Characters
As is characteristic of her fiction, Kingsolver connects more deeply with her female characters than with her male ones. The most significant male character, Nathan Price, remains somewhat enigmatic and is nearly entirely unsympathetic, primarily because the narrative never delves into his thoughts or perspectives on the novel's events. We only see him through the eyes of his wife and daughters, whom he abuses both physically and mentally. The closest insight into his motivations comes from Orleanna's recollections of their early courtship and marriage. Although he was already a fervent preacher when they met, his World War II experiences cast a dark shadow over his character. During his service in the Philippines, he suffers a head injury from a shell fragment and wanders into a pig shed, where he falls unconscious for the night. He later discovers that his entire company was killed while he slept, leaving him forever ashamed of what he perceives as his cowardice. Nathan's refusal to leave the Congo—even after being warned of the increasing danger to himself and his family—stems partly from his belief that he cannot "leave the jungle twice." By remaining and doing what he believes is God's will despite the dangers, he attempts to prove his bravery. After the Price women depart from Kilanga, Nathan's fate is relayed only through secondhand accounts, describing his descent into madness, wandering through the jungle, and ultimately being burned alive following a tragic attempt to baptize children that results in several drownings.
Orleanna Price introduces all but two of the novel's seven sections. Her narration, reflecting from her home in Georgia several years later, hints at events and tragedies that are only revealed in full as the story progresses. From the outset, she carries a sense of guilt regarding a lost or deceased child, which is later revealed to be Ruth May. She feels Ruth May's presence, describing it as "gnaw[ing] on my bones." Overwhelmed with guilt over the events, she struggles to see how she could have acted differently given her naivete at the beginning of the ordeal. Initially the traditional preacher's wife who supports her husband's every endeavor and submits to his will, Orleanna gains strength and resolve as the novel unfolds. After both she and Ruth May contract malaria, Orleanna rises from her sickbed with a determined resolve to extract her daughters from Africa as soon as possible. She becomes willing to confront Nathan and assert her own opinions. She realizes that Nathan's obsession undermines his ability to protect and support his family, compelling her to assume that role. Her grief over Ruth May's death remains undiminished, and she is never able to fully forgive herself. However, she comes to understand that life is ever-changing and that everyone has their own story.
At the start of the novel, Rachel is fifteen and stands out as the most self-absorbed of the Price daughters. Much like any typical teenager, her interests lie more in boys, fashion, and her friends back home than in any cultural insights she might gain from Africa. While she has inherited her father's sense of cultural superiority, religion seems to play a minor role in her life. Her narrative style is casual, filled with slang and malapropisms. Even in her middle age, as a successful businesswoman, her way of speaking remains largely unchanged. This consistency in her language might seem unrealistic since one would expect her social interactions to have lent her more outward sophistication over time. Leah even tells their mother that Rachel would likely win a contest at a high school reunion for changing the least. Despite this, Rachel...
(This entire section contains 1327 words.)
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acknowledges that her experiences in Africa have irrevocably transformed her, making it impossible for her to return to the United States and fit into American society. Her motto in times of trouble is "stick out your elbows, and hold yourself up."
Leah, who is fourteen when the story begins, initially follows her father's teachings with the most enthusiasm. As the natural leader among her sisters, she believes her family can positively impact Kilanga. However, as Leah confronts the harsh realities of life in the Congo and her father's persistent failures to understand or spiritually influence the villagers, she becomes disillusioned. She gains an understanding of the African perspective on colonization and becomes a social activist alongside her husband Anatole. Of all the characters in The Poisonwood Bible, Leah most closely resembles Kingsolver's previous protagonists: a bright and outspoken young woman committed to social change. She carries the burden of white guilt for past injustices in Africa and chooses to live there despite facing hatred and mistrust because of her skin color. She also avoids living in America to protect her husband and sons from racial prejudice. Life with Anatole is challenging, with him often imprisoned for political reasons and daily battles against poor nutrition and disease. Yet, Leah cannot imagine having made different choices after all she has experienced. In her final chapter, she wishes her father and others like him (the colonizers) could recognize the wrongs they committed. She believes there is no true justice in the world, but there is a chance for balance.
