An Analysis of Poetry in “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver

The inclusion of “This is my letter to the world” emphasizes the growth of the speaker. During the Price’s stay in Kilanga, the family witnessed hundreds of deaths. These were tragic occurrences in their eyes but to the natives, they were simply nature’s message. At the beginning of the novel Adah would have received the world’s writings with a wide-open mailbox. Being a character with a persecution complex and a slight case of self-pity, she would have welcomed death as a sweet escape to the mistreated life she had been placed in. Therefore, when the world so kindly delivered its message of death to those around her, Adah looked on with envy. Why was the world not writing to her? As the novel progresses, however, her outlook is transformed.

When Adah ventured into the village she was incapacitated by burdens of pity and resentment- burdens that were much more debilitating than any amount of supplies ever could be. Up until the night of the ants, Adah really believed she was satisfied with being swept away; so, when she found the power to pull herself up she surprised herself. Looking back on the night she realized that she was not simply floating above the surface of the earth but had taken root in the ground. In essence, living mattered. The weight from the beginning was replaced by the question of why she received the fortune of being spared by the “hands [she] could not see.” This, in turn, ignited her fire for life. Kingsolver’s inclusion of the poem helps show the difference between what Adah bore on the way in and what she carried on the way out.

There are two possible narrators for Emily Dickinson’s “Tell all the Truth…” The book clearly shows that the inclusion of the poem marks the moment when Adah decides to speak. Up until that point she truly was a silent observer and picked up the idiosyncrasies of the other characters and of the Congo. Because of this, she bore the most truth within the Price family. When she and Orleanna returned to Bethlehem she was moved to reveal her story. However, as the poem declares, if someone shares the complete, unabashed truth it is too much for humans to handle. They are blinded even before they attempt to see. They listen with closed ears and formulate a story based off of the superficial impact of the atrocities. Adah is a girl obsessed with maintaining balance and in order to avoid knocking the town off its axis she told the truth at a “slant.”

That is not the only intention of the poem though. If interpreted on a broader scale the narrator becomes Africa and the audience becomes America. When Adah is behind the truth she tells the story of herself in the Congo. When Africa takes over, it is telling the story of the Congo. There is no middleman to make the story personal. There is no interpreter to translate the message into a facile storybook. There is simply the truth- rugged and accusing. It is easier for America to feign mistranslation than to attempt understanding. This poem helps take the novel from a family’s tragedy to a nation’s calamity. It displays how Kingsolver makes the two, one and the same. Emily Dickinson’s, “Hope,” can show a direct contrast between what Nathan sees of himself and his mission, and how everyone else, especially Adah, interprets it. Nathan foresees that hope, warmth, and freedom will stem from having believing in Christ. He based his life off of these steadfast principles and because of his faith he deemed himself righteous. The poem brings life to these words in the form of a bird. The animal described is supposed to be a haven from trial and persecution. Even in the most desolate situations it sings a never-ending song of comfort. In theory, Nathan is following the same process. Like the bird, he sings the song of a Baptist missionary without ceasing and without altering paths- two characteristics that prove him to be blameless, in his opinion.

The contrast comes because the faith and the hope that Nathan exhibits is nothing like the hope described in the poem. Rather than instilling the principles of grace and comfort, Nathan makes God out to be spiteful and cold. Unlike line one, the bird that landed in the souls of the Price girls no longer perches. Like a vulture it stalks their hearts and minds, waiting for the first misstep. The Congolese villagers were observant people and even if they did not fully comprehend the freedom Nathan sold, they understood that not one of the Price women was free. They were free from neither condemnation nor death, and in a country plagued by war and disease what else mattered? I believe this poem conveys that man’s narcissistic righteousness, portrayed through Nathan, is the one thing that jeopardized the truly righteous proclamation of God. Nathan’s pride inhibited him from learning how to teach and today our nation’s pride keeps us from learning how to cooperate.