The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, is a book that involves many characters and their views on the issues they face. The main female characters, Orleanna, Leah, Adah, Rachel, and Ruth May all are telling the same story, but from different perspectives and unique interpretations of certain events. The events of the story deal with guilt, grief, forgiveness, the struggle for survival, and much more. It involved many parallels to different situations, mainly the Congo Crisis as a whole. Through the characters and events of the story, the reader gets an understanding of the issues of the Congo and is able to compare the situations faced between the characters to the main issue. To add, the novel is considered to be a frame story. A frame …show more content…
For example, the initial chapter to the book, whose perspective is Orleanna’s at this time, involves questions and comments that are responded to later by the deceased Ruth May at the end of the book. To add to that, Orleanna talks about a ruin in the beginning of the novel. She describes a forest, and the nature of certain animals. The reader later discovers that this description reflects the psychological nature of her husband. By the end of the book, the spirit of Ruth may describes this ruin as a way of life, and in some ways, admirable. By the end of this novel, an animal is also brought about for its significance. This animal is the okapi. An okapi is an African mammal that is a combination of a deer and a zebra. Some may develop different interpretations of the significance of this animal in the novel. The okapi was once considered a mythical creature in the eyes of many. This can symbolize both the Congo and the characters of the novel. It can relate to the Congo because the Congo had seemed to be mysterious, since the issues and conditions of it were not very known to the public for many years. The animal may also signify the main female characters in the sense that in the story, Orleanna’s presence warned off the animal. This action is tied to the fact that the animal would have most likely gotten shot by a hunter, but because of the startling, it can continue living for some time. …show more content…
Both can be classified as allegories. From a religious viewpoint, the book introduces and later enforces moral values to each of the characters. For example, Leah learns not to try to force religion to other areas, but rather understand and divulge in it. She is also a character for justice for the people of the Congo to the outside world. Other characters exhibit examples of moral values and the understandings as well as applications of them, and the reader will come to discover that as the story progresses. Politically, the author brings the reader an understanding and sympathy for the events in the Congo. Most are unaware of what really occurred, and the Congo brings out the issue so the reader can gain real insight and clarification. Kingsolver also concludes that everyone is complicit. This means that everyone, in one way or another, is involved in illegal activity or wrongdoing. This is a reasonable thought because if looked at from a national standpoint, many countries abuse Africa by taking its valuable resources, yet also having no concern for the conditions of its