Showing

If you read my last post, you'll know that I am currently reading The Poisonwood Bible, a novel by Barbara Kingsolver, for my high school English class. In the past, I've found myself struggling to become invested in the books that were assigned for class. I did not care about the characters or their fate for the most part. However, while reading The Poisonwood Bible (summary here), I found myself feeling genuinely sad when.........



*SPOILER ALERT*



*SPOILER ALERT*



*SPOILER ALERT*



.........Ruth May dies. I felt angry with Nathan's treatment of his family and frusturated with his style of missionary approach to the Congolese. I felt proud of Leah's transformation into a free-thinking, independent woman. I felt horrified and terrible when Orleanna recounted eating dirt while pregnant just to fill her stomach with something. I felt all of these things and many others while reading the book. This level of engagement that Kingsolver has elicited from me is something I hope to achieve in my writing. But my initial question is, how does she do it?

In one of our recent classes, we mapped out some of the central ideas from the Bel and the Serpent chapter. It became clear what I would write about in this blog post when we analyzed Ruth May's death. After her death, the native villagers in Kilanga came to mourn in front of the Prices' house and shrieked their strange, high, quivering, mourning song as if Ruth May were one of their own. This sad yet inspiring image allowed me to truly get a sense of how the Price women had become a part of the Kilanga community. The classic phrase here is "Show Don't Tell." Despite the cliché, this idea of showing and describing with detail to the reader is so much more engaging and emotionally powerful than merely writing, "By this time, the Price women had become accepted in the Kilanga community."

Kingsolver's writing succeeds at transporting the reader to Africa with the Prices. Her imagery and detail are extremely well-crafted. When the girls and Nelson discover the green mamba in the chicken house and see it shoot past them, the speed of scene is captured in one sentence. It is not even discovered that Ruth May has been fatally bitten until the next chapter. Here, Kingsolver shows that Ruth May's sisters were helpless to save her.

This idea of showing rather than telling paints a better picture for the reader, and gives them a better understanding of the situation or subject. Combined with imagery, details and descriptive writing, the author is able to engage the reader, bring them into the story and allow them to really connect with it. Once the reader has connected to the story, poem, speech, etc. the author's message becomes infinitely more powerful, not to mention more clearly communicated.

Poisonwood Devices

In our English class, we are currently reading The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver. The novel documents the experience of a Baptist missionary family that travels to the Congo. Kingsolver masterfully crafts the language of the book with strategically chosen narrators' perspectives, astute metaphors and other literary devices. While reading, I found myself paying particular attention to the character of Nathan, the preacher and the family's father.

Despite never narrating the book, Nathan, is an incredibly well-developed character. Regarding his conversion efforts, Nathan is stubborn, close-minded and ignorant. The people of Kilanga view religion pragmatically and worship the "luckiest god(s)." Nathan does not understand this and becomes confused and belligerent when he loses members of his congregation. Another example of his disconnection with the natives is his determination to baptize them in the river. He goes on for a long while before he is finally told that there are alligators in the river. Aside from his ignorance, Nathan cannot free himself from the mindset that the Congolese have to be "saved." This superiority complex prevents real understanding from taking place and creates a barrier between him and the natives.

A little context: As a soldier in WWII, Nathan was wounded and sent to a hospital before the Bataan Death March inn the Philippines where each and every man in his company died. His guilt caused him to completely and entirely devote his life to missionary efforts. Nathan separates himself emotionally from his family and rules over his wife and daughters in an oppressive, dictatorial and violent fashion. He allows no one to speak their mind except for himself. Nathan exploits his family to help continue his missionary efforts, with no regard to their well-being at all. This can be seen clearly in his decision for the family to stay after the Belgians give the Congo its independence. Masquerading as a benevolent father teaching Christian values, Nathan creates a horribly repressive atmosphere for the family that draws symapthy from the reader.

Nathan's ignorant, tyrannical and exploitive character very much personifies the European role in the African colonial experience. Under the guise of "civilizing" the Africans, countries like France, Belgium, Portugal, etc. went in and exploited their people and resources. This extended metaphor/personification is key to the message of the novel. While it is generally understood that the Western colonization of Africa was not a good thing, Kingsolver vividly portrays the horrors involved by condensing the experience into one family. The reader is able to connect emotionally to the mother and daughters of the Price family and thus, connect emotionally to the reprehensible colonial experience of Africa.

Words: The Things They Carry

Last week during a current events discussion, our English teacher kept track of certain key words or phrases that arose. These were words that carried meaning with them and deserved a closer look, which is what I shall be doing shortly. A few stuck out to me: extremism/radicalism, terrorism, Islamic world and them/they. Two other words that also came to my mind included "socialism" and "illegal" (when referring to immigrants). Often times, words like these get tossed around in discussions and no time is spent unpacking their meaning or implications.

First and foremost, pronouns like "them" and "they" are used far too often. In a diverse global world that is rapidly becoming more and more connected, pronouns like these create barriers between people of differing cultures, appearances and beliefs. By using these words, you separate yourself from others. You create opposition. Not a good idea. In the American government, there is way too much of this going on. As partisan politics prevail, people take sides and nothing gets done. Accusations fly. Labels including "liberal," "conservative," "socialist," "radical" and "extremist" are thrown at either side, halting cooperation for the greater good.

This attitude is a big problem in the global sphere as well. Where cooperation is necessary, for example in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a "us vs. them" mentality has prevented significant progress. Example of this: http://middle-east-analysis.blogspot.com/. It is vital that we accept responsibility for solving the problems that afflict us, rather than simply point a finger. A great first step is to limit our use of polarizing pronouns whenever possible.

In this same vein, the implications of the words terrorism and Islamic world are severe. The "us vs. them" way of thinking is already present in the minds of many Americans with regard to the Islamic world. In my experience, when people hear about Islam, muslims or the Middle East, terrorists come to mind almost immediately. These connotations in our society are dangerously negative and general. The nation of Islam is quite diverse and countries in the Middle East differ in many ways as well. Yet, when 9/11 occured, American sentiment turned against the entire region and the entire religion. This attitude still persists as evidenced by the uproar over the plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero. Because of this, we made additional enemies in the Middle East (as if we didn't have enough already) and global sympathies have drifted away from America. However, America's foreign image has slowly been improving, but it is still critical to rid ourselves of these broad generalizations that get us nothing but new enemies.

If you have any words that deserve unpacking feel free to comment.