Each Sister's Growth

Though raised similarly, each daughter holds a unique perspective on the world. Rachel is materialistic and feels pressured to display herself properly at all times. Leah wants to know everything, but as she learns more she begins to doubt listening to everything others tell her. Adah has distinct pessimism that changes as she develops out of her handicap. Ruth May holds innocence as well as childlike stubbornness. Because of the setting and occurrences in the novel, each character represents different aspects of Western perspectives, and this influences how they react to events within Africa.

Rachel represents the core idea of colonization in the need for Africa to be “improved” into something more western. She arrived in Africa treasuring her mirror and shutting out African culture such as the dress, language, and activities. This is similar to those in Leopoldville where they keep Western decadence while their African neighbors struggle for food. However, unlike the attitude of some similar to her, Rachel does not feel a necessity to help others despite her privilege. After the death of Ruth May, Rachel’s beliefs are mirrored in her running the hotel. She continues her reverence of western culture and does not allow Africans into her hotel out of her idea of superiority.

Similar in a way to Rachel, Leah represents the idea that westerners should interfere in Africa, but for her she believes it should be in aid, not self-indulgent. As a child, Leah mimics the beliefs of her father and truly believes they are meant to correct and save the villagers. As she grows and begins to understand African culture, she learns how to coexist within it and enjoy it. Her time in Africa allows her to separate her beliefs from her father’s, eventually letting her to become compassionate toward the villagers instead of viewing them as people needing saving.

Adah holds a negative view of Western culture, contrasted to a slightly less cynical view of Africa. She is able to appreciate African culture as she tends to place herself more as an observer. The events in Africa allow Adah to begin viewing her own life in perspective. She realises her own death will occur with the lion attack, and her mother's view of her during the ant’s flooding. When she grows older and moves to America, she still holds a grudge against her mother about the ants. Also, in Africa she was not placed as an outsider for her limp and was able to accept it as a part of her. Her formed connection with it is tested later when she learns she could lose her handicap.

Ruth May represents the blending of western and African culture. Being a child, she doesn’t yet understand societal concepts like racism in a way that she can apply it to her own judgements. Because of this, she has the easiest time in befriending the other children, and her mind is malleable enough to let her learn new languages and adopt African culture into her own. However as her death is the major turning point in the novel, it can not be determined how Africa fully shaped her in the way it can be viewed in her sisters.

Each sister represents an aspect of the Western perspective, from inviting to expulsion. Because of the way the enter Africa and there predetermined mindsets on their experiences, each girl is differently affected by the events in Africa. The way in which they settled their own lives are all directly influenced by their childhood in Africa, whether it be influence on location or occupation.

The Representatives

The Poisonwood Bible has four sisters that are unique and give their individual opinions about Africa.  Each compare their home with Africa and observe their surroundings. Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May all offer different perspectives that represent Western and Biblical literature.

They all represent different things. Rachel represents the Western view of Africa that believes it's dirty and lesser than she is. Leah is the the view that thinks Africans are savages who need to be saved by her Christian religion. She believes this until she marries one and sees them for the humans they are. Adah offers a cynical view of Western culture and is more of an African ally. Ruth May is the innocent one who represents the religious aspect of right and wrong.

Africa affects each character and they carry the experiences with them when they leave. Rachel is affected by Africa because she believes she cannot go home and she likes the power that being a white woman running a hotel gives her. Leah is so affected that she denounces her religion and no longer believes in her dad as a hero. She carries the experiences with her by using them to help her survive her life in Africa and marry and have kids with Anatole. Adah is affected by Africa by realizing that her handicap does not have to be focused on. This prompts her to fix her handicap when she returns to America. Africa affects Ruth May by literally killing her, but it helps the rest of her family understand the Africans lives.

Carrying Their Experiences

      Each sister carries different values and experiences into and out of Africa. Their different personalities and different beliefs make each of their narratives unique and interesting to read. Each character also evolves in a different way and also deals with hardships differently. Their time in the Congo has clearly effected each sister in a very different way.

      Ruth May has less time as a narrator for a couple different reasons. First of all, since her voice is the youngest, and therefore, the least sophisticated, Kingsolver seems to use her narrative sparingly. Also, since Ruth May dies halfway through the book, she has significantly less time to narrate than her sisters. However, when she does narrate, Ruth May's innocence and naivety are clearly shown through the way she views things. She has a very simple view of the way things are. She believes that if someone does something bad, God will punish them. Basically, she believes whatever people tell her. She doesn't really evolve as a character because she dies so young, but the way people view her changes. Her sisters didn't really take much notice of her before her death, but afterwards, they were deeply affected.

      Adah is very skeptical of religion from the beginning. She doesn't believe in God and doesn't have much faith in her family either. Because she views herself as an outsider, she doesn't really seem to connect to her siblings or her parents. Africa has clearly had an effect on her and the way she views the world as well as her family. When leaving Africa, she is literally separated from everyone in her family except her mother. Adah and Orleanna become much closer after leaving together, but, at least to Adah, it doesn't seem like Orleanna fully understands her. Adah's becoming a doctor and studying parasitology seem to be things she decided on while in the Congo. 

        Leah undergoes the most dramatic transformation of the sisters. She begins the novel as a loyal daughter who continually vies for her father's approval despite his constant dismissal of her. She studies the Bible and would do anything for her father. However, as they spend time in the Congo, Leah comes to realize that bad things can happen to good, faithful people. Leah also realizes that her father is incredibly selfish and does not make good decisions for his family. By marrying Anatole and making the decision to live in Africa, Leah fully adopts the African lifestyle and abandons her American roots. She is very deeply affected by Ruth May's death because she feels very responsible for it. She carries that guilt with her for the rest of the novel. 

      Rachel does undergo a transformation, but it almost seems to be for the worse. She doesn't really care much for religion or Africa, and wants to go home. Her vanity and lack of interest as well as her attitude make her a stereotypical teenager, but she also proves herself to be smart and resourceful. As much as Rachel tries to make it seem like Africa hasn't had an affect on her, it is clear that it has. She claims to hate Africa, but never ends up bringing herself to leave. She moves from the Congo to South Africa, where she is surrounded by many white people and ends up becoming pretty racist, but she does not return to America. This is because she wouldn't be able to fit back into her old life there. She would no longer be in control. 

      Each sister's personality and view of religion is unique. They carry their experiences and deal with them in different ways. 