Adah is an intriguing character. She suffers from hemiplegia, resulting in paralysis on one side of her body, and often opts to remain silent. Despite this, she possesses a sharp intellect and has a deep fascination with language, especially palindromes and Emily Dickinson's poetry. Her philosophy aligns with Dickinson's "Tell the truth but tell it slant," and she believes her distorted body grants her a unique perspective on the world. Unlike Leah, she distanced herself from Christianity early on and sarcastically refers to Nathan as "Our Father." Her dark, sardonic observations are complemented by an unspoken desire for love and recognition. When Kilanga is overrun by driver ants, she feels hurt and angry that Orleanna chooses to carry Ruth May instead of her. Ultimately, as the only daughter to return permanently to the United States, she forms the closest bond with her mother. In medical school, she discovers there is nothing physically wrong with her body and learns to walk normally, deciding to begin speaking as well. Now considered "normal," Adah misses her former self, whom she calls Ada, representing the dark, slanted side of her identity.
Ruth May, the youngest, serves as the conscience of the book, the "eyes in the trees." She enters the jungle with a five-year-old's perspective and is the first in the family to connect with the Congolese children by teaching them the game "Mother May I?" Her tendency to observe and listen, combined with her youth, often renders her unnoticed or ignored, allowing her to gather and convey information she doesn't fully comprehend. While climbing a tree, she witnesses Congolese soldiers planning to overthrow the whites, and during a medical visit to the city, she overhears discussions about the impending government change. Tragically, she becomes severely ill with malaria, and it is revealed that she has been hiding her quinine pills on the wall behind her bed rather than taking them. Her death from a snakebite, orchestrated by Kilanga's voodoo priest, highlights the cultural clash between the American missionaries and the Kilanga people: while child mortality is common in the Congo, it is a devastating tragedy for the Prices. By the novel's end, Ruth May remains the "eyes in the trees," watching over her mother and sisters. She encourages her mother to forgive herself and "walk forward into the light."
The Congolese natives of Kilanga are depicted with realism, lacking the idealism often attributed to non-white cultures in Kingsolver's previous novels. Their way of life is not presented as superior to white culture, but rather as more suited to their specific environment. While their community is shown as interdependent and well-integrated, they are also capable of anger, spite, and violence. A significant part of the tragedy stems from the Prices isolating themselves from the villagers and failing to integrate into the community.
Characters
Eeben Axelroot
Eeben Axelroot is a self-serving Afrikaner who works as a bush pilot, diamond smuggler, and CIA agent. He assists Rachel in escaping from Kilanga, and they live together in a common-law marriage until Rachel eventually leaves him for a government official.
Brother Fowles
Brother Fowles, the missionary who resided in Kilanga before the Prices arrived, "entered into unconventional alliances with the local people" and was subsequently removed by the Mission League. Unlike Nathan, he does not interpret the Bible rigidly, allowing him greater flexibility in helping the villagers. His compassionate and generous approach serves as an example of effective missionary work.
Tata Kuvundu
Tata Kuvundu, the spiritual leader of the village, fears that Nathan will disrupt tradition and undermine his authority. To eliminate those he perceives as threats, he plants mamba snakes in their beds. One snake, placed in the chicken house for Nelson, ends up killing Ruth May.
Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba becomes the first elected president of the Republic of the Congo. His refusal to accept American influence leads to his ousting in a coup. He is later beaten to death by government forces. Anatole's support for Lumumba and his principles makes him an enemy of Mobutu's regime, resulting in frequent imprisonment.
Joseph Mobutu
Joseph Mobutu seizes power as president of the Republic of the Congo following a U.S.-backed coup that deposed Lumumba. He rules as a corrupt and tyrannical dictator for thirty years, living in luxury while his people endure poverty.
Mama Mwanza
Mama Mwanza, one of the Prices' neighbors, suffered severe burns to her legs, rendering them useless. She moves by scooting on her hands. The Prices admire her resourcefulness, and Adah feels a connection with her.
Tata Ndu
Village chief Tata Ndu worries that Nathan's teachings will undermine his authority. He expresses a desire to take Rachel as one of his wives but refrains when he learns she is engaged to Axelroot.
Nelson
Nelson, a twelve-year-old village orphan and one of Anatole's best students, helps the Price family after Mama Tataba leaves, in exchange for a place to stay. He teaches the girls about African customs and survival skills.
Anatole Ngemba
Anatole, the village schoolteacher who later becomes a revolutionary, translates Nathan's sermons and empathizes with the Prices' struggles in adapting to village life. Leah falls in love with him, and they marry and have four children.
Pascal
Leah names her first child after nine-year-old Pascal, who becomes her first friend in the Congo.
