The Poisonwood Bible

Characters Nathan Price - A Baptist minister. Nathan feels guilt for being the only member of his regimen to escape the Death March. He is determined to save as many souls as he can. Instead he imperils the souls of his wife and four daughters. Orleanna Price - Orleanna has been beaten down by her husband's crazy views. She fears for her children's safety but stays loyal to her husband. It takes the death of her youngest daughter to finally force her to regain full control. Rachel Price - materialistic, egotistical, and stupid girl of fifteen. Little changes as she ages. Her own well being is the only force that can motivate her. Her wealthy husband leaves her a luxury hotel deep in the French Congo. Leah Price - Begins as an idealistic fourteen-year-old tomboy, who worships her father and believes fully in his God. As she sees the realities in the Congo, she loses her faith, and begins to despise her father. She ends up spending her life working to improve the Congo. Adah Price - Leah's twin sister, born with a condition called "hemiplegia," which prevents her from using the left side of her body. She exiles herself. She is changed by the Congo and forced to admit that she cares enough to participate. She devotes her life to science. Ruth May Price - Five-year-old Ruth May enters the Congo fierce and adventurous. Without speaking the language she befriends all of the children in the village. After getting malaria she becomes quiet and spiritless. She is killed by a green mamba snake. Anatole Ngemba - Intelligent and idealistic, is the English-speaking schoolteacher, as well as the translator for Reverend Price's sermons. He marries Leah. Nelson - An orphan and Anatole's best student. He helps the Prices get along in the Congo in exchange for a place to sleep and some eggs to sell in the marketplace, so that he can get a wife. Picks up English quickly and helps the girls learn the language and customs Mama Tataba - Worked as the live-in helper for Brother Fowles, and was supposed to perform the same role in the Price household but she abandons them Book one:Genesis Orleanna Price introduces herself simply as "Southern Baptist by marriage, mother of children living and dead." She is one of five narrators along with her four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May. Orleanna depicts a picture of a woman and her four daughters traipsing blindly through the jungle of Congo, where the husband and father has led them in his missionary zeal to save African souls. They eat a picnic, the girls swim in the river, and the mother alone comes face to face with a legendary animal. Orleanna is writing her narrative to one of the four girls, the one who did not come out of the Congo alive in order to plea for forgiveness. The Things We Carried Leah Price: Fourteen-year- old Leah begins listing the things her family carries all of the necessary tools of civilized life that the Price family carry with them to the Congo. Unable to imagine life without a thimble, a pair of scissors, Band-Aids, a hand-mirror, or Betty Crocker cake mixes, the family hides these possessions and others on them to avoid the airline's limit on baggage weight. Leah begins to realize that all of these objects are a burden but is still optimistic about their mission to Africa. The Price family is met at the airport by two Belgian missionaries. The Underdowns try to fill the Prices in on all they will need to know about their future home explaining that it is no longer the thriving mission it once had been. The Prices will be the only Westerners present. The Underdowns load the Prices onto a tiny plane. Ruth May: The Five-year-olds version of the arrival focuses mainly on her expectations of the Congo natives. She states that back home in Georgia blacks are kept separate from whites, because "Jimmy Crow," who makes the laws, believes that this is the best policy. Rachel Price: Fifteen-year-old Rachel is the beauty queen of the group, and her version of the arrival is told with revulsion. She is horrified by the stench of body odor as the villagers surround them in a warm welcome, and miserable as they rush the Prices towards the church. The villagers start a large fire, and begin pounding on drums and singing Christian hymns in their native language. Even though she shares none of the religious faith of her father and sister Leah, she feels scandalized by the realization that the natives are singing hymns, though she admits that they have every right to sing these songs. Nathan gets up on his chair and delivers a sermon, roaring about sinners and nakedness. He points his finger toward a bare-breasted woman. He tells the villagers that he will deliver them from this place of darkness into one of light, and though none of them can speak English his tone of voice upsets them. They had begun as a joyous but now they sit in silence. Adah Price: She chooses not to speak, except in emergencies and boasts that she sees the world differently than other people see it. She presents us with our first clear-eyed view of life in the village. Kilanga is nothing but a row of mud houses that runs along the Kwilu River. Adah picks up on the fact that the people of Kilanga are extremely modest in their own way. Leah: tags along with her father as he tries to plant a "demonstration garden" using the seeds he has brought along from home. His intention is to provide food for his family, and also to show the natives how they can provide for themselves. Mama Tataba watches over him skeptically. Mama