Broad and Deep

The Poisonwood Bible is unique in that the variety of narrators lends the audience multiple perspectives of the events in the novel.  Although they are all part of a family, the women relating their lives to the paper are all very different.    The daughters especially provide a range of lenses; they may even represent different perspectives of literature.  Kingsolver is a genius when it comes to narration, providing a broad scope of the time period within a single piece.  As far as the four daughters, they all have their own charisma and set of ideals.  Rachel represents a secular point of view, more concerned with worldly pleasures and goals than keeping the big picture in mind at all times.  For Leah, the world is far more spiritual and religious.  Though she is not necessarily a strict Christian throughout the book, being deterred by the actions of her father, she remains hopeful that there is a form of spirit in the universe.  Adah portrays a more scientific and logical point of view.  What is seen is what is to be believed, and anything not deeply founded in the apparent is to be deeply questioned.  Ruth May, for the short time we get to read her side of the story, is slightly more innocent and ignorant, explaining events as a child would.  She sees the world as fascinating and a place to let imagination run free, not caring so much about how things truly came to be.  These perspectives encapsulate much of the different types of literature, providing a strong basis for Kingsolver to present multiple interpretations of what truly happened to the Prices.

For the Price family, each member lost and gained a lot during their time together in Africa.  For Nathaniel, he slowly lost all credibility and sanity over his time in Africa.  When the family arrived in Kilanga, he could pass for a normal person and fooled everyone into thinking he could make sound decisions.  However, as time progressed, his true mentality started shining through, exposing the coward who could not forget the reason why he survived Vietnam- straying from the group because he could not bear the strain of the task.  He carries this reexposure of character with disgrace, allowing himself to self-destruct.  Orleanna takes a very different message from Africa- inexplicable events happen without our control, but we can remove ourselves from any situation.  After Ruth May dies, Orleanna has a one-track mind, keeping busy doing exactly the opposite of what she would have as Nathaniel’s wife.  Rachel sees Africa as a means to an end, living her life as head-strongly as possible.  Her time in Kilanga taught her nothing about how to treat those unlike you, her trajectory through life remaining relatively unchanged.  Leah transforms from someone who blindly and wholly followed what she was told into someone who makes up her own mind about the world and is strong in her opinions and ideals.  With her new family, she grows so much in the Congo that going back to America seems like devolving into a sterile, unwelcoming realm.  Adah uses her experiences in Africa to fuel her drive for justice, and sees her time in diaspora as the captivity of her body.  Once she gains control of all her motor functions, she looks back to Africa as another type of bondage.  And Ruth May, leaving Africa in a different way, gains the ability to see her family and the world from up above, just like when she would climb the tallest tree to see the world around her.  All members of the Price family change in some way during and because of their time together in Africa.

Africa the Sculptor

Each sister is incredibly different, and represents a different aspect of Western literature regarding Africa. Because each sister is so different, she is molded by Africa in different ways. Rachel is the egocentric aspect of Western literature regarding Africa. Rachel is Africa as background, Africa as blank space. Rachel is Heart of Darkness, Africa as medium for Western experience. She is Africa the unnamed, Kilanga the unnamed, her nephews unrelated. While Rachel would have liked to been untouched by Africa, she is shaped by it anyway. She has repressed most of her childhood, has clung to racism, and has a need for control. Africa also led her to give up meat.

Leah is connected to central Africa, to the culture of that region. She represents Western literature as repentance, as protest, as making amends. Leah cannot leave Africa, as there's no way for her live in America any longer. She does not like the culture there, and holds bitterness and contempt towards that country for its actions regarding Africa. Out of all the characters, Africa shapes Leah the most. Africa becomes a part of Leah's identity, and Africa makes Leah want to make things Right.

Adah is Africa the objective. She is the Western field guide, the history book. Adah is Africa the collection of biomes, Africa the overpopulated. She is Africa the survival of the fittest. Adah came to Africa and spent most of her time there in her books and in her brain. Nevertheless, she is shaped as well. Africa revealed to Adah the Way of things, making her question her Hippocratic oath, and question life and death.

Ruth May is the journal, open to Africa. She is the blank space that will be filled by Africa, and subsequently left in Africa. Ruth May carries nothing when she leaves, but a tree branch carries her. Africa gives her friendship, gives her excitement, and African Communist Boy Scouts. It also gives her death, or takes from her life.

Different Paths

Although the four Price sisters were members of the same family and endured similar experiences, they all differ in so many ways.  There is no questioning the fact that their time in Africa had a profound impact on each of them.  However, the manner in which which each girl shows the impact is unique.

Rachel is Rachel.  From the beginning of the book she was an egocentric American girl who could not fathom the idea of having to look up from her own little bubble.  One would assume (and hope) that as she grew older she would become more mature and perhaps show a bit more depth.  However, it seems as though for Rachel her experience in Africa and the arguable trauma she endured ruined any chance of her growing out of her ecocentric tendencies.  It seems as though by marrying multiple men who were horrible and opening a hotel, Rachel was covering up her pain.  From a psychological perspective, she was represses the experiences that she felt were too traumatic to think about.  She is trying to forget the death of Ruth May, the rage of her father, the disease, the animals burning, and so on.  Rachel is angry about how Africa ruined her in many ways.  As a result she feels the need to hate it.  She cannot even love her nephews who have an African father.

The perspective of Western literature that Rachel represents is the civilized vs savages.  In many ways she aligns with the feelings of Heart of Darkness.  She does not want to learn about the culture. She does not want to learn people's names or what they enjoy doing.  Like the characters in Heart of Darkness and other post-colonialist works which demonize the African continent and its people, Rachel does not want to think about the place that "ruined" her as having any merit.

Leah is in many ways the opposite of Rachel.  Instead of hiding from the fact that Africa was now a part of her, she embraced it and continued to live much like she did as a young girl in Africa.  By marrying Anatole, Leah refused to in any way demonize Africa and its people.  Instead she made herself a part of Africa.  Unlike Rachel, Leah does not look down upon dark skin.  Instead she wishes that her white skin would not stand out so much.  Africa is a part of Leah.  When she goes home to America she feels out of place.  She does not like how it smells like nothing.  She is disgusted by the way people look at Anatole and their sons.  Instead of running away from the Africa that consumed her childhood, Leah made a home out of it.  She became educated and wanted to work to heal the torn up country that tore apart her family.

The perspective of Western literature that Leah represents is the one that is disgusted by mistreatment of Africa.  It is the perspective that wants to show Africa as the whole, complex continent that it truly is.  It is the honest perspective that tries to tell things as they are while sympathizing with the people who are involved in the stories.

Adah is more like Leah than Rachel but is truly unique.  After leaving Africa, Adah really struggles with understanding why she lived and Ruth May did not.  After seeing so much sickness and death and pain, Adah wanted to understand more.  This is probably why she decided to go into the medial profession.  She took the uncertainty and trauma of her African experience and turned it into something useful.  Out of all the sisters Adah probably has the most questions about why everything that happened in Africa happened as it did.

