On this post, I would first like to talk about Leah. Most people don't like her, or even think she's a bitch for being stuck-up and a daddy's little girl. Me? I find her quite interesting. As a character, she has experienced the most growth out of all the Prices so far. While we know that Leah does the most out of all the Prices to please Nathan, and therefore shares a portion of his zealous religiosity, she also has some views that conflict deeply with Nathan's beliefs.
Of all the Prices, Leah is the one who embraces Africa the most and hopes that someday she will be able to teach the lessons of her childhood in Africa to her future children. In contrast to Leah's acceptance of Africa, Nathan is the self-centered mountain whose views are unmovable, and his personality tyrannical. I found it ironic that Nathan "smacked [Leah] hard for the sin of pride, and made her do The Verse" (156), when it is quite obviously Nathan himself that displays excessive pride the most by being so stubborn. So we see that even though Leah is the one who identifies the most with Nathan and his mission, she is also the one that loves and changes around Africa the most.
Another event in this section is the hope chest saga. While Rachel takes on the project with enthusiasm, Adah and Leah exhibit the same hopeless expectations for their futures when it comes to marriage. It's almost obvious that Rachel's idea of marriage is self-centered around her partner lavishing her and such (and I kind of hope that she takes a great fall from those high expectations). Leah on the other hand seems like a very compassionate girl who would seem successful in a loving marriage, and even though she doesn't want to get married, she does think about having a family of her own.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
PB walk activity through Leah's eyes
In class the other day, we were assigned to just walk around campus inhabiting the point of view of one of the main charachters of The Poisonwood Bible. My assigned characther was Leah. In a nutshell, she is a rather passive charachter who strives to please her pious father, but at the same time is nothing like him, having eyes "better suited" for seeing.
Immediately upon arrival, I was compelled to ask Rachel just what day it was. She just rolled her eyes and said, "You don't see the market do you?", and just ambled off flicking her hair in my face. I wanted to remind her that we weren't in the Congo anymore, but I figured that trying to find a cure for stupidity was useless as well, so I dropped it. The reason I wanted to know was queer because everybody acted like the Holy Sabbath had fallen strangely on this sun-bathed Thursday!
Standing on the exquisitely colored tiles arranged in a circle, with carved words stranger than those of Kikongo as the evenescent beams of light radiate from the sky and off the thick overglaze made me feel uneasy observing these people, given that simply living in Kilanga used to be a life or death struggle. My shoulders felt depressed and weighed down liked standing in the nave of a great gothic cathedral, burying me completely in its immenseness, filling my heart with both the holiness of a pure choir and the pity of seeing such slothful people bask in God's light when they seem to do nothing to deserve it.
Maybe they've bended the bible's meaning. "God helps those who help themselves". I suppose they're just helping themselves to other people's work instead of making their own work. Seeing this got me a little riled up, but I calmed down after I remembered how I felt in the Congo and how strange everything they did seemed to me at the time. But I also remembered how different Pascal and I were, now that I think about it. But it's just that they are so materialistic and attached to their worldly possessions that simmers my blood a little. I mean I'm used to Rachel flouting about vainly her accessories and sneaking make-up -- but these people!
I would like to imagine myself giving a talk to a few groups of these people and show them the error of their ways, but I lack the forcefull will of God that my father carries with him in his heart, or his tolerance and compassion for people unaware or ignorant to their potential salvation. Even Ruth May is starting to become more charismatic than I, always playing "mother may I?" with all the village kids.
If I ever have my own kids, I should want to teach them of the lessons I have learned here as well as those I have learned in the Congo. To ignore obvious cultural difference and racial diversity of this place, and to not understand their reasons, or take into consideration their upbringing into their habits of mind would simple be shameful.
Immediately upon arrival, I was compelled to ask Rachel just what day it was. She just rolled her eyes and said, "You don't see the market do you?", and just ambled off flicking her hair in my face. I wanted to remind her that we weren't in the Congo anymore, but I figured that trying to find a cure for stupidity was useless as well, so I dropped it. The reason I wanted to know was queer because everybody acted like the Holy Sabbath had fallen strangely on this sun-bathed Thursday!
Standing on the exquisitely colored tiles arranged in a circle, with carved words stranger than those of Kikongo as the evenescent beams of light radiate from the sky and off the thick overglaze made me feel uneasy observing these people, given that simply living in Kilanga used to be a life or death struggle. My shoulders felt depressed and weighed down liked standing in the nave of a great gothic cathedral, burying me completely in its immenseness, filling my heart with both the holiness of a pure choir and the pity of seeing such slothful people bask in God's light when they seem to do nothing to deserve it.
Maybe they've bended the bible's meaning. "God helps those who help themselves". I suppose they're just helping themselves to other people's work instead of making their own work. Seeing this got me a little riled up, but I calmed down after I remembered how I felt in the Congo and how strange everything they did seemed to me at the time. But I also remembered how different Pascal and I were, now that I think about it. But it's just that they are so materialistic and attached to their worldly possessions that simmers my blood a little. I mean I'm used to Rachel flouting about vainly her accessories and sneaking make-up -- but these people!
