Analysis Of The Poisonwood Bible

Snyder and Kingsoler: Analysis of The Poisonwood Bible

Critic Carey Snyder delivers an analysis of Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, picking apart the various narrative elements utilized to establish the novel’s anti-imperialist themes. Spanning a wide range of literary elements within the work, Snyder first begins with her views of Nathan, an ethnocentric patriarch and embodiment of American arrogance, defined as much by his zealotry as by his failure to achieve his goals. Building off this, she uses Nathan’s role in the novel to expound upon his lack of a perspective in the novel’s narrative, examining the thematic consequences of viewpoints from all the female Prices, particularly in regard to the chronological divide between Orleanna’s

This dual catastrophe reveals Nathan (and by extension, America’s) failure on two levels, both personally and nationally (the national failure being the corrupt, self-destructive government under Mobutu that followed-the assassination itself was a success). This type of writing, a mixture of character drama, familial conflict, and social controversy, is a major component of all Kingsolver’s writings, according to Snyder, who feels that The Poisonwood Bible is one of many Kingsolver works that aptly handles social injustices. To clarify, Snyder explains that Kingsolver’s exploration of character guilt and internal turmoil is not merely restricted within the narrative, but is rather intended as a broader look at modern day America’s guilt over the imperialism of the past, and to what degree Americans today are culpable of their father’s sins. Such sins are illuminated throughout the novel: the prejudices held in America against Adah’s deformities are absent in the Congo, something Snyder argues is a jab at imperialist ideologies. Furthermore, Kingsolver’s use of Biblical allusions throughout the text-particularly through the chapter titles--points out the dissonance between the legitimate motives for entering Africa and the resulting enslavement,

Snyder argues that Orleanna’s character is a clear manifestation of this cultural survivor’s guilt, a psychological dilemma that is still present in the United States (and elsewhere) to this day. These arguments are corroborated by the text: Orleanna notes, of Ruth May’s death, “My baby, my blood….where I lodge, we lodge together. Where I die, you’ll be buried at last.” (Kingsolver 382). Orleanna’s guilt, then, over Ruth May’s death is an active force in her life, something that she can neither escape nor overcome--and, through the death of her child, Kingsolver weaves in the social commentary that Snyder so praises her for “for women like me…it’s not ours to take charge…we whistle while Rome burns” (Kingsolver 383). The effect of this passage is a support for what Snyder claims: Ruth May’s death, occurring the same day as Lumumba’s, serves as a dual catastrophe. It is one half a personal tragedy, something directly caused by Orleanna’s refusal to leave, by her continued association with Nathan. Yet on the other hand, Lumumba’s death is the result of Orleanna’s complicity, of being a part of something beyond her control, something she condones by remaining under the aegis of the United States. Kingsolver uses this juxtaposition to look into the nature of guilt,