In Class AP Essay

The United States and the continent of Africa are nothing short of two completely different worlds.  Yet the magnitude at which these two societies differ increases as one forces their own beliefs and morals on another.  In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, a traditional "white-bread" American family moves to a small African village and begins a quest to not only force the villagers to seek God but begin on a journey to find themselves.

In one of the most violent and surreal moments of the novel, Adah one of the main characters, experiences a sense of abandonment like never before.  Adah is a character who is seen as an outcast from the beginning of the novel.  Due to her mental illness she is physically and emotionally slower than the rest of her sisters.  During a night like any other, a wave of giant ants suddenly sweeps through the village eating everything in their path.  As Nathan and Orleanna try to gather their daughters and run for the river, Adah is the only sister left behind until a villager finally rescues her.  Adah in her previous life in the United States was always cared for and looked after by her parents, never being let out of their sight.  Since moving to their new home in a foreign land, Adah has been somewhat forgotten due to the new responsibilities of the entire family.  The realization that she is truly alone develops after the wave of ants.  Because of the new environment Adah has been thrown into she becomes more independent than ever.

Nathan Price, the father of Adah knew he was on a religious pilgrimage of good intentions.  Yet because of his strict moral values, he not only pushed the villagers away but his family as well, Adah in particular.  Adah did make a special contact with religion while she lived in the states yet she felt no hatred towards it also.  However as her life in the Congo continued as well as the seemingly endless raid of her father's beliefs, she began to make a strong opposition towards any kind of religion.  This was due in part because of her father's new found insanity as well as the loneliness she encountered in such an unknown environment.  It is through her perspective on religion that the overriding theme can be found: one must find their own beliefs rather than have them forced by another.

A new culture or environment can cause extreme changes in characters which is why Adah is no different.  The moment she stepped foot in the unfamiliar world of Africa she knew something was different and that something would change.  Ultimately through the raid of giant ants and her fathers uncontrollable persistence of religion, Adah became something she never even expected.