Preview

Analysis Of The Poisonwood Bible

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
262 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis Of The Poisonwood Bible
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver depicts a dark, frightening mood as she writes about a woman and her four daughters traveling through a dangerous forest. She creates this mood using many contrasting images depicting life and death. Many supporting details are laced throughout the passage. Some of these details are more literal, and others are more symbolic, but they all contribute to the eerie tone of the text. Beginning in the fourth sentence of the excerpt, the author narrates all the life found in the forest, but describes them darkly, thus the contrast of death or fear. One of the many examples found in this section is the description of the poisonous frogs. Besides the clear image of death as the poisonous animal is described

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Throughout ‘The Secret Life of Frogs’ themes that are expressed include childhood innocence and the negative influence of war on children. The theme of the innocence of children is clearly conveyed through the use of the parenthesis, ‘(we thought a brothel was a French hotel that served hot broth to diggers)’. This technique is used to enclose a thought that the children had in their childhood, and helps to further emphasize the idea that they misunderstood the adult concept of brothels. The parenthesis also helps to change the tone of the poem as it cuts the seriousness of the stanza through their misinterpretation of the word brothel. This highlights the idea that…

    • 605 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Additionally, the moon is described as an “orange disk” (Roberts 19) whose rays lit the ravine “strangely”(Robert 19). The mention of the darkness and the strange moonlight create a distinct first impression of what is to come. For example, the child’s strife, the battle of man versus beast, and the “rapidly decaying” bodies of the panther cubs. The tone may be foreboding in terms of these events. Perhaps the darkness and the moonlight may connect yet again to Darwin (his connection between animal and human) in the sense that there is a sense of mourning for the cubs (and even the adult panthers). The reader may emotionally connect with the weeping child, but there is no denying that Robert’s provides for the reader a sense of mourning for the panthers and the decaying cubs. As discussed, man is simply a more cunning animal and so, there is a darkness and a mourning for the animal as well as the…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While reading the passage titled Fremont High School by Jonathan Kozol, one can notice some similarities between Fremont High School and The Poisonwood Bible. First off, I see a resemblance between the characters in both of these writings. For example, the high schooler named Fortino can be compared to Nathan Price. I see them as similar as the way they predetermine the course of one’s life. Nathan Price does not give a lot of liberty to his family, the same way that Fortino indicates that his classmates do not have any future, or any freedom to choose their classes, so they must sew. The lunch period at Fremont can be compared to how little the Congolese have to eat. At Fremont, “The line for kids to get their food is very long and the…

    • 252 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I feel like Farmer’s argument rests on the saying that “One life is not worth more than another”, which is very true. And in his arguments, he makes the people think ‘is there really a price tag on someone’s life?’.…

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Near the threshold he stopped, horror-stricken at the sight of a thing. He was being looked at by a dead man who was seated with his back against a columnlike tree. The corpse was dressed in a uniform that had once been blue, but was now faded to a melancholy shade of green. The eyes, staring at the youth, had changed to the dull hue to be seen on the side of a dead fish. The mouth was open. Its red had changed to an appalling yellow. Over the gray skin of the face ran little ants. One was trundling some sort of bundle along the upper lip.”…

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Poisonwood Bible” is mostly based on 1960s Congo, although the story continues until after that. The author, Barbara Kingslover, draws on the independence and political conflict in the Congo when telling the story of the Prices, a missionary family, during their time there. The Congo declared independence from Belgium in 1960 and elected a prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, who was placed under house arrest and murdered only months after becoming prime minister. Joseph-Désiré Mobutu replaced him and began a period of fear and unrest. The book is centered on how these events and their consequences affected the family.…

    • 688 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death comes unexpectedly, yet there is always comfort in familiar places, and in death it’s self. The speaker’s response to the death of the toad is revealed using the formal elements of structure, diction and imagery.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poisonwood Bible Analysis

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Through the use of symbolism the authors of both Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible make the characters in both books more complex because not only do we read the discriptions the author has given us but also we see the use of symbolism that connects parts and objects in the book that we can recognize to give us a better idea of the characters. Chinua Achebe uses fire for Okonkwo to show his unstable personality. In The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver uses the Poisonwood Tree to show Nathan's ignorance and inability to learn from cultures other than his. Both Chinua Achebe and Barbara Kingsolver use symbols to add to the character and to the story…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poisonwood Bible

