Symbolism In Things Fall Apart And Poisonwood Bible

In the two books “Things Fall Apart” and “Poisonwood Bible” throughout the whole book symbolism is shown. You see it through characters, things, and places in both books. Symbolism is used in literature when one thing is meant to represent something else. It also helps create meaning and emotion within the story. In “Things Fall Apart” some examples of symbolism would be the Locusts, fire, and growing yams. In “Poisonwood Bible” some more example of symbolism is used, for example, the bow and arrow, pet parrot, the Demonstration Garden, and what Adah uses to speak since she can’t physically speak. Symbolism is also used to help the reader recognize the theme the author is trying to get out. Both Achebe and Kingsolver use this technique to broaden

Bow and Arrows are often a symbol of independence and empowerment. So when Leah is starting to distance herself from her father and become more independent from others the bow and arrow help show that. Another way that symbolism is used is through the pet parrot, Methuselah, that was left behind. Methuselah symbolizes the loss of freedom along with the poor outlook for the Congo because it is kept in a cage, having no freedom. Finally when the parrot is let go it keeps returning because it has no knowledge on how to take care and protect itself from predators. This parrot symbolizes just how when the Congo only gained independence for a few months before it was caught by the United States because they were never properly taught how to protect themselves. Another very apparent symbol used in the book is the Demonstration Garden that Nathan planted. The Demonstration Garden that is much like the Garden of Eden represents a new life or beginning. However only after a few days it was all planted it was destroyed and had to be re-built. This symbolizes how Congo had to be rebuilt twice making it so the Congo was getting a new ‘beginning”. Since Adah can’t speak she writes in a palindromes to communicate her thoughts in a journal. Palindromes are a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backwards as forward. Using this signifies the way that Adah thinks and how she can see things in a different way than what others can. This symbolizes that Adah sees more than one side to things, and will always look for another perspective on something before she makes her final opinion on