Discussion Topic
Lessons learned by the Price family in The Poisonwood Bible
Summary:
The Price family learns several lessons in The Poisonwood Bible. They come to understand the complexities of cultural imperialism and the consequences of their father's rigid beliefs. Each member grows individually, recognizing personal guilt and responsibility, and ultimately, they learn the importance of adaptation and respect for different cultures.
What lessons does the Price family learn in book 2 of The Poisonwood Bible?
Book 2, "The Things We Learned" departs from the optimistic naivete with which the Price family approaches their move to the Congo earlier in the book. At this point, most of them are growing aware that there is much that they do not understand. While they may have much knowledge gleaned from books and experiences with the outside world, there is little that they understand about their present circumstances. They learn how unwelcome they actually are by many in the community and how little their world-view actually applies to their new surroundings.
At the beginning of the section, Leah learns about different gender expectations in Kilanga. While she is thinking that at age 15 it is time to start acting like a "Christian lady," she is beginning to see that that would just make her even more out of place in her current situation. Gender roles are not what she's...
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used to.
Nathan learns that he and his Christian message are not as well-received as he had thought. In chapter 3 of book 2, Anatole informs him that only those considered to have bad luck attend his church services. Others see Christianity as corrupt and an insult to their traditional gods. This is the first of several instances in which the family sees that it may be impossible to bridge the cultural divide.
At the end of this section, the parrot Methuselah teaches everyone a lesson. Although the bird had been freed from his cage, he was never taught to survive and flourish on his own. This leads the parrot to continue to rely on the Prices. At the section's end, Methuselah has been eaten by a predator. This turns out to be a metaphor for the newly independent Congo. It drives home the lesson that it is not enough to give people freedom as long as others will simply take advantage of their weaknesses.
What lessons did the Price family learn in the Book of Revelation in The Poisonwood Bible?
The first lesson learned from the Book of Revelation is ironic. The innocent and open-hearted Leah is excited when her father talks to her about the Bible convention he attended in Atlanta. He tells her the convention goers debated the size of heaven, with the dimensions in Revelation 21 not quite matching dimensions described elsewhere in the Bible. When her father tells her about the size of heaven, this worries Leah, who fears the vulnerable will not have enough room there. Her father reassures her that there is always "room for the righteous."
While Leah takes all of this seriously—and is endearing for doing so—we are meant to understand that the Christianity followed by Nathan and the Atlanta convention-goers is focused on trivia while missing the bigger picture. This is a first use of Revelation as a way of foreshadowing that things will go wrong.
The beginning of part 2 of the novel, called "The Revelation," opens with a quote from Revelation 13, verses 1 and 9. Here, a "beast rises up." While the nature of the beast is left ambiguous, the verse is ominous. In this section, Oleanna's sense of unease at the dangers of being in Africa grow, as she realizes more acutely that her family does not and will not fit into the African culture. The foreboding implied by the Revelation quote and Oleanna's worries is borne out when the Mission League tells Nathan to leave the country because of the growing political unrest. He refuses to do this, despite his funding being cut off, believing God will protect the family.
The biblical Book of Revelation points to revelations that are not in accord with Nathan's fantasies. He worries about the size of heaven as described in Revelation, but the bigger point, the warning of imminent danger, is lost on him. If Revelation warns people to face the reality of evil, Nathan prefers to live in his own imagined world.