The perspective of Western literature that Adah represents is the questioning perspective.  It is the one that asks why things happen as they do.  It is the one that asks why good people die and bad people live.  It is the one that asks what the point of life is.

Ruth May was the unlucky one.  She died while her sisters lived.  Obviously as far as the impact that Africa had on her, it was major.  She lost her life.  However, while she was alive Ruth May embraced life.  Ruth May was too young and undeveloped to really fully represent a piece of Western literature. However, if she did it would involve innocence.

A Universal Experience

In The Poisonwood Bible, all four sisters have the same experience of being torn from their homes in America and forced to spend almost two years in Africa. This experience proves harrowing and traumatic at times, eye-opening and wondrous at others, but each sister feels one of these emotions at some point in the story. However, before, during, and especially after the experience ends, each sister lives and tells her story from a different perspective. Even though Leah and Rachel both stay in Africa, they represent very different perspectives of the continent, and even though Ruth May never got to return to America, she never got to establish her own life in Africa the way Leah and Rachel did, and so she joins Adah in telling her story from an American perspective. Besides the perspective in which they tell the story, all four sisters are also affected in many different ways, causing them to react in even more different ways.

Rachel represents the Western influence on Africa. The ivory mines of Heart of Darkness and chapel in the forest of Things Fall Apart are resurrected in the form of Rachel’s hotel, and even before she takes on this business venture, she thinks of everything in the context of Western culture (for example, when she cannot name a single person, besides the other white missionaries, in Kilanga). By contrast, Leah represents a more local perspective of Africa. Despite her race, she is experiencing firsthand the social, economic, and political injustices facing the citizens of the Congo, and when she returns to America, she is horrified at the excess and gluttony she finds.

Across the ocean, Adah represents the knowledgeable view of Africa from America. She is safe on American soil, but she knows what is happening in other parts of the world, and she has always felt pity for those who were unlucky enough to be born elsewhere. Finally, Ruth May represents the less knowledgeable view of Africa from America. As a child, her worldview is shaped mostly by that of her family and her religion, and thus, she has a very sheltered and innocent view of what is happening, which can have positive and negative consequences (playing Mother May I despite language and cultural barriers vs. “the Tribes of Ham”).

No matter which continent their perspectives lie in, all four sisters have been affected strongly by Africa. Most notably, it kills Ruth May, but it also opens her eyes to her mother’s suffering, as well as some of the things that happen outside of her father’s gaze. In the cases of the other sisters, it affects them in much more subtle ways than death, but it does still have an impact. Rachel has become a superficial shell of the strong-minded and observant person she once was, pushing down all her thoughts, feelings, and memories of Africa in order to feel like a calm, controlled, successful adult. By contrast, Adah and Leah are unable to push down the atrocities they have seen. Of course, they react to it in different ways: Leah stays in the thick of it and tries to help those around her, as well as herself, survive, while Adah goes home and attempts to save the people of Africa from there.

When those months of mission work in Kilanga are over, they have only ended in the physical sense. Life in Africa stays with all four sisters, even the ones who, for one reason or another, did not spend the rest of their lives there. The trauma they have lived through is universal, even though it manifests in different perspectives and reactions. The time they spent together left the same scars, but they hurt each sister in different ways, and this is evident in the way each side of the story is told.

Four Africas, Four Americas

The four sisters represent vastly different American perspectives in relation to race and Africa. This helps to create a book with balanced representations of ideas, aiding in Kingsolver's fulfillment of her purpose.

Rachel is the American stereotype, condensed into one person. She is materialistic, selfish, racist, and flighty, with few moments of empathy or real emotion and pain. The rawness of Africa's climate and culture, and the way that everyone suffers without realizing how little they have, forces Rachel into a state of even more severe self-absorption. Having to go without so many comforts makes her retreat into herself, craving the American culture that she knows and isolating herself from her family and her surroundings. When she leaves Kilanga, her eventual development leads to further isolation, in a hotel where she has complete control and where she doesn't have to leave the safety of her constructed home.

Adah transitions from the cynical and bitter critic to a fairly unbiased and judicial observer. She is furious with her lot in the world and critical of all around her, especially people. Like Rachel, she feels an interest only in herself (a prime American value), and she expresses it in her refusal to communicate with anyone. However, throughout the entire book she has a passion for knowledge, especially scientific and anthropological knowledge. She is the unprejudiced view of Africa and the United States, comparing and contrasting them as little more than biological battlegrounds for life.
She sees people, both African and American, as the same as animals and plants; all just trying to survive in the most effective way.

Leah is the anger of the story; she shows the larger social context within which the plot operates. First this is the perspective of religion and missionary work. She questions her faith and the authority of the religion that she has absorbed into her, and she struggles against ideas of what she can and cannot do based on gender and race. Leah is the American protester, furious at the world for its injustice and unable to effectively change anything. She challenges what she learned as a child: marrying Anatole's, having children but staying politically active, not having a stationary home, going against the government and her religion. Leah feels that she can never leave Africa, both because it has become a second home and because, no matter how out of place she may feel in the Congo, she feels that America will never welcome her again because of her rebellions.

Ruth May represents the innocent humanity which connects people of different cultures and hold families together. She has an easier time than any of the other sisters at making friends with the people of Kilanga, and she holds no true discrimination. She has been fed racist ideologies by her parents and American society, but her actions betray no racism, only curiosity and innocence. In this way, she shows the honesty and simplicity of the mind which has not been touched by western racist and religious influence, but which expresses the human excitement at family and at connection with new people. When she dies, her family loses the ties that they have to each other to a certain extent, and all except Leah lose their closeness to Africa and their passion for change.

Same End, Different Means

    Often, the same result can be achieved through different methods. This is the case with Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart and Nathan from The Poisonwood Bible. These two leader/father figures share many traits: drive, individualism, a need for control and dominance. They also share a hatred of women. These traits can be traced to different experiences and circumstances, but shame links them together.
    Okonkwo's incredible drive stems from the shame he feels because of his father. Growing up under man that his society considered weak, breaking free from that familial association and proving himself strong and worthy is probably the largest motivator for Okonkwo. It drives his individualism as well. Okonkwo's need to impress his society is partly responsible for his misogyny as well. He lives in a culture where a man is expected to have complete control over his wives, and if he does not he is deemed weak. It's possible that Okonkwo's drive to be seen as strong contributes to his horrid treatment of his wives. In the end, it all comes back to shame of his father and fear of being weak.
    Nathan Price has quite a bit of shame as well. His, however, is not familial. He feels shame that his comrades were killed in a battle that he should have been in. He funnels this frustration into his religion. Nathan's hatred of women likely stems partially from the Bible and American culture. There may be an association of feminine attributes with weakness as well, however, and this could fuel that hatred as well. Fear of weakness is ever present in Nathan's life, and this seems to manifest in his belief that God is constantly judging. Nathan is truly a God-fearing man.
    In my opinion, the similarities in the overall personalities of Nathan and Okonkwo are numerous. They both treat the women around them terribly, and they justify their actions through external mediums. They're both incredibly motivated through negative emotions and seek control. Though the impetuses behind their actions are somewhat different, the results are essentially the same.