Adah Price
Adah suffers from hemiplegia, rendering the left side of her body useless. She holds her twin sister, Leah, responsible for this condition, believing she weakened in their mother's womb while Leah thrived. Adah, who has chosen not to speak, views the world cynically but is keenly observant. She asserts, "When you do not speak, other people presume you to be deaf or feebleminded and promptly make a show of their own limitations." Feeling "mostly … lost in the shuffle," she distances herself from others. Despite being diagnosed as gifted like her twin, she spends her time immersed in palindromes, poetry, and mathematics.
Adah finds a greater sense of acceptance in the Congo, where many black Africans have disabilities, leading to the belief that "bodily damage is more or less considered to be a byproduct of living, not a disgrace." Consequently, she experiences "a benign approval in Kilanga that [she has] never, ever known in Bethlehem, Georgia." She later confesses to having "long relied on the comforts of martyrdom." After returning home, she regains the use of her left side and becomes a researcher, focusing on deadly viruses affecting Africans.
Leah Price
Upon arriving in the Congo, Leah is a staunch believer in their mission and idolizes her father, seeking his approval and always wanting to be near him. She never questions his authoritarian rule over their family. However, her compassionate nature eventually leads her to see her father's self-serving motives, prompting her to reject both him and his religion. As she falls in love with Anatole, her new ideal, she becomes deeply committed to the plight of black Africans. Adah notes that "her religion is the suffering." Anatole cautions her against trying "to make life a mathematics problem with [her] in the center and everything coming out equal." He affectionately calls her "béene-beene," which means "as true as the truth can be."
Nathan Price
Nathan Price, the Baptist missionary who relocates his family to the Congo, is an authoritarian man driven by religious fervor, making him inflexible and unsympathetic. Orleanna understands that he could never love her because that "would have trespassed on his devotion to all mankind." His outdated views on women and their capabilities are evident in his statement: "Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes…. It's hard to say which is worse, seeing it run out and waste the water, or seeing it hold in and wreck the shoes."
His experiences during World War II left him "contemptuous of failure" and transformed his "steadfast disdain for cowardice [into] obsession." He narrowly escaped the Death March from Bataan, which claimed the lives of all the men in his unit except his own, as he was evacuated due to an injury. Ever since, he has been haunted by the guilty suspicion and fear that he was a coward, believing that God was perpetually watching and judging him. Consequently, he resolved to prove his worth by saving more souls than were lost in his company. He "felt it had been a mistake to bend his will, in any way, to Africa," and thus, he grew more rigid over time. His single-minded pursuit of salvation for himself and the villagers blinds him to the dangers facing his family, leading him to refuse to let them leave.
Orleanna Price
Orleanna holds herself accountable for her family's hardships. She believes Adah's disability is a punishment for her own despair over getting pregnant with twins so soon after Rachel's birth. She also blames herself for failing to protect her children from Africa and their father, resulting in Ruth May's death. Initially, Orleanna tries to stand up to Nathan but lacks the strength to challenge the traditional role he imposes on her. However, their challenging life in Africa gradually emboldens her. As Ruth notes, "Mama has this certain voice sometimes. Not exactly sassing back, but just about nearly." Ruth May's death triggers something in Orleanna, giving her the courage to attempt to get her remaining daughters out of Africa. The responsibility she feels for Ruth May's death haunts her for the rest of her life.
Rachel Price
Rachel is a teenage prima donna when she arrives in the Congo, a status she struggles to maintain. Her self-centered and materialistic nature remains unchanged during the three decades she lives in Africa. However, she demonstrates resilience by marrying three different men and eventually inheriting a successful resort, all the while refusing to acknowledge the suffering around her.
Ruth May Price
Fierce and imperious, Ruth May is "surprisingly stubborn for a child of five" and always ready for a new adventure. Ironically, she is ultimately destroyed by Africa, an event that triggers deep feelings of guilt in her mother and sisters.
Mama Bekwa Tataba
Mama Bekwa Tataba works as the Price family's servant after they arrive in the Congo. Initially, the girls are wary of her, but she teaches them essential survival skills. She also stands up to Nathan, but his relentless demands for the villagers to submit to baptism eventually frustrate her to the point that she leaves.
Mr. Underdown
Mr. Underdown and his wife, both Belgian nationals, oversee the finances for missionary programs in the Congo. They symbolize the white ruling class in the region, enjoying a comfortable lifestyle in Leopoldville, surrounded by the extreme poverty of the black African population. They promptly flee when the Congo achieves independence.