in a fire. True friend to the family

Mama Lo- the main hairdresser in the community; another friend to the Price’s.

Dr. Wharton- Orleanna’s father; eye-doctor

Elisabet Ngemba- Anatole’s only living relative; helps Leah and Anatole survive

Pascal, Patrice, Martin-Lothaire and Nataniel Ngembe- Leah and Anatole’s children.

Soeur Thérèse- One of Leah’s only friends at the convent.

Joseph Mobutu- new leader of the Republic of the Congo after the murder of Lumumba.

Agostino Neto- first President of Angola.

List of Major Place Names

Bethlehem, Georgia (Hometown to the Price family)

Kilanga, 1959 (First residence of the Price family in the Congo)

Leopoldville (Destination of plane ride to the Congo and nearby village)

Stanleyville (Nearby town inhabited by Belgians)

Katanga (Location of the diamond mines)

Pearl, Mississippi (Location of Orleanna’s family)

The Equatorial (Rachel’s hotel for businessmen between Brazzaville to Owando)

Sanza Pomba, Angola (Final destination of Leah and Anatole’s family)

Atlanta, Georgia (Home to Adah and Orleanna in the end)

List of Major Events, Scenes, and Speeches

Pg. 16- Price’s arrival to Leopoldville

Pg. 80- Mama Tataba and Methuselah are “released” by Nathan; he is forced to realize he will have to become accustomed to the natives way of life instead of changing theirs

Pg. 111- First real contact made with the village children made by Ruth May with her game of “Mother May I”; Leah and Pascal become friends

Pg. 169- The Underdown’s come to inform the Price’s they are leaving for safety reasons with the Congo’s independence being granted just around the corner

Pg. 182- Lumumba is inaugurated as the new Prime Minister

Pg. 300- The nsongonya attack Kilanga; the Price’s realize they are cared for

Pg. 323- Lumumba is captured and beaten to death; January 1961

Pg. 334- Vote taken on whether or not to make Jesus the personal God of Kilanga; lost

Pg. 354- The elders coordinate a large; town is split on whether or not Leah should be able to hunt. Afterward, village turns on one another just as prophesized.

Pg. 363- Ruth May is killed by the green mamba snake placed in their chicken coup by Kuvundu.

Pg. 375- Ruth May’s funeral; Orleanna gives away all the family’s possessions and Nathan baptizes the village children by rain.

Pg. 385- The Price’s leave the village without Nathan.

Pg. 400- Orleanna and Adah go back to Georgia; Leah stays with Anatole—cures her.

Pg. 475- All three sisters are reunited.

Pg. 486- Word of Nathan Price’s death is discussed; he was burned to death.

Pg. 540- Final visitation of Africa by the remaining Price girls.

List of Significant Quotations

“But Africa shifts under my hands, refusing to be party to failed relations. Refusing to be any place at all, or any thing but itself: the animal kingdom making hay in the kingdom of glory.” Pg. 10

“I could never work out whether we were to view religion as a life-insurance policy or a life sentence.” Pg. 96

“To play, to bargain reasonably, to offer the Word, to stretch a hand across the dead space that pillowed around us.” Pg. 106

“—the lonely look down upon the hungry; the hungry look down upon the starving. The guilty blame the damaged. Those of doubtful righteousness speak of cannibals, the unquestionably vile, the sinners and the damned.” Pg. 174

“In the end, my lot was cast with the Congo. Poor Congo, barefoot bride of men who took her jewels and promised the Kingdom.” Pg. 201

“None of us is the same: Lehcar, Hael, Hada. Annaelro. Only Nahtan remains essentially himself, the same man however you look at him.” Pg. 276

“God doesn’t punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves.” Pg. 327

“Believe this: the mistakes are part of the story. I am born of a man who believed he could tell nothing but the truth, while he set down for all time the Poisonwood Bible.” Pg. 533

Point of View

First person narrative; written from the perspective of Orleanna, Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May Price by chapter; allows the reader to personally get to know each character while gaining different perspective on the same plot from a private viewpoint. Orleanna’s perspective is written from a seemingly different time frame and gives the reader glimpses of foresight.

Themes

I believe the book was written for the purpose of sharing African culture and values with the modern day. The text shows that no man, no matter how good his intentions are, can make a positive impact to everyone. Values can be corrupted and human nature will always have flaw. One must be careful not to assume they are making good in situations they are unaccustomed to because they could often are doing the opposite. I think the author is trying to show the reader that in any instance of human society there will always be decency and there will always be immorality. On pages 174, 300, 327 and 533 I believe this is shown. They are clear examples of goodness and evil in cases completely unhampered by anything else besides human nature.

Symbols and Motifs

Methuselah

Symbolizes independence. The author connects the bird with the entirety of Africa and it mirrors the state of freedom of its country.

Green mamba snake

Symbolizes fate. Kingsolver shows that fate cannot be interrupted with the death of Ruth May and the isolation of Kuvundu. The snake moves freely just as fate does.

Poisonwood

Symbolizes misunderstanding and arrogance. No matter how much good there is willed to be done, one must first know their surroundings and the ways of life in a culture to do good.

Water

Symbolizes dependence. Throughout the novel, all characters, no matter their color, needed water. The author shows that no matter how strong-willed these characters are, they all are united by the need for water (sustenance, transportation, release)

Baptism

Symbolizes completion. The author shows that the plot is coming to a close upon Nathan when he finally is able to baptize the village children in rain. It was his one task he wished to complete, and even though, in his mind he sees it as their saving grace, it’s his.

Technical, Structural, and Stylistic Strategies and Achievements of the Author

Imagery

From the first page of the book, the author paints a beautiful picture using descriptive words, almost placing the reader into the scene. This is shown most when Orleanna is recounting the plot as she has the most advanced style of narrative.

Character Development

By writing in first person from all the main character’s perspectives, the reader is able to get to know all the characters separately; Kingsolver does a great job of distinguishing between personalities and lines of thought. She uses an interesting technique of changing her writing style for each character, the younger the character is, the simpler the writing is. For example, Ruth May’s narrative is primarily compromised of simple sentences while Orleanna’s is filled with figurative language.

Allusion to Bible

The allusions to religious text are always seamlessly inserted into the book- whether it is quoting a passage or creating a metaphor, it is clear what the author is referring to.

Significant Critical Problem

Within the last 100 pages of the book, the narrations fell out of chronological order. For the majority of the plot, only Orleanna’s character was set in a different time-frame, but as the book progressed, different narrators started to overlap each other in time. I don’t know what the purpose was from the author’s point of view, but from the reader’s perspective it was confusing.

Possible AP Questions

After reviewing symbols in the book, how does the imagery of water support the reoccurring theme throughout other novels?

Personal Reflection

I liked this book. The writing was incredible and the characters were easy to love or hate. The plot allowed me to look past culture here and learn about Africa in a seemingly first-hand perspective. I loved the passion and hard-work behind the words; practically everything had a deeper meaning. The Poisonwood Bible was an overall fantastic first-time experience with Kingsolver.