Crappy Patriarchs

     The Poisonwood Bible and Things Fall Apart both include male characters who behave very sexist ways.  Patriarchs Nathan and Okonkwo share many similarities in their views on and treatment of women. The two men have very different backgrounds, cultural, and religious views, but their misogynistic views of women could unite them. 
     Okonkwo is the protagonist of his story. The narrative primarily follows him and his thoughts, which gives the audience a chance to get a pretty good idea of his misogynistic views, and makes it seem like Achebe at least partially agrees with Okonkwo. He has three wives and several daughters, all of whom he mistreats. He views his daughters as pawns for his getting ahead, and beats and abuses his wives. He believes that women should not be educated and firmly holds the belief that women are weak and inferior.
      Nathan Price would certainly look down upon Okonkwo as a savage heathen, but it would probably surprise him to learn that he has more in common with him than he might realize. Nathan didn't want his daughters to be educated and compared the education of women to pouring water into shoes. He didn't know which was worse, wasting the water or wrecking the shoes. However, since the story is told from the perspective of Nathan's wife and daughter's, it is clear that they disagree with their father's sexist views. The bible itself is fairly misogynistic, so it isn't surprising that Nathan views women as inferior. 
      Nathan and Okonkwo would likely despise each other if they were to meet. Okonkwo loathes white missionaries, and Nathan is disgusted by those who have many wives and refuse to conform to his religion. However, their mutual hatred of women and all things feminine make them eerily similar.

Men and Wrongness

Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible both have strong father figures that often misunderstand the world around them.  Nathaniel and Okonkwo want what is best for those around them, and both think what they see as right are the only correct views.  While Okonkwo will take matters into his own hands physically, Nathan will often fail to understand why someone is not doing what he tells them to do.  Okonkwo will kill when he feels threatened; for example, he killed Ikemefuna in cold blood to prove his worth, and killed the guard to protect what he thought was the right way of the tribe.  In contrast, Nathan will stand by, watching, wondering why things did not go as he planned.  With the baptisms, when no one would tell him what was holding everyone back, Nathaniel became frustrated with everyone, as he could only see that no one was cooperating.  This infuriated him, but he did not act physically violent to the general population; instead, he internalized his anger and struck out within his own family.  This shows a difference in character between Nathan and Okonkwo: one is brash and unassuming, while the other iswilling to keep a facade at the expense of his family.  Both men are deeply troubled in populations that try to understand their misguided good intentions.

Like Okonkwo, Nathan feels that "womanly" actions and thoughts are shallow and incorrect.  The two agree that feminine deeds should be reprimanded and discounted.  However, Nathan takes this distaste a step further, punishing his wife and children routinely to drive home how wrong they are just for being alive and acting of their own accord.  Being slow, overemotional, or simply disagreeing with his point of view evokes Nathaniel's wrath, which he inflicts without remorse or thought to their mental or physical wellbeing.   Possibly as a result of previous trauma, Nathan feels that it is his duty to teach his family that they are innately wrong and will need to repent forever for what they were born as.  If Leah were a boy, her affections would probably not have gone unnoticed or ignored by Nathan.  Rather, he would probably rejoice in the enormity of her devotion.  Alas, he writes her off as a foolish girl who should not be given any thought, which drives her away.  This aversion may also stem from his cowardice during his service in Vietnam.  Some other men most likely called this move something a lowly woman would do, and he took this joking insult to heart.  Forever and ever, he would punish his women, whether physically or with The Verse, for simply being born the way that they were.  This failure of character on his part, not seeing the value in femininity, greatly diminishes his relationships with those closest to him.  His strong feelings against all things womanly stem from his own insecurities, causing him to not appreciate all the beauty and power around him.

Similar Ideas, Different Influences

Often characters from separate novels can be similar because they are both shaped around the same characteristics found in people. Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart and Nathan from The Poisonwood Bible are both based on the idea of a strong male figure that puts work and status above personal life. However, some of their motivations and priorities are different. Okonkwo and Nathan are similar in their idea of their own importance and and in their beliefs of gender roles, but differ in their reasonings and sense of community or family.

Both Okonkwo and Nathan have a sense that they are supposed to lead others and hold similar beliefs in the roles of men and women. For Okonkwo, he felt he had to prove himself in wrestling and in providing a large harvest to show his village that he could keep them safe, and later become revered for this status. For Nathan, he felt that he needed to convert the entire village to both save their souls, but also prove to God, and those who doubted him, his capabilities. In both men, these actions are in their eyes for the benefit of the village, but they also stem from a need for personal accomplishment and reward. Both characters also hold insecurities on how men or women are supposed to act. Okonkwo is very strict with his son in shaping him to fit his ideals of what a man is supposed to be. Nathan is disapproving of his daughters showing in his view masculine qualities such as attending college or Leah’s wanting to hunt, even though that is the only way to feed their family. I think Nathan’s staunch misogyny in a way stems from his insecurities from having been wounded and quickly removed from battle. He already held the idea that men are supposed to go to war, and his so quickly leaving and seeing other men die while he lived could make him feel as if he was not fulfilling his obligation, and other people may have subtly shown disapproval as the war was ongoing and he was not helping.  So, to hide his own embarrassment he takes it out by trying to both hide feminine values and restrict his daughters from displaying masculine attributes.

Though similar in some of their actions and beliefs, Okonkwo and Nathan also have differences in their characters. Okonkwo has a much higher value on family as evident by him becoming extremely worried when Ezinma was taken for the night or how he returns to his mother's village when exiled. Nathan holds no such connection, having little concern for his family's struggles when he relocated them to the Congo and completely disappearing from their lives after Ruth May’s death. Okonkwo was often motivated by his need to keep his neighbors and friends safe, such as when he begins to confront the missionaries, while Nathan’s motivations were more selfish. Nathan seems to have no sense of community or belonging outside of his connection to the church, having seemingly traveled spreading his religion for the most of his young-adult years, the novel never presents Nathan as someone who needed the companionship of anyone besides God. Okonkwo differs from this as he puts a high value on the people of his village and become close with them.

