Culturally, civilians become quite accustomed to individuals of the same ethnic background; however, upon the disruption of the cultural stigma, the newcomer becomes susceptible to exile. Within The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver exemplifies the societal practice of characterizing ostracism as it pertains to travelers and immigrants to the Congo. Moreover, Kingsolver utilizes chronological effects to show the impact of societal suppression on benevolent Leah Price. Upon Leah accompanying her Baptist missionary father to the Congo, she is quite troubled by the disconnect of the Congolese civilization to that of her home in Georgia, United States. As Leah begins to adjust to living in the Congo, she admits, “our family seems to know too …show more content…
When Leah only spoke her native language of American dialect English, she had a troublesome time conversing with those who predominantly spoke Lingala. As the vast majority did not understand English, translators had to be utilized making English speakers depend on them. But, during the time of Leah’s arrival, the inhabitants also spoke French due to Africa being part of Belgian territory- Belgium being a Francophone country. When working at a hospital occupied with predominantly French-speaking individuals, Leah discusses with the administrators in French as stated, “Ce n’est pas à nous” and Leah translates, “not ours to question” (420). Although it is not mandatory to speak the dominant language of a certain facility, Leah saw the language barrier restricting her communication and preemptively learned the language. French is not the only extent of Leah’s lingual capabilities over her time in the Congo as she also learned Lingala and passed these languages onto her children. Unfortunately, when voyaging back to the states “people spoke to my trilingual children...by assaulting them” Leah’s children become suppressed underneath U.S. standards (468). Due to this cruel discrimination, Leah courageously persists that her family remains in the Congo where they may fit in even if that leaves her remaining as an outcast in her family’s native
The change in narrators in The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver conveys the theme of western arrogance through naiveté, malapropisms, and the change in mentality found in the various narrations of the characters.
However, instead of allowing the corruption and grief of losing a significant figure in her life completely consume her, Leah embraces a new culture and turns to another male figure, her husband Anatole, for guidance. With new surrounding influences, Leah encounters various forms of separation, whether it be from her birthplace, father, or husband, and accepts all the drawbacks and loses that come along with the isolation. At the same time, Leah also challenges herself to overcome the loss and succumb to the loneliness that could potentially bring her closer to a new aspect of life never explored before. Through it all, Leah turns her experiences with exile into bittersweet memories sprinkled across the time span of her life for each rift allowed her to obtain a sense of self identity during periods of time free of human contact or, in Leah’s case,
A language barrier is a major disadvantage to those who are foreign to a particular place or culture. The variances of languages can make it even more difficult for people to adapt to new cultures and environments. The girls raised by wolves in this story face this obstacle as soon as they move from an environment of wild animals to an environment of civilized human beings. In “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, the girls are forced to learn the human language since they only know how to speak “the Wolf”. The narrator, whose English name is Claudette, describes how “we [the girls] were all uncomfortable and between languages.” (Russell 229). According to the narrator, “it took me [her] a long time to say anything; first I [she] had to translate it in my [her] head from...
The Poisonwood Bible is the story of an evangelical Baptist preacher named Nathan Price who uproots his wife and four daughters from the modern culture of America and moves them to the Kilanga Village in the Belgian Congo as missionaries. He is bullheaded and obstinate in all his ways. His approach is inflexible, unsympathetic, and unaccepting of the culture and customs of the people of Kilanga. Nathan Price exemplifies the words of Romans 2:4 that says, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” He did not share the goodness of God, but sought to spread his uncompromising pious agenda. Instead of leading people to God he turned them away.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a work of historical fiction. The novel is based the Congo in 1959, while it was still under Belgian control. Nathan Price is a southern Baptist preacher from Bethlehem, Georgia who uproots his family, consisting of wife and three daughters, and takes them on a mission trip to Kilanga. Orleanna Price, Nathan’s wife, narrates the beginning of each book within the novel. Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May rotate the narration throughout each book. Rachel is the oldest Price child, and high materialistic. She refuses to accept the ways of the Congo, believing that she is better than everyone simply because of where she had her start in life. Leah is the next oldest, and she is a self-proclaimed tomboy. She likes to climb trees and practically worships at the feet of her father. Adah is the handicapped one, with a physical deformity. However, this deformity does not limit her, instead making her the smartest of the Price girls. Ruth May is the baby of the family, and has not yet lost the childhood innocence that she views the world with. Barbara Kingsolver uses a very interesting narrative style in the novel, switching between four narrators between the ages of five and fifteen, who are all female. Kingsolver's use of multiple narrative perspectives serve to amplify life in the Congo during the early 1960s through characterization, religion, and politics.
