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Rachel Price Character Analysis

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Rachel Price is a beautiful young girl who joins her family on a one year mission trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is a girl who likes herself a little too much. She is completely vain and self-conscious. Rachel is constantly worried about her appearance, as most teenage girls are in the United States. She brings along with her a mirror just to keep in touch with herself. Her vanity makes it hard for her to connect to the people of the Congo. In the Republic of Congo, the natives are dressed in whatever they can get or make. Rachel does not see the difference. In The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, Rachel Price experiences ? which prevent her from being able to learn some lessons in the Congo and cause her to be physically …show more content…

She is described to have, “sapphire-blue eyes, white eyelashes, and platinum hair that falls to her waist.” (47) There is no doubt she is viewed as a beautiful young girl by the Congolese and there is no doubt why her sisters are jealous of her. The Congo people literally would pull on her hair just because they needed to know it was real hair. Now Rachel looked at the Congo people with a bit more judgement and wonderment than they did. One of the first things that the Price family noticed is that the natives are not put together. Some of them are missing limbs, such as, Mama Mwanza who is missing both of her legs and is forced to walk with her hands and arms. Ruth May writes, “Mama Mwanza’s legs didn’t burn all the way off...She has to scoot on her hands. Her hand bottoms look like feet bottoms, only with fingers.” (51) Rachel has never seen something like this before because in Georgia most people probably have all four of their limbs. Her closed mindedness causes her to quickly judge the Congolese even though they can make it through their everyday life just as well as Rachel can. It has become dangerous that she looks at them this way because she does not realize how lucky she is compared to them. The people in Kilanga quite literally can not compare to Rachel’s body image. In no literal terms, the people of Africa have way less and are put at a disadvantage compared to white people, but still make do. Rachel could not see

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205 Words | 1 Pages

Kingsolver heavily uses hyperbole when speaking from Rachel’s perspective and includes blame as a theme to add personality to characters throughout the book. It is easy to discern Rachel’s voice from the other sisters due to her voice and the way she processes thoughts and emotions. Rachel overexaggerates nearly everything, causing her to be rarely satisfied and constantly discontent with the world around her but never blaming herself for any misfortunes. By describing Leah as “the cause of all our problems,” (Kingsolver, 335) you can see her need to displace any blame away from herself or a predicament’s true factors and onto one set person in the same dramatic way she does anything. A similar attitude can be seen throughout the Price family,

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382 Words | 2 Pages

Rachel has been hiding things from Jaycee for awhile now and becoming a more wild and crazy friend. A few weeks before the party they attended Rachel and Jaycee had ventured off into the woods when they spotted an abandoned house. Rachel insisted on going in and Jaycee was a bit hesitant. As they entered the house they saw streaks

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854 Words | 4 Pages

Imagine being fourteen years old and living in a small town in Georgia, packing up as much as you can, or what could fit under your clothes and into a bag, and moving to the Congo of Africa. That’s exactly what the Price family did under their father’s will. Throughout Barbara Kingsolver 's Poisonwood Bible, Leah price experiences the Congo to its’ full potential. Both her psychological and moral traits were formed by cultural, physical, and geographical surroundings. The congolese people influence her decisions and thoughts throughout the book.

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1623 Words | 7 Pages

This further expands on the meaning by showing the contrast of how little the Congolese care for others’ appearances when compared to the American view. The Congolese shared their view on appearances near the beginning of the novel when describing Mama Mwanza and Mama Nguza. The Americans think Orleanna became tainted while she was in the Congo. Even though Orleanna used to live in Bethlehem, the other residents of the town don’t view her the same way as they did before she went to the Congo. Adah even commented on their reception: “...welcome home the pitiful Prices!

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1462 Words | 6 Pages

Her completely refuses to believe that this is now her life. Her way of coping with the Congo is trying to cling to anything that reminds her of home. Her small hand mirror is something that she holds very dear. It is one of the first things she thinks of to grab in a life or death situation. Rachel never fully connects with any of the Congolese people, and finds it absolutely revolting about the idea that the Chief wants her as a wife.

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2112 Words | 9 Pages

After a while, the village that Leah was being harbored in kicks her out and says that she can no longer stay. At this time, the people of the Belgian Congo are completely against all westerners, which happen to be white people. The Congolese blame the white people for everything wrong that has been done to them. When Leah learns of this hatred, she understands and takes their side. Leah takes on the burden of the black man.