Though ideally similar, Okonkwo and Nathan still hold some differences. Both feel a need to play a role in shaping their villages, and hope for recognition for these actions. However, Nathan’s character is much more self-driven and focussed while Okonkwo puts more effort into staying connected to a group of people. Both characters continue to hold expectations based on gender throughout both of their novels.

Oh Man

An overbearing, aggressive, offensive, misogynistic male character is not new in literature.  However, the dominant male characters in The Poisonwood Bible and Things Fall Apart are uniquely fascinating and really out do themselves as far as brutal misogyny goes.  Both Nathan of The Poisonwood Bible and Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart are intensely misogynistic and brutal in regards to the women that surround them, but each have defining characteristics that set them apart from each other.

Okonkwo is a man who is motivated by success and power.  He believes that women in general and anything that is related to women is inferior and weak.  This in many ways reflects the feelings of Mr. Nathan Price.  Okonkwo feels the need to prove his immense power as a man through physical displays from wrestling to threatening to shoot his wife to actually shooting his adopted son. Okonkwo is motivated to prove his manliness by being violent and aggressive.  He does not let anything go easily and becomes frustrated when events do not play out as he wishes they would. Additionally, Okonkwo has three wives.  By having three wives, he is able to display his raw manliness again because of course only a real man has three females he can control on the daily. When all three of his wives are not being perfect he gets mad and is verbally and physically abusive. This too, although in a different way, reflects the nature of Nathan price.

Unlike Okonkwo who seems to be motivated by this internal duty, Nathan Price is motivated by the idea that it his is job as a good Christian man to spread his 'knowledge' and gifts.  Nathan believes that he can literally say whatever he wants because he is holier than thou and has the most sophisticated opinion and ideas in the room.  Like Okonwko, Nathan is abusive to his wife Orleanna and does not like to have her speak out against him in any way at all.  Unlike Okonkwo, Nathan only has one wife to treat horribly (yay?).  Also in contrast to Okonwko, Nathan likes to display his manly strength with his words and threats instead of extreme physical violence.  Being the father of daughters, Nathan does not have a son to shape into a man like himself so that probably frustrates him to the max.

In regards to why Nathan Price feels so strongly about feminine attributes being "wrong" there are several explanations.  One possibility is that he loves these feminine attributes so strongly so he uses the defense mechanism of reaction formation to hide his feelings.  He is honestly probably jealous of how bomb women are and is mad that he cannot posses some of the qualities.  Another possibility is related to his strong religious beliefs.  I do not know a ton about religion and religious traditions and no I am not pretending to, but I do know that in many Christian religious services men play the leadership roles.  Due to the fact that Nathan is such a supposed devout Christian he may feel that feminine traits are wrong because they should be silent as they are in church.

Pinpointing Sources of Misogyny

As our previous blog posts made very clear, Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible share a lot of similarities, as well as a lot of differences. One of the most striking similarities is the fact that both novels feature a man who is revered and respected by his community but is extremely misogynistic. In Things Fall Apart, that man is Okonkwo, and in The Poisonwood Bible, that man is Nathan Price. Although they have all of the previously listed things in common, though, they are as different as the two books are from each other. Still, a similarity of sorts can be found in their deep-seated feelings of misogyny.

First and foremost, Nathan and Okonkwo are very similar. They are both prominent figureheads in their towns, and their opinions are trusted by the people in those towns, but at some point, they are both exiled. They both have a large quantity of women in their immediate family: Okonkwo with his three wives, Nathan with his four daughters. They both go into battle when the opportunity arises, and they both emerge with honor and distinction. However, when they come into contact with another race and culture, they both face extreme downfalls.

As for their differences, one can begin to find them just by looking at the similarities. They are both exiled, but Okonkwo was exiled by law, while Nathan was exiled by choice. They both have multiple women at their sides, but through their violent rages and downfalls, Okonkwo’s wives stay with him and remain loyal and loving to him, while Nathan’s daughters leave him behind and regard him with bitterness and hate. They both go to war, but Okonkwo emerges a hero, while Nathan emerges with an injury and an incurable self-loathing. Finally, the largest difference of all: Okonkwo and his people were disturbed by an incoming race and culture, while Nathan was a member of that incoming group of people.

Then, there is the source of their misogyny. Neither of them were born with such disdain for women; they can both be traced back to a specific source. For Okonkwo, it is a desperate desire to avoid being anything like his father, a lazy and artistically-minded man. For Nathan, it is an equally desperate desire to do right in the eyes of God and avoiding any sinful action. Unfortunately, both of these desires require looking down upon stereotypically feminine qualities. The laziness and musicality of Okonkwo’s father, the wastefulness and desire for material goods that Nathan gets so enraged about in his daughters: these are all seen as aspects of the woman that so many TV husbands go to bars and strip clubs to avoid. Nathan and Okonkwo did not set out to hate women; they simply want to follow their own strict moral codes. However, in doing so, they would have no trouble with joining those husbands.

So Nathan and Okonkwo do have a lot in common. They also have a lot of differences: after all, one is a racist, and one has a lot of bitterness towards white people. Differences are inevitable and easy to spot. However, things are not so black and white, literally and figuratively, in their personalities. They have both been through similar experiences, if not always on the same sides. They are both striving constantly to do what is right. And, in doing so, they both possess extreme and unhealthy levels of misogyny.

White&Black Men > White&Black Women

In the novels Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible, the perspectives are extremely different. One is from an African perspective of living and seeing the white people come. The other is white women adjusting to living in Africa. No matter the differences, there is one striking similarity. Both main male characters in the novel behave the same and are sexist against women despite being from two different places.

Nathan Price and Okonkwo are quite similar men, despite obvious differences. Nathan is white and Okonkwo is black. Nathan has one wife and Okonkwo has many. Nathan is Christian, and Okonkwo is not. But besides those differences there are more similarities. Both have short, fiery tempers. They always snap at those around them angrily. They both are extmely passionate about what they believe in. They are very confident in being strong enough to be well known in their communities, whether that be physically or otherwise. They don't always have their families best interests at heart (Okonkwo kills a boy who calls him father and Nathan won't Baptize Ruth May by herself, it has to be ceremoniously). And lastly, they both beat their wives and children.

