Orleanna Price
- Introduced to the five main narrators: Mother~Orleanna Price/Daughters~Ruth, Leah, Adah, and Rachel.
- Orleanna is the first narrator. Asks the reader to imagine a jungle with her and her four daughters.
- Reader realizes over time that Orleanna is upset with the fact that she is overlooked by her husband (Nathan) who is immensely involved in his work.
- Interesting quote: "Orleanna Price, Southern Baptist by marriage, mother of children living and dead."
- Diction: Brindled~gray or tawny/Copulation~joining together
- Leah is the twin sister to Adah.
- At the beginning of the chapter she lists most of their belongings that they wish to keep with them in Africa.
- The plane that they go on however has a weight limit for each person. For this reason the family decides to hide the most important things inside their clothes.
- The family arrives in Leopoldville and is greeted by the Underwoods, a missionary couple who are their guides.
- The family is put on a small plane and eventually arrives in a small village.
- Ruth is the youngest of the daughters and through her syntax it is obvious to see why: "When Noah woke up he got to hear the whole story from the tattletale brothers. So Noah cursed all Ham's children to be slaves for ever and ever. That's how come them to turn out dark."
- She mainly describes in the chapter why there are dark skinned people throughout the world.
- It will be interesting to see the unfamiliar world of the Congo through the eyes of an infant later in the novel.
- Rachel is the oldest Price daughter and is most similar to a modern teenager: "I could just feel the grit in my hair, which is so extremely fair it is prone to get stained. Boy, what a place...For the flush commodes and the machine-washed clothes and other simple things in life I have took for granite."
- She describes the festivities that the villagers planed for the family.
- Reverend Price (Nathan) is asked to lead the villagers in a prayer but instead he goes on a rant and basically states that God's grace has yet to fall on the home of the villagers.
- This upsets most of the villagers who lose all excitement felt at the beginning of families arrival.
- The family decides that in order to be respect they must eat the food that was laid out before them. Rachel describes the experience in graphic detail, "Just wet clumps stuffed in my mouth that I would have to chew into glue."
- Adah is the most intelligent and observant of the sisters.
- She describes the village in great detail mentioning key parts of the village.
- Adah was diagnosed with hemiplegia, yet instead of constant complaint she believes, "Silence had many advantages."
- She ultimately knows that although her body might be week, her mind is strong.
- While Adah, Ruth, and Rachel decide to help their mom in order to make an excuse not to go outside, Leah decides to help her father create a garden.
- Leah's description of her father is this: "He's handsome, sandy-haired type that people presume to be Scottish and energetic, though possibly fiery-tempered."
- Brother Fowles was the missionary that came to Kilanga before the Price family. He left for the Price family a servant by the name of Mama Tataba.
- Mama Tataba critiques the way Reverand Price designs his garden and warns him not to touch the plant that she calls "Poisonwood."
- The Reverand listens to neither warning and wakes up the next morning with a large rash on his hands and arms.
- Knowing that the natives have no concept of specific dates in Christian culture, the Reverand decides to move Easter to the day of July 4th.
- "Color coordination is not a strong point. Grown men and women seem to think a red plaid and a pink floral print are complementary colors." This quote from Rachel adds to the idea that she is only concerned with material things, similiar to that of most modern teens.
- After planning an Easter pageant, the Reverand finds that only a few men come to the service pretending to be Roman gaurds at the tomb of Jesus.
- The Reverand also plans to have the natives baptised but becasue none of them agree to this request, they instead have a picnic supper.
- "Anything that ever was white is not white here. That is not a color you see. Even white flower opening up on a bush just looks doomed for this world." Without even realizing it Ruth May might just be forshadowing future events.
- Mama Mwanza, a tribe member, had her legs completley burnt in a fire that started on the roof of her home. She now had to walk only on her hands while still presuming the role of mother and caretaker.
- The Reverand believs that this event occured becasue they "don't even see how they could be healed" by accepting Jesus. On the other hand Mrs. Price believes that this event occured becasue of the harsh enviroment that the natives live in.
- Both Adah and Leah took tests in first grade and were announced as gifted children.
- Orleanna saw this as a burden and the Reverand said that "Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes, it's hard to say which is worse, seeing it run out and waste the water, or seeing it hold in and wreck the shoes."
- Kilanga enters the rainy season and after an aftertoon of extraordinary rain, Leah and the Reverand have to mend their destroyed garden this time following Mama Tataba's advice of building flood-proof mounds.
