The Poisonwood Bible Analysis

In an increasingly globalized society, people from around the world are being connected like never before. Culture clash, one consequence of this increased connectivity, is when people from different backgrounds who have opposing basic beliefs and customs come into contact. This is usually thought to be an inevitable barrier when meeting people from a culture which is not one’s own. However, I believe that being open minded and flexible can overcome culture clash. People from different backgrounds tend to conflict on basic understandings, but this can be overcome due to mutual understanding of each other beliefs and culture.

In The Poisonwood Bible, the author uses irony and symbolism to characterize the culture clash within the main characters

The picture uses clear racially and religiously defined people with lots of space blank in between the two women to represent the disconnect between them. This visual represents how different people can use trivial factors in defining others as weird or wrong and how people can create culture clash by being close-minded. The American woman clearly holds the opinion that Muslim women having to cover themselves up is while she is allowed to show almost all of her body without shame is oppressive and wrong. The woman is very obviously white, making it easy for the reader to assume that she is probably American. This distinction is important because the difference in race and background is what makes this difference in beliefs and customs clash so harshly. Similarly to how the American views Islamic culture as male-dominated due to women’s requirement to be covered, the Muslim woman views the American society as male-dominated because she feels that the American woman must show off her body to appeal to men. In accordance with her culture, she finds that necessity to lack modesty morally wrong. This difference between immodest and modest dressing creates a clash in between these two cultures’ views. However, at the core of each of their views was the idea that male-dominated societies are oppressive to women. If both women tried to understand the