Poisonwood Bible Notes

Poisonwood Bible Notes:
Book One Genesis - Orleanna Price:
Inferior to husband, looked down upon, disrespected.
Important ideas: only person to see the Okapi while daughters are sleeping (okapi legend reflects the beauty of nature), Orleanna reflects how Africa has changed her family through what they brought in physically and mentally and what they will carry out at the end of their journey.
The Things We Carried:
Setting: Journey from Georgia to Africa.
Important Ideas: The family began the packing process and accumulated every physical object they believed would be necessary for the their stay in Africa and whatever objects would fit on the plane.
Some of the things the family brought were seeds to plant, cake batter for Rachael's birthday, Rachael's ivory mirror, cast iron frying pan, Adah's books, and the head of a hatchet.
Arriving in the Congo:
As the family arrived, they were frightened by the over-enthusiastic crowd, the meal they would be eating, the behavior and appearance of the villagers, and the chanting in a foreign language.
Easter Sunday:
Nathan Price attempts to baptize the village, but the villagers become extremely shocked when he takes the children to the river to be dunked under water, as they have had previously bad experiences in the river. A crocodile had killed a child in the river, so the villagers did not allow their children to play by or in the river.
Realizing they brought the wrong things:
The seeds were useless because they would not survive in the African land or climate and were not planted in the way traditionally done in Africa
~ As the family slowly began to adapt, the father was headed in the opposite direction - attempting to change the Congo entirely to American ways.
Methuselah: Nathan despised the bird due to the bird repeating the sins that he had heard from people.
~ Methuselah symbolized hope because of Adah's quoting Emily Dickson's poems and seeing the feathers around the house.
The Poisonwood: First encounter with the mystery plant of Africa which is the first sign of the unwanted religion he was forcing among the villagers.
Book Two: The Revelation:
Orleanna: Reflection on market day which shows that she has a decision to make whether to adapt into their society or chose to be different. She enters the transition of whether to remember and embrace Georgia or move and accept the Congo. Shows great appreciation towards Mama Tataba who prepares their meals for them every day and helps them to adapt to Congo society. Orleanna is very worried and sad when Mama Tataba leaves after being scared off by Nathan's over confidence.
Realizing a change in Nathan and how he is starting to become crazy and over powering with religion.
Mother May I: Ruth May plays this game with the African Children who then begin to like Ruth and accept her into their village. Easier for children to adapt because they are too young to notice the difference in societies.
Leah meets Pascal who becomes a very close friend , which is very unusual given that the age group is working for the house or getting married and have no time to play with others.
Ruth breaks her arm falling out of a tree, then goes to a doctor Stanleyville with Nathan and Mr. Axelroot. She then discovers the diamonds and Mr. Axelroot tells her he will make her mother sick if she does tell. Ruth Realizes that Mr. Axelroot is corrupt and not what they expected of him.
Nathan doesn't get along with the doctor, which is another signal of resistance towards his religion in the Congo.
~ Foreshadowing the death of Ruth when she explains how she was like a Green Mamba.
Rachael realizes the work ethic of Africa when she makes the comparison between diamonds and Marilyn Monroe.
First sign of the family and Nathan going in separate directions after he becomes abusive towards Orleanna.
The lion scene reveals the beginning of a resentment towards Leah by Adah given that Adah was always "left behind". Leah begins to feel guilt for her sister.
Tata Ndu comes to reveal the news about Adah, but is found wrong when Adah walks up to the porch. This enhances Nathan's religious power because the people believe his god can stop a lion from eating his child.
After the dinner with Antole in which he tells Nathan the people do not welcome his religion and that they already have their own god. Antole then sends a gift to the family, which is Nelson. He will help with chores and act as another protector of the family given that their father is not of much help.
Leah has an owl for a pet and her father refuses to let her keep it. She becomes extremely angry and goes to set it loose and doesn't return until late at night, which worries everyone but the father.
The Underdown's come to warn the family of the new independence of the Congo which will provoke violence in the Congo. The Underdown's then tell the Price's they must return to America, but Nathan forces the family to stay through his ignorance and fear of cowardice.
Election in which Patrice Lumumba becomes Prime Minister as an activist for independence of the Congo. Children become more excited about politics then those in America because they finally have a say in something.
Methuselah is set free when Nathan becomes extremely angered by his words. Although the bird is set free he stays around the family and what he has known his whole life.
Book Three: The Judges
Orleanna reveals Nathan's struggles in his early life which then leads to hurting those around him because he refuses to be a coward again by leaving the Congo. This will eventually hurt his family in many ways.
The Things We Didn't Know:
Mother and Ruth become very sick. The other three girls are forced to prepare the meals and realize that it is very difficult to survive. Leah tries to help Ruth but she only seems to be getting worse.