I think Nathan feels so strongly about women attributes being wrong for the same reason Okonkwo does. He thinks it shows weakness. But more than that, because he's a hard core crazy type Christian, he probably believes women are the devil sex because Eve was the one who convinced Adam to eat Forbidden Fruit and get them banished from the Garden of Eden. He believes that just proves women are the weaker and more conniving sex. He thinks that women stray from God more and use their bodies promiscuously. He thinks they have weaker will power and less intelligence. He says an education is a waste on a girl, showing he does not believe they are capable of learning which makes them dumb.

The Men

   Nathan and Okonkwo have many similarities and many differences. Both are male leaders in their families and have leadership roles in their communities. In addition, both men have similar views on women and their roles and value to society. However, they are members of very different communities and believe in different values causing them to have differing morals. When looking at Nathan, you can see that he is a very religious man who works as a minister and is father to four girls. He is the leader of his family and abides by the bible in all aspects of life. He is a Christian man with Christian values and beliefs that he stands by at all times. He has a monogamous relationship with his wife, Orleanna, and puts God above all else. In contrast, Okonkwo has a polygamous relationship with multiple women and has children with all of them. He does not practice any specific religion but does follow tribal customs and beliefs. His main focus in life is to make sure he is in a position of power and that he is seen as a manly individual that is strong and feared by those under him. Both men wish to be in a position of power, however, it is through a different context.
   Due to their struggle for power, both men deal with this differently but manage to take their anger and issues out on others. Okonkwo wants all power and masculinity placed on him so he does whatever necessary to make it happen, even killing his son himself. In Nathan's case, he just gets angry and the people living in the Congo that aren't listening to him and also at his family for their lack of support that he feels. Both men blame others for their own issues and insecurities, however, they take them to different heights and express their feelings in different manners.
  In regards to femininity and women, both men feel threatened and dislike these topics. In Okonkwo's case, he has multiple wives and children that he expects to feed him and do the household chores yet he doesn't give them the respect and appreciation that they deserve. Instead, he abuses his wives and children and criticizes their actions when they don't comply with what he wants. Often viewing them as helpless creatures, Okonkwo does not see the value and strength of women and often states that he wishes his female children could have been male. From Nathan's perspective, things are quite similar. He has four daughters and a wife that he lives with and he treats them as if they are his property rather than his family. He expects them to do as he says and believe in what he believes in and will not tolerate and discrepancies to his order of things. He is a man that values other men and views women as mothers that cook and clean all day. He finds women to be foolish and dependent on men. Their power and drive intimidates Nathan and he treats women as lesser individuals in an attempt to make them less confident and make himself more powerful.
   Nathan Price feels so strongly about feminine attributes being "wrong" because they make women seem powerful and strong which is how men should be characterized. Nathan is a traditional Christian man that does not see the value of women and follows the Bible at all times. If women are not discussed positively in the Bible, Nathan will not see them as such. Also, femininity threatens Nathan simply because he is the only male in his home. If women are deemed more powerful, he is all alone in his own home where he feels he should be the dominating leader.

Nathan, Okonkwo, and Women

Nathan and Okonkwo are both very masculine men, driven by insecurity and influenced by society. Both men are compelled to action by situations in their lives that made them feel weak or out of control. Nathan Price was coincidentally spared from a situation in World War II where he surely would have died; as it is, he survived but has to live with the guilt of knowing that all of the other men were not as fortunate. This plagues him, pushing him to be demanding and to fight for the spread of his religion throughout the Congo -- he must resist failure of any kind, to make his life worth it in his own eyes and to deserve survival.

Okonkwo is in similar circumstances. His father was a weak and shameful man, constantly demonstrating physical and mental weakness. Okonkwo feels his father's shadow over him at all points in time, making him feel as if he too will become a failure. This insecurity of his own worth and power makes him constantly work hard to be a man of prestige and honor. He takes multiple wives and does not tolerate disobedience or insubordinance from his wives and children. He works to be a great farmer and warrior to gain social standing in his village. All of this is to avoid the humiliation and dishonor of being like his father, who was mocked and hated.

Okonkwo and Nathan are so insecure that they become madly driven to hypermasculinity, in order to prove (to themselves and others) that they are not weak or failures. They use the same methods through which they attempt to gain power. They try to take control of their wives, families, and villages through violence, in order to feel powerful and accomplished and to maintain their respective traditions and religions, because these things are ways for a person to feel in control. I don't see many differences between them; Okonkwo has some moments of softness, though not many. Both men are driven mad by their loss of control and tradition.

I think that the reason why Nathan (and Okonkwo) resist femininity is because it is seen to be weak. Because Nathan is so dogmatic, he surely believes the Bible's dictations that women are base, temptresses, unintelligent: meant for producing children and quite certainly not meant for expressing their opinions and being individuals. Especially because he has a wife and four daughters, and so is surrounded by women who could easily come together and undermine his authority, he feels that he must maintain total control in his household through violence and bullying. When his wife and daughters eventually abandon him, he is driven insane because he feels his total lack of control over his family, Africa, and his attempts at mass conversion.

Similar Setting, Different Perspective

A setting plays a part in the foundation of a story, it often influences if not directly causes many key events in a novel. The Poisonwood Bible, Things Fall Apart, and Heart of Darkness are all set in Africa. Similarly to Things Fall Apart, The Poisonwood Bible holds accurate and somewhat similar descriptions of the landscape. However, the view of it is closer to the view in Heart of Darkness as the Price family seems to think it is a personified menace in the same way Marlow viewed the jungle.

Many of the descriptions of Africa in The Poisonwood Bible are alike if not parallel those in Things Fall Apart. Kingsolver has clearly put extensive research into the climate and natural species of the Congo, as she is able to include correct descriptions of the environment in her novel. She mentions events such as the unpredictable rains that also occurred in Things Fall Apart. She also describes what plants can or cannot grow in the Congo, and how people are able to live off those that do grow. Her description of Africa is precise and shows what the Prices would most likely actually experience in the Congo.

Despite the accuracy in the description, the characters’ reception to Africa is similar to that of Marlow’s in Heart of Darkness. When Nathan’s garden is ruined by the waters, they do not view it as their own fault but of the menace of Africa. Also similar to Marlow, they tend to only relate to Africans who have adopted European language and customs. The only African characters they seem to actually connect with beyond Ruth May’s occasional playmate are Anatole and Nelson, both of whom have received education in English. For Marlow, the first time he began to view Africans as people was when he met his helmsman.

Kingsolver’s inclusion of animals and animal characters also in a way mimics the relationship the Price family has with the people living in the Congo. Methuselah was already in the Congo and had been taught English by the former missionary. However, despite his knowing English, the Price’s were never able to connect with the bird and found it an annoyance, eventually trying to get rid of it. This in a way relates to how despite teaching the Africans to speak English or French they will still hold their own ideas and won’t have to fully take up European culture.

