Individuality In The Poisonwood Bible

Individuality in characterization is what drives the story of a novel and many authors use this technique to their advantage. In The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver uses multiple points of view to reveal theme through characterization. The theme she conveys is the individuality present in one's reaction to the surrounding people and environment. This characterization in relation to theme is shown through the voices of three of the four daughters, Rachel, Leah and Adah. Although each daughter is presented with the same obstacles, Rachel reacts in a selfish and careless style, Leah reacts in an active and emotional way ever aware of her surroundings, and Adah reacts in an analytical, scientific manner. Rachel's vacuous, selfish, ‘cares for naught
In reacting to the ant crisis, her sister's death and her father in a unique and individual way, Adah further supports the predominant theme of individuality in this novel. The awful night of the ant infestation is a night of pain and realization for Adah. As she drags her crippled body across a ground covered in a red sea of stinging ants, she wonders why it was she had been left behind. Her disability making her unable to save herself, she turns to her mother, the only relative in sight, in hopes of being saved and with everything in her utters the words help me! Her mother, a heavy Ruth May in her arms, turns and tells her to follow. Trampled by the surrounding crowds of people Adah cries out in pain and then finds her salvation not in her mother but in Anatole's strong arms. That night Adah, like her twin, endures a loss of faith and a loss of the protective barrier against the reality of the world as she realizes she values her own life more then she had imagined. It is after this horrible realization that Adah is faced with the most painful experience of all: her mother choosing to save her sister's life over hers. This causes Adah to pose the question of self-worth and at the conclusion of the chapter she states, "The wonder to me now is that I thought myself worth saving. But I did. I did oho did I! …Desperate to save myself in a river of people saving themselves…they would see that even the crooked girl believed she was precious." (Kingsolver 306) Although this episode was horrific for every family member, it was especially so for Adah and this shows in her reaction. Looking back on the night, Adah is very analytical and questioning and her response, although emotional enough, is nowhere near as emotional as that of her sisters. The