- After the rainy season the Price's garden has flourished immenseley
- Rachel's birthday comes~Betty Crocker cake mix bad b/c humidity
- Mrs. Price very sad~curses~parrot hears curse starts repeating it
- Rachel takes blame~Reverand punishes all the girls~gives girls bible verse~have to copy next one hundred verses
- "Feed the belly and the soul will come."-Reverand
- Reverand bought dynamite~village feasted one day~no ice meant fish went bad fast
- "In the way of the body and other people's judgment I enjoy a benign approval in Kilanga that I have never, ever known in Bethlehem, Georgia."-Adah
- Adah fits in w/natives~at home she was obvioulsly an outcast
- Mama Tataba mad @ Reverand for pushing babtism
- "If God had amused himself inventing the lilies of the field, he surely knocked His own socks off the the African parasite."-Adah
- Garden flourishes~no fruit~Reverand studies garden everyday
- Mama Tataba very upset at Reverand~gave another service on baptism~shocked all daughters~Mama Tataba quit
- Reverand figured there was no pollinators for garden
- Mama Tataba mad @ baptism b/c girl got killed in river by crocodile
- Reverand in anger forced parrot (Methuselah) to leave family
Orleanna Price
- Flashback for Orleanna:"I could have been a different mother, you'll say. Could have straightened up and seen what was coming, for it was thick in the air all around us."-Orleanna~foreshadow??
- Remembers day in market~Leah crashes over oranges~felt like great outsiders~many people stared with horid eyes
- Feels lost after parrot & Mama Tataba released
- Recounts adjustments in becoming apart of village
- Leah wants to learn language of the land: "I shall tell all the wold the lessons I learned in Africa."
- Family learns names of neighbors
- Recognize people by what they wear
- Tata Boanda is a sinner~two wives one old one young~Leah believes it can be solved by letting Jesus into your heart.
- Leah is now 15~"Maturing into a Christain lady."
- Bothered that she cannot speak the language~Ruth may has an easier time adjusting
- Spies on Eeben Axelroot~has guns, radio, and army clothes
- Leah makes friends w/Pascal~tries to teach him english words~both taught eachother different games
- Ruth broke her arm~spying on "African Communist Boy Scouts."
- Belgium Army~well armed~show their power on the area
- Mr. Axelroot flies Ruth & Reverand to Stanleyvill~Ruth finds diamonds on the plane
- "Reverand, missionary work is a great bargain for Belgium but it is a hell of a way to deliver the social services."-Doctor~does not believe in what the Reverand is doing
- Doctor talks about Patrice Lumumba~political leader of Congolese people~very dangerous
- Mr. Anatole comes to dinner~school teacher~"I inspected Anatole's special kind of face scarring instead...Around here the people seem content to settle for whatever scars life whangs them with as a decoration."
- Chief Tata Ndu is worried about village~too many good and healty people going to church
- Mr. Anatole says Reverand needs to worry about Tata Kuvudundu~village's local priest and fortune teller
- Reverand asks Mr. Anatole to leave~Mrs. Price and Reverand get into fight~Reverand smashes plate that daughters/Mrs. Price are very fond of
- Tata Ndu goes to Price's home to tell family that Adah had been eatin by a lion
- Adah walked slower then Leah to get water~Leah left her behind~Adah noticed more things when walking slower
- Adah followed by lion~lion killed a yearling bushbuck, not Aday
- When she comes home Tata Ndu is very dissapointed~ wanted to prove that, "...The gods of his village did not take kindly to the minister of cuppuption. As a small sign of Thier displeasure, They ate his daughter alive." (pg. 140)
- Anatole sends Price family a boy~name was Lekuyu but wanted to be called Nelson~help with chores~sent to have a better life by Anatole~"We were stumped as to why he was kind enough to send us Nelson, though."-Leah
- Village coming down with "kakakaka"~Nelson told Prices, "it's a disease where you have to go to the bathroom a thousand times a day."
- Daughters become very bored~Leah has odd feelings below her waist~Mrs. Price figures it is a side-effect of malaria
- Mrs. Price encourages girls to make hope chests~Leah not interested~Rachel very much so
- More villagers come to church becasue of Adah incident
- Ruth examines the different clothes the natives wear~especially Nelson
- Nelson tells Ruth everyone has their own God
- Ruth becomes very involved in chicken eggs
- Leah catches an owl~Nelson becomes very upset~tells her to get rid of it
- Underdowns visit the Prices
- Daughters are dismissed from room~Underdowns bring newspaper~Rachel sneaks into room and takes it
- Soviet leader Khrushchev plans to invade Congo and put in gov
- Underdowns tell Prices to leave~other missionaries are not coming
- "Only God knows when our relief may arrive. But God does know. And in His benevolent service we will stay."-Reverand
- Adah remembers from her Sunday school teacher that certain kids go to hell based on where they live~didn't believe this was right~therefore did't believe in God anymore
- Understands why Congolese people are fighting white people
- Nelson tells family that "kakakaka" was their fault
- Reverand goes with Eeben Axelroot to Stanleyville for Quinine pills
- Underwoods send letter instead of supplies~Prices need to prepare for their departure
- Patrice Lumumba wins election~"And do you think anybody in this hip town we live in is actually going to notice?"-Rachel (pg. 177)
- Mrs. Price very upset that their plane for home left
- Ruth wanted to get 7up for her mom~Rachel wouldn't help her
- All seem very depressed
- Underdowns take Leah and the Reverand to see Lumumba speek~promises freedom for all of Congo
- Leah and Reverand eat w/Underdowns before they leave~very luxorious meal
- Leah eats alot!
- Adah finds Methuselah killed by a cat~"At last it is Independence Day, for Methuselah and the Congo."-Adah
- "None of what he was taught in the house of the master. Only feathers, without the ball of hope inside. Feathers at last at last and no words at all."-Adah (pg. 186)
Orleanna Price
- Orleanna talks about how she met Nathan (the Reverand)
- Married eachother~Nathan went to Phillipeans as soldier~greatley injured~rest of soldiers died~never was the same
- Nathan very devoted to God~embarrased by sex and by pregnancy~They lived out of van
- Eventually lived in Bethleham, Georgia
- Family no longer recieves $50 stipened
- "Yet our neighbors in Kilanga seemed to think: Could this really be, a white person fyata?" (pg. 206)
- Mama Mwanza offers oranges and fish
- Nelson believes family now has a curse
- Nelson teaches Adah the meaning of very important Congolese words
- "Here in the Congo I am pleased to announce there is no special difference between living people, dead people, children not yet born, and gods-these are all muntu." (pg. 209)
- Nelson believes twins are bad for the village
- Many women have twins~leave them to die in forest
- Ruth and Mrs. Price lie in bed alot
- Obvious that Mrs. Price is becoming very depressed
- Ruth cannot tell sometimes whether she is awake or dreaming
- Daughters now have to take on the responsibilities of the home~"Our childhood had passed over into history overnight. The transition was unnoticed by anyone but ourselves."
- Reveran very mean to daughters~did not help the daughters at all
- Each decided on a job~Leah/fruit~Adah/chickens~Rachel/bread
- Leah tried to cheer up Ruth May~finding locan insects and animals to entertain Ruth May
- Anatole tells Leah that Moise Tshombe (leader of Katanga Province) wants to break away from Republic of Congo.
- Wants to make deal with Belgians/Americans
- Patrice Lumumba threatens to bring in Russia~turn nation communist
- "...But still it's frightening when things you love appear suddenly changed from waht you have always known."-Leah~description of what has happened to entire family
- Ruth continues to stay in bed w/Mrs. Price
- Hears Reverand and Mrs. Price fight~In Stanleyville two missionaries were shot~Reverand not worried
- Nelson gave Ruth a "nkisi"~if she feels like she is going to die, she must blow in it~she will dissapear
- Rachel & Leah get into large argument~Mother comes out of her room~tells Rachel she will teach her how to cook
- Mrs. Price said she would take them out of the Congo no matter what
- Leah starts to have doubts about her father~still believes in him anyway
- As Rachel was cooking, Brother Fowles comes to town to visit
- Brother Fowles tells family Congolese people are very religious~in their own way
- Tells stories of nature and animals
- The Reverand and Brother Fowles have long discussion over scriptures~did not invite them to dinner
- Brother Fowles gives family food and medicine~said to talk to Tata Ndu b/c he had surprising resources
