The Poisonwood Bible Entry (Roles)

What role do you think each child will play in the story The Poisonwood Bible?

Ruth May Price: Ruth May is the youngest of the four Price sisters; she is also referred to as the baby of the family. She is quite gullible and believes everything she hears from others. In her chapter she talks about a time when her class mate in Sunday school told her something about their new home in the Congo. “In Sunday school Rex Minton said we better not go to the Congo on account of the cannibal natives would boil us in a pot and eat us up. He said, I can talk like a native, listen: Ugga bugga bugga lugga. He said that means, I’ll have me a drumstick off’n that little one with the curly yellow hair. Our Sunday-school teacher Miss Bannie told him to hush up. But I tell you what, she didn’t say one way or the other about them boiling us in a pot and eating us up” (21). This quote shows us, the readers, how naïve and gullible Ruth May really is. Because she is the youngest of the family she still believes and supports everything her Father and Mother say meaning she doesn’t have her own voice yet.

Leah Price: Leah Price is the other twin, the healthy one, in the Price family. She seems to be quite observant of many things; she notices and infers things about her sister and others by just their actions and words. In a way she is critical and derisive towards others, mostly her own sisters. “In the beginning my sisters bustled indoors, playing the role of mother’s helper with more enthusiasm than they’d ever shown fir housework in all their born days. For one reason only: they were scared to set foot outside the house. Ruth May had the bizarre idea that our neighbors desired to eat her. Rachel, who sighted imaginary snakes at the least provocation, said,” Jeeze oh man,” rolled her eyes, and announced her plan to pass the next twelve months in bed” (35). Leah is Daddy’s little girl therefore she is glad to have gone on this journey to the Congo. She is also has the most positive attitude towards there new living style. She also supports and does everything Daddy says the right way. She plays the role of Daddy’s support system.

Adah Price: Adah Price is the quiet one with the disability of the twins in the Price family. People have said that she is quiet and choose not to talk much because of her disability. Although, Adah Price has a disability she is the most descriptive, observant, and keen out of the four sisters. She describes even the plainest things as elaborated as possible. I inferred this after she said, “But the way I see it through my Adah eyes it is a flat plank clipped into pieces, rectangles and trapezoids, by the skinny black-line shadows of tall palm trunks. Through Adah eyes, oh the world is a-boggle with colors and shapes competing for a half-brain’s attention” (30). Another example of this would be when she describes how her and her twin, Leah, grew different. “My twin sister, Leah, and I are identical in theory, just as in theory we are all made in God’s image. Leah and Adah began our life as images mirror perfect. We have the same eyes dark and chestnut hair. But I am a lame gallimaufry and she remains perfect. Oh, I can easily imagine the fetal mishap: we were inside the womb together dum-de-dum when Leah suddenly turned and declared, Adah you are just to slow. I am taking all the nourishment here and going on ahead. She grew strong as I grew weak. (Yes! Jesus loves me!) And so it came to pass, in the Eden of our mother’s womb, I was cannibalized by my sister” (34). She also loves and accepts each of her family members for their good characteristics and as well as their bad ones too; this includes accepting herself for who she is with her disability and all. She is the most honest and non bias; she seems to just tell it like it is. Adah, even with her disability, tells the clearest and most descriptive story line of their voyage through the Congo.

Rachel Price: Rachel Price is almost sixteen years old and is the oldest of the four Price sisters. She is at that stage in her life of adolescents and is in a way “to cool” to be seen with out of date family or parents. I inferred this after she had said, “Mother took hold of her hand and also mine—something I would not have tolerated in the slightest back home in Bethlehem” (22). I also inferred that she was a lot more concerned with her material items and looks then their twelve-month mission in the Congo; after she had said, “Day one in the Congo, and here my brand-new tulip-tailored linen suit in Poison Green with square mother-of-pearl buttons was fixing to give up the goat” (23). The modern day materialistic arose in her throughout their trip. I inferred that she is very depended on modern living and when put in the situation of their twelve-month mission she complains and refers a lot to the things they should have brought. An example of when this was shown when she always talked about what they should have brought. “Another thing we should have brought: Listerine” (23). Rachel is by far the most materialistic of the four as well as the biggest complainer. She will never forgive her father for pushing her outside of her comfort zone and removing her from her content life in Georgia. Instead of trying to make the best of the voyage to the Congo all she seems to be doing is complaining. This inference was made when she said, “A roar of voices and weird birds lombarded my ears and filled my head to the brink. I am sensitive to noise of any kind—that and the bright sunlight both give me tension headaches, but the sun at least by then had gone down” (24).