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “What is the conqueror’s wife if not a conquest herself?” This quote sums up Orleanna’s feeling of guilt she has towards her daughter’s death and towards the crimes of the US against the Congo. By identifying herself as the conqueror’s wife, Orleanna places herself in a position where she is not the chief criminal but connected enough to feel responsibility. In Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, she uses diction, imagery, and selection of detail to develop and convey Orleanna Price’s guilt and uneasiness throughout the journey that she was against from the start.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diction In The Rattler

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As the snake dies it “strikes passionately once more at the hoe” and “there is blood in his mouth and poison dripping from his fangs.” The imagery dramatizes the image of the snake’s power being drained. The reader can visualize the transition from a once fierce snake to a lifeless carcass. In response to the killing of the snake, the man feels regret for the necessity of the circumstance, as “it was all a nasty sight, pitiful…” and “he could see it as he might have let it go, sinuous and self respecting in departure over the twilit sands.” This is a reflection of what could have been, and reveals the man’s conflicting feelings on what was necessary. The pitiful scene of the snake’s death adds to the man’s regret. The imagery in the passage emphasizes the idea of “what could have been” and therefore the man’s internal…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Poisonwood Bible

    • 1584 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover is a novel of a family that experiences hardships and renewal. Their journey to the Congo is told by a wife of a minister and their four daughters. Nathan Price is a God fearing Baptist who takes his family to the Belgian Congo on a mission. The Congo is at a critical point in both its religious and government views. The Price family is coming from Georgia and has no real sense of the experiences that will forever change their lives.…

    • 1584 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death of a Naturalist

    • 432 Words
    • 1 Page

    The theme of Death of a Naturalist is also the power of nature. This is illustrated by the frogs having power over the author as a child. This powerful theme is conveyed in the second stanza, with phrases like angry', threats' and vengeance'. The frogs are described as being poised like mud grenades' which brings out images of guns and strength. The writer uses emotional images, because it is the poet's memory and he is reminiscing. Heaney uses a number of poetic devices to create images. Firstly, he uses the metaphor in the heart of the town land' to add interest to the poem. He uses language such as sweltered' and punishing sun' to create an image of the hot summer that he remembered. The poet brings nature into the poem with the metaphor bluebottles wove a strong gauze of sound'. This creates a visual image of the day he went to collect frogspawn in the reader's mind and engages their interest. He uses alliteration in the line on shelves at school, and wait and watch', to make the tone calm and happy with soft sounds. There is childish language like ‘mammy' used to convey an image of innocence in the first stanza. In the second stanza, the mood changes dramatically from one of nostalgia and innocence to vulgarity and almost horror, although there are hints to this tone in the preceding stanza. The poet uses words like ‘rotted', ‘slobber', and ‘festered' as a hint that all is not well. In this stanza, the mood is dark, and vile, conveyed by language like ‘rank', ‘gross' and ‘vengeance'. Heaney creates a tense image with the bass chorus of the frogs. He describes the frogs' necks as ‘pulsing like sails' and their blunt heads ‘farting' to…

    • 432 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All cultures have their own ideals, religions, and social systems. The Prices are forced to learn this the hard way in The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Through the perspectives of the wife and four daughters of the Price family, Kingsolver conveys her message within the novel. Leah Price, being one of the more intellectual of the children, provides many differences in the African and American cultures through her observations she makes within the novel. These observations allow her to be one of the first of the children to accept the differences in the cultures when they arrive in the Congo. One of the many themes that is told throughout the novel is greatly pronounced because of it: In order to gain perspective of one thing, another…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Death of a naturalist’ is a poem about the views, of a little boy, on nature. It begins positive as he likes the frogspawn; ‘best of all was the warm thick slobber of frogspawn’. However as he grows he believes that nature is not all positive and that now the frogs are ‘great slime kings.’ The poem Field Mouse’ appears to be quite calm and peaceful as they ‘cut the hay’ however it is concealing the destruction that is happening elsewhere. The third poem is ‘Patrolling Barnegat’ by Walt Whitman and this is a vivid, negative description of nature which is described as ‘demonic’. The final poem being compared is ‘The eagle’. In six lines Tennyson portrays admiration and respect for nature. The Eagle is the centre of the universe ‘ringed’ with power and as powerful as a ‘thunderbolt’.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Poisonwood Bible

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    2.) Write five newspaper headlines that describe conflicts (their causes and effects) in the novel. Be sure to use a vivid verb in each headline to clearly capture the action. The headlines can be of interest in the village (microcosm) or in the larger setting (macrocosm). Here’s an example to describe conflict in Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison: “Privileged son arrested; outcast aunt humilities herself for him at jail.” (25)…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays