Alienation In The Poisonwood Bible

In “The Poisonwood Bible,” Barbara Kingsolver illuminates on how a rift from one’s homeland and family can simultaneously bring agonizing isolation and an eye opening perspective on life through Leah Price’s character development. As a child exiled away to a foreign country, Leah faces the dysfunction and selfishness of her family that not only separates them from the Congolese, but from each other while she also learns to objectify against tyrants and embrace a new culture.

When thrown into a foreign country where everything new is particularly strange and revolting, the Price family would be expected to become closer; however, the exile from their homeland only serves to drive the family farther apart. In Leah’s case, as a impressionable child in need of guidance in a dramatically foreign country, she remains loyal to her father, idolizing his close-minded ways. This blind devotion unknowingly

serves to drive Leah further into isolation from her mother, sisters, and the already terrified Congolese, who primarily maintain a distance from the Price family due to the arrogant superiority and corruption Nathan Price emits. Regardless of the prevalence of this extreme level of isolation that Nathan forces upon Leah and the great divide he creates between the domineering westernized culture and the Congolese culture throughout the novel, Leah does not truly accept the cold hearted truth until she experiences her father’s abandonment after the ant invasion and Ruth May’s death. It is through these events that Leah heartbreakingly removes her rose colored glasses, distances herself, and acknowledges the corruption her father has forced upon the family and the unfixable rift he has left in his wake. In all, Leah’s revelation showcases how a figure who holds so much power at a certain time cannot hold control forever and in the end, every hubris will face a downfall.

Consequently, Leah’s new awakening and separation from her father allows her to take advantage of what Congo offers. In her eyes, she might be far from her homeland Georgia, but over time she can learn to embrace the surrounding new culture that her desperation for fatherly approval once prevented her from experiencing. Furthermore, it is through this unfortunate, but necessary freedom, that Leah freely adapts into not only the culture of the Congolese, but into her own identity. Leah takes advantage of what Congo offers and builds upon her personal autonomy through exploring her curiosity. At first, the transition proves to be difficult for Leah since severing ties with a loved one, despite their oppressive relationship, left feelings of hollowness and an empty impression on her soul. In time, this crack her father left is, ironically, replaced with another man, her future husband, Anatole. However, this man’s intentions, for the most part, were just for he inspired Leah to fight for independence, but to say that Anatole helps improve Leah’s life of isolation would be a lie. Nevertheless, through Anatole’s lessons, she learns to hunt, a male dominated sport, and breaks social norms. She fights against the oppressing pressures of female inferiority and gains a voice. Leah’s emancipation, although rocky and unfortunate considering no child would ever hope to lose a father, illuminates on the overall power of nature that men, like Nathan Price or even imperializing nations, cannot control.

Subsequently, in the years that follow the separation of every member of the Price family, Leah remains in Congo, marries Anatole, and completely immerse herself into a new life style. At times, Leah bears the superficial repercussions of having white skin among a sea of blacks in each village she resides in. Eyes filled with distrust to a disregard to her existence frequently occur, especially with an absent husband, off fighting for the Congolese independence, leaving Leah alone to mandate their family by herself. This pattern holds parallels with Leah’s parents, two selfless wives who gave their entirety to their four children and a husbands devoted to a cause. However, where the two couples differ is that from each sacrifice both Leah and Anatole make, compromises are made, lessons are learned, and the new experience provide a new insight on how to live their lives, coming in terms with being considered an outcast and the benefits of isolation from society. As Leah grows older, she becomes more like a Congolese woman who only wears the skin of an American, and while her frugal lifestyle may be looked down upon by her sister, Rachel, Leah has learned, through the judgmental stares and cold shoulders, to not let the opinion of others influence one’s life or deter them from assimilating into new cultures.

In all, Leah Price demonstrates the overall concept of change and freedom to adapt in a new light as she confronts the lingering control of her domineering father that forced alienation on every member of the family.

However, instead of allowing the corruption and grief of losing a significant figure in her life completely consume her, Leah embraces a new culture and turns to another male figure, her husband Anatole, for guidance. With new surrounding influences, Leah encounters various forms of separation, whether it be from her birthplace, father, or husband, and accepts all the drawbacks and loses that come along with the isolation. At the same time, Leah also challenges herself to overcome the loss and succumb to the loneliness that could potentially bring her closer to a new aspect of life never explored before. Through it all, Leah turns her experiences with exile into bittersweet memories sprinkled across the time span of her life for each rift allowed her to obtain a sense of self identity during periods of time free of human contact or, in Leah’s case,

men.