- Drought worsens & Ruth May does not seem to be getting better
- Chief showed up five days in a row with presents
- Reverand believed Tata Ndu is coming around
- Nelson told Mrs. Price Tata Ndu wanted a wife
- They both laugh~Nelson says Rachel's color would cheer up Tata Ndu's wife
- Tata Ndu represents will of village~Prices do not want to offend chief
- Village seemed peaceful compared to others
- Ruth May still getting worse
- Mr. Axelroot and Reverand come up w/plan~Mr. Axelroot is said to have Rachel's hand already
- Rachel has to pretend to be engaged on porch
- Rachel believes if she can flatter him, he will fly them out
- Ruth is moved into living room~Mrs. Price finds Ruth's malaria pills stuck to wall~reason why Ruth is sick
- Ruth believes she got sick b/c she didn't tell her parents about Axelroot's diamonds
- Rachel is now seventeen~recieves old jewelry from Mrs. Price
- Ruth May continued to have a fever~Adah got stung by a scorpian~mongoose ate some eggs
- The Reverand is the only one who has not changed~Ruth is healthier yet she has no energy~Leah is engulfed in Anatole
- Anatole gives Leah bow and arrow~Village sees her as "bizzare"
- Leah starts to fall for Anatole
- Leah & Anatole tell of the differences between Congo and America
- Leah says she will make Anatole a globe
- Rachel is growing more fond of Axelroot
- They take a walk and Axelroot both gives her a cigarette and a kiss
- Axelroot tells Rachel that President Lumumba is going to be killed~U.S. is involved
- Adah sneaks out of the house and spies on Toorlexa Nebee
- She states that the Reverand is still trying to push baptism
- Another man enters Axelroot's airplane~talk about Lumumba's assasination~on the radio they mention Eisenhower
- Adah couldn't believe the news~"What sort of man would wish to murder the president of another land? None but a barbaria. A man with a bone in his hair." (pg. 298)
- Leah was awokened by Nelson~Dragged her out of the house and said ants were taking over the village
- Ran to river~Family not with her~Anatole ran back for family
- Rachel runs from house and only brings her mirror
- Remembers what to do when running in large crowd~gets to the river but no one lets her on the boats
- Thrown off a boat and breaks her mirror
- Ruth is taken by her mother out of the house from the ants
- She is then seperated when a Congolese person grabs hers
- Tries to remember a good place like Nelson said~wants to be green mamba high in the trees
- Adah was left behind during the chaos by her mother
- Was being trampled by the natives~Anatole helped her and led her to the river
- "That night marks my life's dark center, the moment when growing up ended and the long downward slope toward death began."~Foreshadow? (pg. 306)
- Leah disgusted by what happened~Anatole does not seem as angry
- Leah tells of Lumumba's assasination
- Anatole tells her not to make life a mathmatics problem
- Anatole tells her that villagers are secretley helping the family out
- Leah tells Anatole that she loves him~Anatole tells her never to say that again
Orleanna Price
- Talks about Lumumba's escape
- Mobutu now ruler of Congo
- Completley oblivious to everything going on
- "God doesn't need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves." (pg. 327)
- Tata Ndu comes into church
- Villagers vote on if Jesus is God of the village~decide that he is not
- Leah wants to hunt with men during large hunt
- Put again to a vote~Anatole says she should~Leah allowed to hunt
- Curse put on Anatole~finds a green Mamba
- Nobody sleeps before the hunt
- The women pick up edible insects along with children that have been scorched
- "On the day of the hunt I came to know in the slick center of my bones this one thing: all animals kill to survive, and we are animals." (pg. 347)
- Leah gets in confrontation with one of Tata Ndu's son about who shot the Impala
- Nelson defends Leah~calls Tata Ndu's son a woman
- Rachel is disgusted by whole event~goes home to take a bath
- Breaks out in tears~hates where she is
- Everyone in the village fought over the fresh meat
- Tata Ndu threw piece of meat at Leah for the Prices to eat~Leah threw it at his son
- Tata Ndu said Prices had decided not to eat\
- Leah and Reverend got into large arguement~tension in the household
- Nelson said something had put a curse on him~Reverend didn't let him into house
- Sisters helped create trap for anyting that went into chicken house
- Sisters creep out with Nelson to see what they had caught
- Turned out to be green Mamba that killed two chickens
- Nelson hit it to make it go away~noticed in the ashes they had laid there was footprint w/six toes
- The girls hear a scream~comes from Ruth May
- She was bitten by the mamba
- Nelson yells at Leah to get help~Leah is completely frozen