Tataba tells Reverend Price that he is planting incorrectly, and warns that the plant he is messing with is a Poisonwood tree, and that it bites. He dismisses both her warnings with contempt. The next morning Reverend Price's arms and hands are covered in a painful rash, and his right eye is swollen shut, from where he wiped his brow with poisonwood-smeared hands. Leah notices that Mama Tataba reshaped their garden overnight. Leah and her father go outside and level the mounds. Book 2: The Revelation Orleanna Price: Orleanna describes her own life in the Congo, the struggle just to keep her husband and children alive. With Mama Tataba gone, she tells us, she found it almost impossible to keep things going. Water alone required a mile and a half hike, and then had to be boiled for twenty minutes to kill all the microbes. While the natives satisfied themselves on the tremendous tubers called "manioc," her family required a minor nutritional miracle three times a day—the sort of meal that their neighbors might indulge in once or twice a year. Even their own supplies, sent from the Mission League, were difficult to acquire, since they were flown in by Eeben Axelroot who demanded bribes for every delivery. She dreamed every night about her children's deaths. Nathan was entirely unmoved by his wife's fears and travails. Though Orleanna quickly realized that the Congolese viewed her family as a pack of bunglers and trespassers, Nathan clung tenaciously to the illusion that he was a force of good and authority. He refused to bend his will, or adapt in any way, claiming that he was being tested by God just as Job had been tested. He even denied Chief Ndu's request to give up the idea of baptism, and alienated the chief entirely on his unwavering stance on monogamy. Leah: After spending the first few weeks settling in, the Prices now fall into a set daily routine. Nathan wanders through the village trying to engage the men in conversation, or else makes the trip to the surrounding villages to see what religious state these places are in. Orleanna forces the girls to work at their schoolbooks most of the day, but in the afternoon they have a few hours to run free. The girls use old nature books left behind by Brother Fowles to teach themselves the native names for the flora and fauna surrounding them. Sometimes Leah and Adah go and spy on Eeben Axelroot. They learn that he has a radio. Rachel: The Underdowns unexpectedly arrive with some big news. The Congo is going to hold an election in May and declare their independence in June. The Belgian government has sanctioned this move. Orleanna is beside herself and says that the Mission League had assured them that independence was at least thirty years away. Frank Underwood points out that no one told the Prices to come to Congo, and reveals that the Mission League had not even officially sanctioned their mission. The League only pays their fifty-dollar a month pittance, he says, out of kindness. It is fairly clear that Orleanna was not aware that their mission was unsanctioned until this point. Orleanna loses control of herself and begins cursing, raving about the Belgians and their mistreatment of the Congolese, and then about the absurdity of granting a country independence with no interim period for training and transition. Nathan, however, calls this news a fairy tale and dismisses the possibility of an election. The Underdowns say that they came out to warn the Prices that, for their safety, they must leave before the election. Nathan becomes enraged at this suggestion, bellowing that his contract extends through June and that he will stay until July to welcome the new missionaries. The Judges Leah: Life in Kilanga is harder than ever. Only the legless Mama Mwanza takes pity on them, bringing oranges. She explains that those who have plenty are required to share with those who have nothing. Leah is shocked by such goodness coming from a non-Christian. Orleanna and Ruth May rarely get out of bed now, and Nelson is convinced that they are under a curse. Adah: During one of Adah's language lessons with Nelson, she learns that her father's church is populated entirely by those exiled from own religion. The villagers are trying out this new religion if the old one was bringing them bad luck, and leaving Christianity just as quickly as soon as something bad happens again. Ruth May: Ruth May and her mother continue to lie in bed day after day. Adah: Nathan reprimands Orleanna for not heeding God's call and getting up out of bed. At night their mother tearfully pleads with him to let her take her children home, but he angrily says that God works in mysterious ways. Leah: Leah makes Ruth May get out of bed and tries to interest her in playing. While she pushes Ruth May on the swing, Anatole comes by with a dead rabbit for the family to eat. He tells Leah that the chief of Southern Congo is declaring independence from the rest of the country, so that they can cut their own deals with the West. Ruth May: As Ruth May lies sick in bed she sometimes overhears her mother pleading with her father. Her mother talks about awful things happening in Stanleyville. One night Nelson sneaks in and hands Ruth May a gift. His gift is a little amulet, he tells her to blow into it, so that her spirit will be contained inside. If she is ever about to die, he tells her to hold onto this amulet tightly, and she will disappear and then reappear in a safe place. He tells her to think every day about this safe place so that her spirit will know where