The events of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart and the film Sugar Cane Alley detail the lives of a fictionalized Nigerian village and sugar cane harvesters in remote Martinique, respectively, during similar time periods of the 1900s. Both works contain explicit references to Christianity, and how the imposition of religion and white culture have negatively affected the African characters. European religious practice was used as a means of pacifying as well as terrifying the Umuofian people and the inhabitants of Sugar Cane Valley.
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
A recurring theme in, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is Harriet Jacobs's reflections on what slavery meant to her as well as all women in bondage. Continuously, Jacobs expresses her deep hatred of slavery, and all of its implications. She dreads such an institution so much that she sometimes regards death as a better alternative than a life in bondage. For Harriet, slavery was different than many African Americans. She did not spend her life harvesting cotton on a large plantation. She was not flogged and beaten regularly like many slaves. She was not actively kept from illiteracy. Actually, Harriet always was treated relatively well. She performed most of her work inside and was rarely ever punished, at the request of her licentious master. Furthermore, she was taught to read and sew, and to perform other tasks associated with a ?ladies? work. Outwardly, it appeared that Harriet had it pretty good, in light of what many slaves had succumbed to. However, Ironically Harriet believes these fortunes were actually her curse. The fact that she was well kept and light skinned as well as being attractive lead to her victimization as a sexual object. Consequently, Harriet became a prospective concubine for Dr. Norcom. She points out that life under slavery was as bad as any slave could hope for. Harriet talks about her life as slave by saying, ?You never knew what it is to be a slave; to be entirely unprotected by law or custom; to have the laws reduce you to the condition of chattel, entirely subject to the will of another.? (Jacobs p. 55).
Intolerance in the Chrysalids by John Wyndham The Chrysalids was by John Wyndham. It Involves Children that have ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) living in a community that does not tolerate differences. They are eventually found out and escape to Sealand (New Zealand). All societies in this novel practice intolerance in one way or another, even though Wyndham doesn't approve of it.
Monday morning, Sally, a twelve-year-old American girl, is woken up by her father. As she gets ready to go to school, her mother hands her a backpack and lunch with a quick kiss goodbye. Meanwhile, Zarina, a twelve-year-old Sierra Leone girl, wakes herself up to get ready for work. Her aunt says good morning as they both head from their home to the cassava fields. Both of these girls have a traditional family setting. In America children in a traditional family grow up with both biological parents and any siblings they have. In Sierra Leone, the setting for both The Bite of the Mango and A Long Way Gone, children of traditional families live with aunts and uncles as well as many children from different parents. These different views of what is traditional create uniqe children in many ways. Children who grow up in Sierra Leone are more self-reliant than American children.
During the course of this work, many ideas and themes are portrayed and readers are able to view subjects that surround the main topic of racial injustice and intolerance. With the three main narrators, Minny Jackson, Aibileen Clark, and Skeeter Phelan, the audience quickly gains an insight on how racial inequalities affected everyone. These thoughts help to form a plot that can easily keep readers entertained throughout the novel. During the course of the novel, there are many points in the plot that decide the actions and events other cha...
Cam, Heather American Literature; Oct87, Vol. 59 Issue 3, p429, 4p Academic Search Complete Ebesco. Web. 25 July 2011
In the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee presents the idea that people can be consumed and overwhelmed by power over long periods of time. They corrupt other people of their beliefs and teach their children that same concept. This effects other people who don't share the same opinions and they may be dismissed for refusing to accept their false beliefs caused from being consumed by power for so long. Those people who are unaware of the dangers of a power consumed person experience thralldom and may suffer for a long time because they are subjected to servitude. It is hard for a person to break” a tradition they have been believing in for so long, and reject any other people opinions if they are not their own.
• AW’s work is deeply rooted in oral tradition; in the passing on of stories from generation to generation in the language of the people. To AW the language had a great importance. She uses the “Slave language”, which by others is seen as “not correct language”, but this is because of the effect she wants the reader to understand.
Society is filled with outcasts. Everywhere one looks, there is someone who is different and has been labeled as an outcast by the others around them. People fear disturbance of their regular lives, so they do their best to keep them free of people who could do just that. An example of this in our society is shown in people of color. Whites label people who do not look the same as them as and treat them as if they are less important as they are. The white people in our society, many times unconsciously, degrade people of color because they fear the intuition that they could cause in their everyday lives. Society creates outcasts when people are different from the “norm.”