The Poisonwood Bible Analysis

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Women have come a long way to fight for their representation. Before females were allowed to vote or work, they were viewed as homemakers; they were their husbands’chattels. Females were considered vulnerable and incapable of intelligence. Should women have to depend on the man of the family to represent their needs? Children of patriarchal societies should have the ability to learn even in college, whether they are male or female. In The Poisonwood Bible, the four daughters of the tyrannical Nathan Price are forced into a strong dictatorship and must depend on their father to take care of them. Kingsolver writes from the perspective of the Price girls to show how they feel the lack of equality to men in America and in the Congo. The girls …show more content…

She refuses to communicate with anyone including her family which causes others to think she is mentally ill. Yet she is intellectual and is the only daughter to attend college. Which proves the claim that Nathan states about sending a girl to college fallacious. Adah is also one of the first daughters to cease her connection with God. “[...] while kneeling on grains of uncooked rice [...] I found, to my surprise, that I no longer believed in God” (pg 171). She felt shut down for questioning God therefore she decided to never speak again. When she begins studying medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, science becomes her religion because the subject deals with facts and cycle of life. By the time Orleanna and Adah return to Georgia she discovers that her father isn’t the hero they thought he was. “His medal is not, as we were always told, for heroic service [...] but unofficially they were: Cowardice, Guilt, and Disgrace” (pg 413). Adah realizes that the medal meant failure. Perhaps that is why Nathan behaved a certain way towards his family. Furthermore she understood why her father did not try to prevent his family from leaving The Congo. “No wonder he could not flee from the same jungle twice” (pg 413). Nathan embraced The Congo by staying so his honor could be restored. Nathan felt that the Lord could not forgive him for leaving the rest of the soldiers to die while he