to go when the time comes. Leah: Orleanna resumes her role as caretaker. She now speaks her mind to Nathan and is determined to take her children's destinies into her own hands. She tries to bribe Eeben Axelroot to fly them out, but he refuses to work without cash up front. Leah begins to doubt her father's judgment in keeping his family in a situation that is clearly mortally dangerous. Ruth May:'Orleanna grabs Her and begins running, but then hands her off to someone else. Ruth May begins to cry and then remembers the amulet that Nelson gave to her. She tries to think hard about being a mamba snake. Adah: unable to run through the crowd along with everyone else, calls for her mother to save her. Unable to put Ruth May down, she calls to Adah to follow along. Ada falls to the ground and is about to be trampled when Anatole lifts her up and carries her to the boat. Leah: Anatole appears again with Ruth May over his shoulder and climbs into a boat with Leah. He tells her that Adah and her mother are in another boat and that her father is delivering a sermon about the ten plagues of Egypt. Leah and Anatole continue their discussion, with Leah revealing Adah's discovery about Eisenhower's plot . Leah reaches a crisis of faith. She begins to cry and repeat Anatole's name feeling that it can anchor her. Suddenly she sputters out that she loves him, and he tells her never to repeat that. Two days later they are able to return to Kilanga. Bel and the Serpent Leah: Tata Ndu shows up in church one day and stands up and demands an election. The election is to determine whether the people of Kilanga want Jesus to be worshipped in their village. Jesus loses eleven to fifty six. Rachel: The famine has reached desperate proportions. A large fire will be set in front of the jungle, forcing the animals out. As the animals try to escape the men will follow and kill them. A tremendous dispute breaks out over the possibility of Leah partaking in the hunt. Anatole argues on her behalf, pleading that such a good marksman could be very useful to them. Chief Ndu and Tata Kuvundu claim that the old customs cannot changed by letting a woman partake in the hunt. The issue is put to a vote and it is decided that Leah will participate in the hunt. Tata Kuvundu is enraged and warns that the animals will rise up against them in the night. Nathan scorns Leah for her part in this dispute and forbids her the hunt. Leah openly declares that she will disobey him, and stomps off. Nathan tries to go after her, swinging his belt, but she is too fast for him. The women lock themselves in by pushing the beds up against the door. Leah comes in through the window near dawn. The next evening Anatole finds an evil sign outside his hut, and the following morning he awakes to find a mamba snake curled up next to his bed. Luckily, he sees it before putting his feet down, and so he is saved from certain death. Adah: the women, gather up whatever insects and skin the meat off the downed animals. Adah watches the mass death solemnly, reflecting on the fact that this horrific slaughter is the only means by which her neighbors can remain alive. Leah: Leah artfully kills an antelope, but Tata Ndu's oldest son claims that he was responsible for the kill. Nelson proves him wrong. Gbenye is enraged and commands Leah to skin the animal. Rachel: Rachel is overwhelmed by the hunting scene and escapes back home to take a bath. She vows to become a vegetarian. Leah: Though they have killed enough food for everyone, once it is time to divvy up the food bickering breaks out. Tata Kuvundu repeats his warning concerning nature Adah: The girls wake up before sunrise and rush outside to see whether there are any footprints in the chicken coop. They find that there are footprints in the ash that belong to Tata Kuvundu. A mamba snake is curled up in the corner and it dashes past them and out the door. Exodus Orleanna Price: Orleanna explains how after Ruth May died she felt the need keep moving. She just kept walking, with her girls following behind her. Leah Price: As the Price women flee, Mama Mwanza's daughters come after them with oranges and water. On the road they meet up with a few of the women from Kilanga who are on their way to bring food to their husbands, and the Price women decide to travel with them. Leah comes down with an overpowering fever and cannot go on. A few men carry Rachel. Leah spends weeks recovering from Malaria. Rachel escapes the Congo. Leah is too weak and sick to be moved. Anatole nurses her back to health. Leah and Anatole fall in love. She decides to stay and become Anatole's wife. Rachel Price Axelroot: Rachel and Axelroot fly to Johannesburg. They pretend to be married. Axelroot disappears frequently on business, and Rachel busies herself by trying to fit in. Adah Price: Adah and Orleanna walk to Leopoldville for two nights. They are sighted by an army truck and thrown inside. Orleanna's eyes frighten them and the soldiers drive them to Leopoldville to the Belgian embassy. They are treated in the hospital for various diseases and then flown to Georgia. They move into a cabin. Orleanna throws herself into gardening. She sells bouquets on the side of the road. Adah enters Emory College where she studied science Rachel Axelroot: Rachel is happy in Johannesburg with all aspects of her life except Axelroot, who still has not officially married her. She is hatching a plan to snag a new husband. Rachel is convinced that she will be successful in her pursuit of Daniel since their affair has already begun.