I would like to imagine myself giving a talk to a few groups of these people and show them the error of their ways, but I lack the forcefull will of God that my father carries with him in his heart, or his tolerance and compassion for people unaware or ignorant to their potential salvation. Even Ruth May is starting to become more charismatic than I, always playing "mother may I?" with all the village kids.
If I ever have my own kids, I should want to teach them of the lessons I have learned here as well as those I have learned in the Congo. To ignore obvious cultural difference and racial diversity of this place, and to not understand their reasons, or take into consideration their upbringing into their habits of mind would simple be shameful.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Pb Lit Post 2
My role in our literature circle group is the "psycholigical critic". This is where I analyze the psycholigical motives or force that drives the charachter to a certain action. I guess in a sense I'm also a charachter analyst, but this seems to be a much more specific topic. In good literature, all actions have a purpose and a motivation. This is my earnest attempt to try to understand both subjects.
I don't quite understand the daughters' motives in the broad spectrum of the book, yet. There at least seems to be a motive behind all of Leah's actions, which are to move up in her father's good book, and be daddy's little girl. That stuff is basic. Ruth May seems to young to have any motive for her actions, except to do believe what other people tell her. Conversely from Leah, Rachel is the last one to give a damn about anything they're doing in the Congo. Adah is the most complex of them all, and I don't have the slightest idea of what she's up to.
I will start with Orleanna Price, the mother of the Price girls and wife of Nathan Price. Her narration is past-tense for the most part, and is the voice of a guilt ridden soul, seeking retribution; she "want[s] you to find [her] innocent" (8). Innocent of what? Did she commit a terrible crime? No because she'll "insist [she] was only a captive witness. What is the conqueror's wife, if not a conquest herself?" (9). Althought the metaphor of a conqueror's wife seems to hit Orleanna on the personal level, Kingsolver is trying to imply that there are many people who benefit from a crime, but are unwilling to cut their ties with the perpetrator. (I guess kind of like the United States and the Middle East right now if you want to look at it that way. I won't give away the exact historical tidbit that the novel writes about, but I'm sure you can make your own guesses. Without knowledge of the historical background of the situation, you won't really understand some of the foreshadowing Kingsolver is throwing in though).
From the very beginning, Orleanna's own motives tell us what the rest of the book is going to be about. Are her motives the same as the rest of the Price girls? Probably not, then we wouldn't need five different points of view as opposed to a singular one. However, we know something terrible must have happened, and while "some of us know how we came by our fortune, and some of us don't…, [but] there's only one question worth asking now: how do we aim to live with it?" (9). Her story is not only one of redemption, but of living with an "awful story off [her] shoulders" (10), and the pain of guilt.
After Orleanna's chapter of narration comes the rest of the Price girls (not Spice Girls): Leah, Ruth May, Rachel, and Adah. Right now however, I am much more interested in their father's motives, Nathan Price. What is his desire to make this pilgrimage to the Congo? What role does he play in the overall theme of guilt? Unfortunately, we will not be able to understand Nathan's personal motives until we read later on in the book, or research historically the role of missionaries in African in 1960, but we can still keep a couple questions in our minds for future reference.
At this point, we can still analyze Kingsolver's motives for not giving Nathan his own narration chapters to chime in and contribute to the theme of guilt. But unlike Orleanna, he is not the conqueror's wife, and is probably referred to the conqueror himself with his bible beating evangelistic ways (personally I don't like Nathan because he seems even more hillbilly than the other charachters). What is to be conquered is yet to be revealed, but he probably takes a more active role in the crime to be comitted and is likely to be the catalyst of events.
We do however get a hint at the very beginning of the novel with the quote from the book of Genesis. After reading first book, Genesis, this quote takes on a new meaning, apart from the biblical meaning. Nathan's mission is to "subdue [the] [earth]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (3). I haven't read the rest of the book and am theorizing of course, but this is possibly his general motive and reason for coming to Africa. From now on I'd better pay more attention to the quote at the beginning of each book huh?
I don't quite understand the daughters' motives in the broad spectrum of the book, yet. There at least seems to be a motive behind all of Leah's actions, which are to move up in her father's good book, and be daddy's little girl. That stuff is basic. Ruth May seems to young to have any motive for her actions, except to do believe what other people tell her. Conversely from Leah, Rachel is the last one to give a damn about anything they're doing in the Congo. Adah is the most complex of them all, and I don't have the slightest idea of what she's up to.
I will start with Orleanna Price, the mother of the Price girls and wife of Nathan Price. Her narration is past-tense for the most part, and is the voice of a guilt ridden soul, seeking retribution; she "want[s] you to find [her] innocent" (8). Innocent of what? Did she commit a terrible crime? No because she'll "insist [she] was only a captive witness. What is the conqueror's wife, if not a conquest herself?" (9). Althought the metaphor of a conqueror's wife seems to hit Orleanna on the personal level, Kingsolver is trying to imply that there are many people who benefit from a crime, but are unwilling to cut their ties with the perpetrator. (I guess kind of like the United States and the Middle East right now if you want to look at it that way. I won't give away the exact historical tidbit that the novel writes about, but I'm sure you can make your own guesses. Without knowledge of the historical background of the situation, you won't really understand some of the foreshadowing Kingsolver is throwing in though).
