ESSAY #1

“Listen. To live is to be marked. To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know. In perfect stillness, frankly, I've only found sorrow.” In The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the Price family goes on a religious mission to Africa for their father, who is a baptist preacher. The mission changes all of their lives entirely. One of the daughters, Leah, craves the attention of her father and knowledge, but as time progresses, her views change drastically. She no longer feels connected to her birthplace and begins to lose her faith in her father because she no longer feels like she belongs within American culture. Leah choose to never live in the United States again because she doesn't feel she belongs there. As the most out-spoken and independent daughter, she not only learns from Africa, but she soon becomes a part of the African people, culture, and way of life. At the beginning of the book, her skin color did define who she was and how she was treated. She was not an Congolese local, so she had many more indulgences than those of the Congolese people. As the story continues and politics shift, Leah begins to realize how privileged she truly is and how those privileges weren't even that important. This revelation causes her to leave her old way of life behind in order to adopt the Congolese way of life in which she feels more connected to. Her tone and usage of words shows how she felt more like an African than an American. This change and the idea of clarity are themes in the book in which Leah embodies.

"I could see that this whole idea and business of Childhood was nothing guaranteed. It seemed to me, in fact, like something more or less invented by white people and stuck onto the front end of grown-up life like a frill on a dress." The African way of life is extremely different than the lifestyle in the United States of America. The African people struggle each and every day due to their lack of resources. Now, due to her father's quest to bring the salvation to the rest of the world, Leah was thrown into this hard lifestyle without any idea of how it would actually affect her. In the beginning, Leah was privileged and didn't quite understand the African culture, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try to adapt. As a driven and strong-minded individual, Leah immersed herself into the Congolese way of life. She had a hunger for learning. Leah soon began to connect with the African people unlike her father, who was too proud to steer away from "God's way". As time passed, Leah no longer felt like she was an outsider. She had become a part of Africa itself. Now, even though she had proven her worth to the African people, her skin color and gender did effect how she was looked upon, but she broke down those barriers over time. Leah was a hunter, a teacher, and a wife of a Congolese man. She performed and conquered these responsibilities just like a man, which was unheard of in the Congolese community because women were not afforded the same privileges as men were. She was in the middle of two societies. Her physical appearance fit in with the American lifestyle while her mental state was devoted to Africa.

"But my father needs permission only from the Saviour, who obviously is all in favor of subduing the untamed wilderness for a garden." As a young girl, Leah looked at her father as a role model and truly believed in what he was preaching, which was that Africa was full of sin and he needed to come in order to save all of the damned souls, but this changed once they moved to Africa. Due to her father's stubbornness, Leah learned and communicated with the Congolese community in order to help her father, but she soon realized how insane her father was due to the fact his religious point of view didn't make sense to the Congolese way of life such as wanting to baptize their children in alligator infested waters. Now, Leah was different from the rest of her family. She choose a harder lifestyle than her previous one. The reason why she choose the Congolese way of life was because she felt like it was more rewarding. She struggled each and everyday in order to survive and support her family. The struggles and challenges were worth it in Leah's eyes since she felt that by living that way, her life had more meaning and was more rewarding.

"We are the balance of our damage and our transgressions… Believe this: the mistakes are part of the story. I am born of a man who believed he could tell nothing but the truth, while he set down for all time the Poisonwood Bible." The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is a story that digs underneath the lines to uncover the truth about adapting to diversities, discovering new points of views, and finding where you truly belong. Leah Price and her family moved to Africa on a mission for her father in order to help show the Congolese people the way of God. Originally, she was just your average American girl, but the influence of Africa changed her point of view entirely. She began to fall in love with Africa and soon felt as if it were home. By the end of the story, she holds no connection with the United States of America because she feels like her home is and always will be Africa. She had to deal with biases and misunderstandings, but in conclusion, she realized that Africa was her home and that the challenges were worth it.