The Poisonwood Bible holds accuracy in describing the setting, but the characters still hold bias in their view of their surroundings. They tend to find all actions of Africans or of the climate purposely sinful, especially upon their first arrival. By creating a rift in their relationships with even the animals around them Kingsolver sets up the difficulties the Prices have in connecting to and understanding the culture and environment around them.

Leah's Likeable Change

Having the novel be written from the perspectives of Orleanna or her children allowed for each character to be developed outside of another’s point of view, and gave a fuller understanding of the events of the story by providing varying accounts. As the novel progressed, I found myself liking Leah’s character the most. She showed one of the most dynamic changes in the novel, and seems to hold the least bias in her descriptions of her surroundings. Leah proved to be a very interesting character because of her rebellion against allowing people to make assumptions on who she is, and her change in the initial devotion to following her father.

Leah puts a lot of effort into making sure people distinguish her from Adah, and that they see her as not extremely feminine. She mentions that she asks to keep her hair short to always have a way to keep her different from Adah. She often gets paired with Adah, whether it be in learning, house chores, or in description as part of a set of twins. However, even then she separates herself in small ways such as not learning French because Adah already has or carrying all of the water herself and having Adah follow behind (and subsequently leave her to be eaten by lions according to Adah). Leah also often expresses her disdain of household chores and prefers those that let her be outside. She also almost purposefully doesn’t put much effort into her embroidery for her chest, as she doesn’t think she will get married and doesn’t find it important to be viewed as a traditionally feminine. This made her a very interesting character have a perspective from as she is unique from her siblings but has these inner conflicts that impact the way she thinks about situations.

When Leah is first introduced, her most striking characteristic is how she will follow everything Nathan says. Despite having the same upbringing and education as Adah, she does not hold the same cynicism. Because of this, she wasn’t been able to view her father from the perspective other than that of a child. She couldn’t yet grasp that even he can have flaws. She initially holds a very strong faith in God and has the same mindset as Nathan in that they are in the Congo to save everyone. Leah thinks that she can be the one to help save them.  However, as she begins to comprehend the repeated failures of Nathan’s methods, and she sees the independence of ceremony and how the people living in the Congo are able to survive much better than the Prices can, she begins to lose her faith both in her father and God. It is interesting to see her development both in her passages and from the description of others.

Maybe one of the most interesting aspects about this book is that though the narration switches characters, it stays within Orleanna and the children. This is important because though they may have had some discussion with Nathan on their going to the Congo, it really was none of their choice. Also, by having it narrated by women and children the novel shows their importance throughout lives of the family, especially Oreleanna's struggle to provide food that her family will eat while not expressing this to them.

I found Leah to be an interesting character because of her awareness of the way others view her and how she tried to take control of it. Also, she has one of the largest character changes because her following of Nathan was one of her largest traits, and growing beyond this shows both her intellectual growth and an increase in her independence and self-confidence. Because of the intriguing internal story happening for her within the plot of the novel, she became my favorite character.

Perspective Changes Everything

By design, The Poisonwood Bible contrasts both Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness in various ways.  The most obvious of which are the narrators, as discussed in the last blog post.  Another difference is the portrayal of Africa, both as a political continent and a physical landscape.  Heart of Darkness follows a white man's journey driven by a white man's quest.  The view of Africa is very much from an outsider, with little description of the environment other than mysterious and unknown.  Things Fall Apart does follow a native of Africa, but focuses on the people in the story rather than their surroundings.  While forest is the setting of unholy people and deeds, such as twins, killing your adopted son, and practicing Christianity, the scene itself is not described.  Rather, it is used as a catalyst for all that is bad and immoral in the world.  For The Poisonwood Bible, the jungle represents far more than a insentient force or a backdrop for human activity.  It is a living, breathing ecosystem with beautiful creatures and forms a complex web of plants and animals.  Each being is described in detail, with significant aid from Kingsolver's background in biology.

In HoD, the people of Africa appear solely as scenery, no more humanized than animals.  In TFA and TPB, these same people are described as real people, with human thoughts and faults.  However, TFA and HoD decline to mention the true animals of Africa, the mongooses, mosquitoes, and snakes of the natural world.  In TPB, animals are separate from both whites and natives, seen as observers and players in the events of humans.  Through portraying animals as having minds of their own, Kingsolver makes sure that they do not get lumped into the same category as the natives, and vice versa, as both HoD and TFA do.  Instead, they are an entirely separate entity with thoughts and feelings of their own, able to decipher the complex signals of humans and how to respond to such.

Different in So Many Ways

Although The Poisonwood Bible, Things Fall Apart, and Heart of Darkness all take place in the same setting that is basically where their similarities end.  Of the three novels, Heart of Darkness most severely distorts the portrayal in terms of fairness and accuracy.  In contrast, Things Fall Apart includes so many aspects of African culture and little mention of white culture.  This creates a bias in the other direction because it is solely an African perspective (not a bad thing), but it is still a bias that should be noted.  Right in the middle is The Poisonwood Bible.  Although white perspectives are heavily present there are strong African characters who actually have names and interests and personalities.

Heart of Darkness is brutal in terms of its descriptions of Africans and the opinions the characters within the story hold towards the Africans.  The white people, including Marlow, describe the Africans as more animal than human.  None of the African characters have names never mind any characteristics that would make them complex and distinctly human.  The Africans in Heart of Darkness are more a part of the savage uncivilized landscape than actually humans.  This contrasts greatly with Things Fall Apart.

In Things Fall Apart, the main voices are African.  Okonkwo is a overwhelmingly powerful voice (for good or for bad).  He has values and opinions about how people should act especially as it it differs between men and women.  African culture and religion is discussed at length and is not portrayed to be barbaric or somehow inferior as it is in Heart of Darkness.

The Poisonwood Bible has the most complex depiction of the African people.  Due to the fact that the book is narrated by a bunch of white women, there is some unavoidable bias.  The daughters have been raised by a father who shoves the stories of the bible down their throats.  The youngest believed the story that the Africans were the tribes of Ham and were being punished because of the missteps of their ancestor.  Contrastingly, the girls develop friendships with the Africans.  They learn words in their language and hear stories about traditions in their culture.  Although there is a level of misunderstanding, it is is no way the same as the misunderstanding the occurs in Heart of Darkness. In Heart of Darkness the misunderstanding occurs because the white characters refuse to learn and admit that the Africans are actually people.  In The Poisonwood Bible, they are trying to understand it is simply a matter of breaking through the shell of habit.