- "A lightning that cannot strike twice, our lesson learned in the hatefull speed of light." (pg. 365)
- Describes what Ruth did when she got bite
- Realizes she has to tell her parents
- Not sure how they will react
- Nobody could move
- Orleanna's reaction is only silence
- "She wasn't baptized yet."-Reverend (pg.368)
- Orleanna made a shroud for Ruth
- Nelson creates a funeral arch
- Reverend starts to baptize Ruth's friends in the rain
Orleanna Price
- Giving away their belongings only curved the pain
- Completley left Reverend~said she didn't mean to~left with her daughters
- She realizes that she is very similar to Africa
- Took only what they could carry on backs
- Because of increased amount of mosquitos Leah gets malaria
- Has very strange dreams
- Falls in love with Anatole who meets up w/family~Adah and Orleanna go to America
- Lives in Johannesburg w/Axelroot
- She falls in love with the luxuries~makes friends
- Adah demands to be accepted into Emory University in Atlanta
- Recounts how it was difficult getting to America
- Realizes she owes mother her life~"She would drag me out of Africa if it was her last living act as a mother. I think probably it was." (pg. 414)
- Leah is sent to Mission Notre Dame De Douleur~Anatole wants her safe~being white is very dangerous
- Anatole take to jail~Leah only recieves letters from him
- Pro-Lumumba group constantley fighting w/pro-Mobutu group
- Rachel marries Axelroot
- Critizises those who are not white~"But you just have to try and understand, they don't have the same ethics as us. That is one part of living here. Being understanding of the differences." (pg. 424)
- Axelroot abuses Rachel~spends money on lavish clothes and going to beach~has affair with French ambassador
- Anatole is released from jail
- Leah is sad for Ruth~Anatole sad for Lumumba
- Government continues to get worse
- Leah learns that her father has gone mad
- Meets neurologist that helps her loose her slant
- Orleanna is now apart of Civil Rights movement
- Leah and Anatole move to Atlanta and have child
- Adah asks Orleanna why she chose her over Leah~Orleanna says she works from the bottom up
- Mobutu's government has changed all names~Congo now Zaire
- Now have three children together~Anatole's sister living w/them
- Family though is suffering through disease
- Leah furious at government~Mobutu invites two boxers to fight in Africa~Leah even more furious
- French Ambassador leaves Rachel for his mistress
- Marries again but he dies~gives her a hotel
- Makes it into very prominent hotel~very independent
- Anatole once again arrested
- Leah remembers going to America~disgusted by the overabundace
- Life very hard for her becasue she is white and Anatole gone
- Leah plans a trip for the family
- Meet in Senegal for a few week~constanly bickering about government, democracy, and where to eat
- Leah and Rachel take car to get Anatole who was released from prison
- During trip Leah tells sisters about how she heard the Reverend had passed~burned by villagers because thought he was a curse to their village~many children died from crocodile attack
- "Jesus is poisonwood! Here's to the Minister of Poisonwood. And here's to his five wives!" (pg. 490)
- Orleanna moves to Georgia coast~Adah tells her the Reverend has died~very quiet about it~goes outside to plant flowers
- Did not want to talk about what Reverend had done
- Leah has her fourth son:Nathaniel~had him on side of road~very sick~didn't eat for a week
- Talks to the fire, trees, and the moon~thinks she is going mad
- Anatole recieves job offers from Angola~too dangerous to go~America giving weapons to war lords
- "If I have to hop all the way on one foot, damn it, I'll find a place I can claim as home." (pg. 506)
Rachel Price
- Rachel is now fifty~Proud to be have her looks and success
- Realizes Reverend's faults
- Knows she cannot fit back into American society
- Leah and Anatole now live in Angola~Nathaniel is ten
- Take in refugees during dry season
- Anatole tells stories of how Africa would have been if evil foreigners had not controlled the continent
Adah Price
- Adah stops practicing medicine
- Co-workers critisize her work in the viruse field~moves to the Congo
- Discovers how viruses interact w/world around them
- Viruses act more like relations to Adah then anyting else
- "I am born of a man who believed he could tell nothingbut the truth, while he set down for all time the Poisonwood Bible." (pg. 533)
- Last chapter narrator:Ruth May
- Discovers how things are connected~her point of view from the first story Orleanna spoke of
- Mobutu is now dead~country now in greater chaos
- Orleanna and her daughters want to go to gravesite of Ruth~never make it
- Learn at the market that the village of Kilanga no longer exists
- Tells her mother to forgive herself
No comments:
Post a Comment