Katanga Province secedes from the Republic of the Congo, which will create much worse problems.
Leah, Adah and Rachael begin disagreeing when mother begins to feel better and helps bring the family back together. The family starts to feel a sense of peace again.
The Fowles family comes to visit and the Price family doesn't want them to leave because of their comfort and ability to survive, but they have to leave anyways.
Tata Ndu starts to deliver gifts to the Price family, hoping to marry Rachael. Therefore the Price family fakes an engagement with Mr. Axlroot so that Rachael will not have to marry Tata Ndu and the village will not be angry.
Congolese words have so many different meanings that many people become confused at what Nathan is trying to say. For example: Bangala.
Leah goes to visit Anatole when they have a conversation that shows Leah wants his acceptance but fears that Anatole cannot accept her because she is white.
Axelroot foreshadows his involvement in the death of Patrice Lumumba. Rachael does not believe him.
When the ants attack the entire family becomes separated. Mother choses to save Ruth over Adah, but Anatole comes to save Adah. Everyone makes it safely to the boat. The family returns to the house in which all the food has been eaten by the aunts. New beginning.
Book Four: Bel and The Serpent
What We Lost:
Leah becomes an assistant teacher with Anatole, who gives her a bow and arrow. She becomes very experienced and works well with the weapon.
The Village plans the ceremony in which they burn a section of the woods. The women and children are too pick up anything they can find in the burnt section, while the men are to kill animals that run outside the fire. Leah believes she should be able to help the men given that she has become so good with her bow and arrow.
The villagers become angry which creates a vote if she can participate or not. The vote allows her to participate which angers Tata Kuvundu who is the witch doctor. He states that because they broke tradition the snakes will come from the forest and into the homes of the villagers.
Anatole then finds a poisonous snake outside his home, but fortunately is not injured.
The ceremony takes place and Leah kills an antelope, but Gbenye claims to have killed it himself. The two children fight over the antelope, which leads to the entire village fighting over the dead animals.
Nelson spots a snake in the back by his sleeping area. Nathan wont let him in the house so the girls go out to help him. They set a trap to catch the snake, but when they come out the next morning the snake is in the corner and there is not slither marks. The marks left in the trap are footprints of a six-toed man which reveals that Tata Kuvundu had placed the snake in the backyard. The snake bites Ruth and she dies. They wrap Ruth's body ceremonially and the entire village comes to mourn. It then begins to rain and Nathan begins to baptize each and every person with the rain, although Ruth had never been baptized.
Book Five: Exodus:
Orleanna decides that she is going to leave Africa without Nathan.
What We Carried Out:
They begin their journey home and meet people along the way, but begin to feel weak and Leah comes down with Malaria.
As they arrive at Bulungu Rachael leaves with Axelroot, mother takes Adah home, and Leah is forced to stay so that she can recover from Malaria. Anatole takes care of her as she hides from the soldiers.
Leah gets better and decides to stay and be in a relationship with Anatole.
Rachael moves to South Africa to live with Axelroot. She is in a more Americanized society which makes her happy, but Axelroot still treats her badly.Rachael ends up leaving Axelroot and marries other men, which also don't work out. She starts the Equatorial, a hotel, and lives a single life catering to her guests the rest of her life.
Adah returns home and attends medical school in which she discovers her limp can go away. She grows immensely in this time of her life. She lives her life going through medical school and visiting her mom often.
Anatole is in and out of prison constantly, so Leah is happy but suffers immensely when he is in prison. They are very nomadic and move not only around Africa but also to the United States and back. Leah has four children, all boys, and ends her journey on the outskirts of the Congo, Angola.
The sisters go on a trip to reunite in which they constantly fight and disagree on multiple things. Their father's death is revealed on the trip, which played out the exact words of the last verse of the bible. They believed that he had gotten what he wanted.
Book Six: Song of the Three Children:
Rachael - She stayed in Africa her entire life and reflects on how well she has done and what she has accomplished. She doesn't wish to go back to America because Africa changed her as a person and she knew she wouldn't fit in anymore. She focused on herself and believed in letting others suffer to save herself.
Leah- She believes that Africa is her home and that she was happy with an African husband. She also begins to realize that she is accepted by the African people even though she is white. The people see her as a native and treat her with respect.
Adah- She remains in America and believes that to be her home. She lived through her life by loving what she does and that was what made her happy. Her relationships were with viruses in the Congo. She spends her life studying the diseases in the Congo and that is her everlasting connection with Africa.
Book Seven: The Eyes In the Trees:
Ruth reflects on how they were raised and how each of the sisters became different people through their experiences. She expresses the impact of the Congo and how the people only focused on what they knew and not about government and what was above them. She also expresses how the Congo always had things to offer to them, but they never had things to offer to the Congo. Ruth reveals her forgiveness towards her mom and releases her to live a happy life.