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805 Words | 4 Pages

Spending a generous amount of time in the heart of the African Congo is bound to change an American family. After spending over a year in the small Congolese village of Kilango, the Price family comes to terms with the fact that they cannot leave Africa without being changed by it, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Living in the Congo at a time when their race was doing all in their power to Westernize Africa, the Price women left Kilanga feeling immense guilt for being a part of this unjust manipulation of the African people. By the end of the novel, all of the Price women leave with the task of reconciling the wrongs they have committed and learning to live with the scars of their mistakes. Kingsolver showcases the moral reassessments

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765 Words | 4 Pages

She is constantly consumed with egotistical issues. Rachel could care less about anything related to the Congo and makes no effort to learn of its land, culture, or people. Being the most egocentric person in the novel, she perceives Ruth May’s death as the reason she will is never able to forget the Congo; and she did not feel bad. She continues her life--eventually obtaining a successful resort; all the while refusing to acknowledge the suffering that surrounds her. Her viewpoint on life is extremely relatable to that of a common American; we know there is suffering occurring in other parts of the world and we fail to acknowledge it-- and often times purposely neglect it so we may enjoy our peaceful lives.

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2664 Words | 11 Pages

Kingsolver gives hints about Rachel’s future during the meal as well as Nathan’s and Leah’s: although she does not directly say it outright, her attitude during Brother Fowles’ visit seem slightly derogatory, such as “So back to the kitchen for Rachel the slave!” and “That goes without saying…given his marital situation” (246), with regards to the fact that Brother Fowles loves the Kilongese and their culture. This fact makes sense, because in the end Rachel ends up the most like her father of all of the daughters.

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1447 Words | 6 Pages

She also has a condition called tetrachromacy. Tetrachromacy allows you to identify four primary colors instead of three. It allows you to see into the ultraviolet spectrum. Alison knew that she was different and that there was a uniqueness to her but her mother didn’t want anyone to know about it.

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623 Words | 3 Pages

Cathy Ames has been criticized because she is completely evil. It has expressed throughout the novel that Cathy is inhuman. She has no emotion, no feelings, and no good in her. Many state that she is a symbol for Satan or a witch, who is pawn of Satan. People go so far in declaring that she is one of these evil spirits because even from birth she was filled with extreme evil and darkness, lacking characteristic that make up a human.

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827 Words | 4 Pages

Rachel Saint’s contribution was important, in fact; it saved the lives of the Waorani people (Benge 170), because she brought them from killing to peace (Saint 9), therefore she changed the Waorani culture (Kane). Not only did she change the lives of the Waorani, but she also surely changed the life of Betty Eliott, her partner whom she was almost complete opposites with, because Rachel taught her how to work with people who you do not really get along with. That is a good life lesson (Steve Saint). Furthermore, she showed great kindness by sharing God’s word to these people who shouldn’t get it, especially from Rachel after they murdered her brother, a missionary, trying to help them because one man had done something against the law, and in order to protect himself he blamed the missionaries. Consequently, a few were baptised where Nate and the 4 others were killed (Benge 184).

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700 Words | 3 Pages

The teacher, Ms. Price picks up a sweater and asks the class if anyone is missing a sweater. A student says that it's Rachel's, and the teacher gives her the sweater without even thinking. Rachel thinks and speaks in a way that is very reminiscent of an eleven year old. There is a youthful, innocent tone in her voice, especially when she says “I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven” without actually thinking about the disadvantages of being that age. Throughout the day, she references home and how she longs to go home to celebrate with her family and eat cake.

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994 Words | 4 Pages

In many ways the Congo changes the young fourteen-year-old girl into a strong independent woman. There are many encounters in the novel where she starts to question her faith in God as well as in her father. For example, hearing stories about rubber plantation workers getting their hands chopped off because they were not able to get the desired about of rubber startles Leah and makes her question race relations. Race becomes a dominant issue at this point and her experiences in Kilanga have invalidated all she had been taught about race in America. At this point, Leah starts to go on her own and figure out whom she is.

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711 Words | 3 Pages

She knew she wasn’t like anyone else. She approached the boy, just wanting to kiss him like she had saw the other girl do, but things went terribly wrong for her. They saw her (227), and they knew where she went. She was rejected and put to shame once again, when the whole village came after her to burn her home and her life to the ground. She knew it was over at that very

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