From the very beginning, Orleanna's own motives tell us what the rest of the book is going to be about. Are her motives the same as the rest of the Price girls? Probably not, then we wouldn't need five different points of view as opposed to a singular one. However, we know something terrible must have happened, and while "some of us know how we came by our fortune, and some of us don't…, [but] there's only one question worth asking now: how do we aim to live with it?" (9). Her story is not only one of redemption, but of living with an "awful story off [her] shoulders" (10), and the pain of guilt.
After Orleanna's chapter of narration comes the rest of the Price girls (not Spice Girls): Leah, Ruth May, Rachel, and Adah. Right now however, I am much more interested in their father's motives, Nathan Price. What is his desire to make this pilgrimage to the Congo? What role does he play in the overall theme of guilt? Unfortunately, we will not be able to understand Nathan's personal motives until we read later on in the book, or research historically the role of missionaries in African in 1960, but we can still keep a couple questions in our minds for future reference.
At this point, we can still analyze Kingsolver's motives for not giving Nathan his own narration chapters to chime in and contribute to the theme of guilt. But unlike Orleanna, he is not the conqueror's wife, and is probably referred to the conqueror himself with his bible beating evangelistic ways (personally I don't like Nathan because he seems even more hillbilly than the other charachters). What is to be conquered is yet to be revealed, but he probably takes a more active role in the crime to be comitted and is likely to be the catalyst of events.
We do however get a hint at the very beginning of the novel with the quote from the book of Genesis. After reading first book, Genesis, this quote takes on a new meaning, apart from the biblical meaning. Nathan's mission is to "subdue [the] [earth]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (3). I haven't read the rest of the book and am theorizing of course, but this is possibly his general motive and reason for coming to Africa. From now on I'd better pay more attention to the quote at the beginning of each book huh?
PB Lit Post 1
In our first literature circle meeting in groups, we discussed only a few basic things about "The Poisonwood Bible", by Barbara Kingolver. Not everybody read up to the same point, while a couple of people read the entire first book of genesis and knew a lot more than the other members (including me). We started off by just getting all of the charachters straight. We established that Orleana Price is the mother of the family and was introduced in the first chapter as the narrator. Personally I thought that was a pretty cool way to start the book off. To me, her chapter hits the spot. I'm not quite sure. She first comes across as a pretty weird lady, but her voice sounds more mature, and supremely mysterious. Even to the end of genesis, she remains a mysterious, vague charachter; such as in the birthday cake mix scene.
Anyway, other charachters include Ruth May Price, the youngest Price. At the tender age of five years old, she is your typical innocent little girl. For example, she believed her classmate when he told her that the Africans would eat her. She remains afraid of her neighbors through the end of the section at least. She's cute, adorable, lovable, and her all those warm and fuzzy feelings associated with little kids.
Secondly, the twins, Leah and Adah Price are of deeply contrasting personalities. While Leah, in her attempt to be daddy's favorite is the most devout of the girls, Adah makes fun of her father and sister's religiosity. Leah is disliked by many people because of her stuck-up personality. I'll admit to that too. But her chapters are the easiest to read along with the force that drives most of her actions: her desire to be daddy's favorite. She pretty much comes and says it outright in one of the chapters. Adah on the other hand sees the world in a different way because of her hemiplegia. In other words, she walks funny, half of her brain doesn't work (or is it missing?), and can't speak. But she can think and function mentally was well as the next person. In fact, she observes many more things than the rest and loves to come up with palindromes and talk bakwards. She's pretty cool I guess.
Finally, Rachel is your typical rebellious teen, and cares much more for fashion than their family's religious crusade into the Congo. There's not much to say about her, but the way she describes the African's clothes and surroundings makes it easier for me to picture these scenes as well. I kind of like her too I guess.
Anyway, other charachters include Ruth May Price, the youngest Price. At the tender age of five years old, she is your typical innocent little girl. For example, she believed her classmate when he told her that the Africans would eat her. She remains afraid of her neighbors through the end of the section at least. She's cute, adorable, lovable, and her all those warm and fuzzy feelings associated with little kids.
Secondly, the twins, Leah and Adah Price are of deeply contrasting personalities. While Leah, in her attempt to be daddy's favorite is the most devout of the girls, Adah makes fun of her father and sister's religiosity. Leah is disliked by many people because of her stuck-up personality. I'll admit to that too. But her chapters are the easiest to read along with the force that drives most of her actions: her desire to be daddy's favorite. She pretty much comes and says it outright in one of the chapters. Adah on the other hand sees the world in a different way because of her hemiplegia. In other words, she walks funny, half of her brain doesn't work (or is it missing?), and can't speak. But she can think and function mentally was well as the next person. In fact, she observes many more things than the rest and loves to come up with palindromes and talk bakwards. She's pretty cool I guess.
Finally, Rachel is your typical rebellious teen, and cares much more for fashion than their family's religious crusade into the Congo. There's not much to say about her, but the way she describes the African's clothes and surroundings makes it easier for me to picture these scenes as well. I kind of like her too I guess.
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