The inclusion/symbolism of animals portrays intercultural relationships.  It forges a bond between the culture of the white people and the culture of the Africans.  Although there are many disconnects between the cultures, they can come together over the importance and significance of certain animals.

Three Perspectives

In this unit we have looked at three different novels all focused on imperialism, colonization, and African culture. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad is considerably different than Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible, however there are a few distinct similarities. The novels themselves are told by very different perspectives and incorporate different relationships, but the settings remain quite close in description. The Poisonwood Bible in particular as a unique way of showing intercultural relationships with animals The three novels offer different perspectives on African culture while maintaining an alike environment that they portray through different means.

The Poisonwood Bible differs from the other two novels because the perspective is female, while the other two are male, but the way Africa is described by them has similarities to the other stories. The similarities between The Poisonwood Bible and the other novels are that the descriptions of Africa all speak of a vast land and that the religion is described in similar ways. Even in Things Fall Apart,  where the narration is from an African perspective versus a white one, the superstitions and traditions are described the same. The Poisonwood Bible differs from Heart of Darkness because it is not a man narrating and because the women have no choice in going to Africa, like Marlow does. And although both novels take place in the Congo, Marlow is only passing through on a ship while the Price women live there. Lastly, all narrators of the two novels are whites wondering about the Africans and trying to figure out their humanity. The Poisonwood Bible completely differs from Things Fall Apart because they are two completely different sides. The Poisonwood Bible is white women missionaries who invade an African tribe and Things Fall Apart is black African tribe members annoyed by the disturbed by the presence of white missionaries. The differences account for very different stories, but the similarity they have is the description of the culture and religion, The superstitions are described very well in both novels with things like chicken bones and weather. All three novels are important to read to get a good picture of Africa because they all incorporate different things.

The inclusion of symbolism of animals portrays intercultural relationships by showing the new animals Westerners are either playing with or scared of in Africa. The parrot that the girls have in the beginning of the novel represents them in a way. They set him free in the African wilderness to survive on its own after it says bad words. The Prices have been set free in Africa to try and survive as well. The snakes that they are afraid of are very symbolic. The snakes to Africans are just part of normal every day life, yet they know to be scared of them still because they pose a threat. The Prices, are extremely fearful of the snakes because they are not part of their normal life. Once the snake kills Ruth May, the Prices suffer the same way all the Africans have at one point and time. Animals help show the way the Prices adjust to Congo life and represent how they deal with it.  
 

Perspective on Africa

      The three books we've read that take place in Africa have all had very different perspectives and opinions on the culture and landscape in Africa. 
      Heart of Darkness definitely characterizes Africa as an otherworldly place and basically describes the Africans as savage animals. Despite taking place in Africa, there are no significant characters who are people of color. I don't even think there were really any African characters who had speaking parts. The book did not really describe African culture whatsoever. Marlow views the Africans as animals and believes that any feeling of camaraderie towards them is "ugly". His descriptions of the landscape are beautiful, but he basically characterizes Africa as a primitive place that has not yet been "improved" by Western culture. Not only are there no significant African characters in Heart of Darkness, there are also virtually no female characters. The view we get of Africa from Heart of Darkness is extremely one dimensional. Marlow is the only narrator and he makes no effort to describe African culture. He is disdainful of it. 
      The audience definitely gets a lot more detail about African culture and customs from Things Fall Apart. The book primarily follows Okonkwo, who is an African man. His thoughts and beliefs give us a very extreme view of Umuofian beliefs. However, Achebe does include thoughts of other characters who have differing views on traditions. The African characters in Things Fall Apart are complex and have very different views on the world. The omniscient narration makes it easier to get into the heads of multiple characters. However, despite the fact that this book gives a lot more information of African culture, it is noteworthy that the female characters are practically nonexistent. Also, there are only two named white characters, and only one of them is partially developed. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, because African voices have been kept out of literature for so long, that it is important to have those voices heard.
      The Poisonwood Bible has the most varied characters. There are white characters that are well developed, and there are also African characters who are well developed. There are white antagonists as well as African antagonists. The story is narrated through the voices of five different women who all have different views of the culture around them. Leah obviously connects with and embraces the African culture more than her sisters. Since the characters are unfamiliar with the culture, the audience can learn about the culture with them. Anatole, Nelson, and many of the other African characters are kind, complex characters with their own histories, hopes, and fears. 

Three Settings, One Place

Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart, and The Poisonwood Bible are all set in Africa. However, they are all completely different books telling completely different stories. This is because each novel has a polarizing description of Africa, as well as an equally polarizing opinion. In addition, each uses common symbolism in different ways: most notably, in the meanings of the animals in each story. With all of these tools, three very different worlds are shown.

The Africa portrayed in The Poisonwood Bible is much more lush and descriptive than the ones portrayed in Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart. This could be partly due to Barbara Kingsolver’s being a biologist, but it is more due to her characters being more observant than the others. In the case of Things Fall Apart, this is because the characters have spent their entire lives in Africa, so they describe and notice it minimally, the way we would describe and notice our own backyards. In the case of Heart of Darkness, this is because the characters do not care about their surroundings; it is a place where they work, nothing more.

Besides the physical, there is also the mental aspect of life in Africa. In Heart of Darkness, the continent is a primitive wasteland, where human beings can only survive if they are less than human (the locals as animals--more on that in a minute--, Mr. Kurtz as a god, etc.). In Things Fall Apart, again, it is home. In The Poisonwood Bible, it is a beautiful and fascinating place, but it is nothing more than a novelty for the girls and a brief inconvenience; it is a theme park that loses its appeal when they remain after they were supposed to return home. All of these opinions have similarities, but if you take away the place name, a reader would likely imagine a different setting with each one.

Then, there is the portrayal of animals. In Heart of Darkness, Africans are the animals; they are compared to animals throughout the story, and they never receive their own names or descriptions, often shown as a collective entity instead of a group of individual people. In Things Fall Apart, animals are sacred, trusted, and are thought to bring something much worse than bad luck if they are needlessly killed. In The Poisonwood Bible, the animals are feared, but they are also domesticated, serving as the family’s pets at various points in the story. Again, there are some similarities (elements of submission can be found in all of them), but each one has a very different idea of what local wildlife looks like.

All three of these novels are set in the same continent, some even in the same country. Sometimes, though, a reader can forget this. This is because the description and opinion of the continent, along with the portrayal of animals there, is polarizingly different in each one. Marlow would never be able to see eye-to-eye with Okonkwo, who most certainly would never be able to see eye-to-eye with, say, Rachel. This conflicting nature is what makes each novel, while possessing similarities to each other, so complex and interesting, even after being immersed in the others.