What are the themes in The Poisonwood Bible?

The Poisonwood Bible Themes

  • Freedom, Growth, and Coming-of-age. The magazine The Nation argues that The Poisonwood Bible is, fundamentally, a book about the struggle for freedom in all its different forms.
  • Religion and Faith.
  • Women and Sexism.
  • Race, Racism, and Culture.
  • Imperialism.

What does the mirror symbolize in Poisonwood Bible?

In Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, the mirror symbolizes Rachel’s vanity and her refusal to accept their life in Africa.

What is the main message of the Poisonwood Bible?

The Poisonwood Bible is a political allegory. Though the story it tells focuses on the guilt of five women, for example their private guilt over the death of a daughter and sister, and their public guilt over the role they played in Africa’s tragedies, it is really about the guilt that all United States citizens share.

What does Adah price represent?

Family Price the within Role Adah was the first of the Price’s to accept the Congolese people, because as her family saw them as different, she was already used to being seen as different. She is more open and accepting of the Congolese due to her own struggles in life.

What does the snake symbolize in Poisonwood Bible?

The snake represents the knowledge of good and evil. As the title suggests, The Poisonwood Bible explores religion.

What does the demonstration garden symbolize?

The Demonstration Garden First the garden itself can be seen as a stand-in for the attitudes and beliefs that the Prices carry with them into Africa. Like those attitudes, the plants are wildly inappropriate in this environment. The plants become unrecognizable, almost grotesque in their hugeness.

How did Leah react to Ruth Mays death?

She responds to the news of Ruth May’s death “as if someone else had already told her” (Bel and the Serpant, Leah). This is because she has vividly feared the death of one of her children for so long. The vivid fear, however, was not enough to animate her into action.

What is the central conflict in the Poisonwood Bible?

The primary conflict in the novel is the same for each major character, but each character responds differently. Each of the Price women has been transported to the Congo and must figure out a way to either leave or live with the situation into which they have been placed.

Why does Adah not believe in God?

Adah hasn’t believed in God since she was a wee thing. As a result, she seems to have an easier time coping with her own father’s (lowercase “f”) distance and abandonment. Plus, she doesn’t have even a quarter of the guilt that Leah lives with on a daily basis.