Lit circle on Judges.
In Judges, a lot is happening as far as exciting moments in the story go. The book begins with Nathan's decision to keep his family in the Congo and ends with the village being invaded with nsongonya or ants. In Judges, we see Leah doubt her father for the first time. "If his decision to keep us here in the Congo wasn't right, then what else might he be wrong about? It has opened up in my heart a sickening world of doubts and possibilities, where before I had only faith in my father and love for the Lord"(244). Through the prior parts of the Poisonwood Bible Leah has blindly followed her father and stood by his side through all of his mistakes. This is the first time that she acknowledges her father having done something wrong. She comes to find that the world her father lives in is much different than the real world and much different from her own. She says how she believed that if she followed her father, the same "simple laws would rule my life as well"(244). She discovers that the world is not black and white as her father sees it. Leah has been trying to look at the world in a good vs. evil perspective and finds that she cannot fit herself or the Congo into either of these categories.
In Nathan's world there is a war and his side always wins because of God's grace. However Leah does not know what side she is on. This is an important metaphor that explains the evolution of the relationship, or lack thereof that Leah has with her father. She wanted nothing more than to earn her father's favor, but she did not know how. Her father assumed that she would fight for his side, fight for all the right things without a second thought. She tried to at first despite the alienation from her father. However Leah's father would not let her fight in his war. "I'm not even allowed to carry a gun. I'm a girl. He has no inkling"(244). Leah finally admits that her father has abandoned her emotionally. He has turned his back on his daughter's love just as he turned his back on his wife.
I think this actually gives Leah and Orleanna a common thread as they have been a bit of clashing characters in the book. One of the things that occured in both Orleanna's and Leah's chapter was the mention of the "Kingdom", and also kind of being denied this kingdom. In Orleanna's chapter she says, "Poor Congo, barefoot bride of men who took her jewels and promised the Kingdom"(201). I think Orleanna considers herself and the Congo very much the same. When she talks about the "poor Congo" she is talking about how the Belgians and Americans exploited the country but she is also talking about herself. She is talking about how she didn't get the life that she wanted, the life that Nathan promised her. "What is the conqueror's wife, if not a conquest herself"(9). She was taken over and promised the Kingdom. Likewise, Leah refers to the "Kingdom" on page 244. "But where is the place for girls in that Kingdom? The rules don't quite apply to us, nor protect us either". What is this Kingdom that these characters speak of? I think that the Kingdom is metaphor for Nathan's heart. Both Orleanna and Leah had the same kind of unconditional love for Nathan and both were looked over by the one person whose love they wanted. There was no room for Leah or Orleanna in Nathan's kingdom. There was no room for any of the girls. He had only room for God in his heart and pushed everyone elso away. "They shall be as thorns in you sides..." (Judges 2:2;187) Perhaps Nathan took the words of the Bible too seriously and turned them against his own family.
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreau
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
On the last day of school before spring break, we watched a video that showed a similar story to The Poisonwood Bible.
The first and probably the most obvious comparison between the two pieces is the fathers in both of these stories. They are both the guiding hand of their families and will not accept anyone else's opinion. They both have to always do it their way and no one can tell them what to do. They also have this absurd belief that they are helping everyone they come in contact with. Nathan in the Poisonwood Bible hopes to save the people of the Congo by bringing them the Holy Spirit. He doesn't understand that the people are rejecting Jesus and they don't want help or salvation. In Mosquito Coast, Allie pushes his inventions onto the villagers around him and is convinced that the inventions will help modernize the simple natives. Although one man attempts to spread religion and the other wants to spread science they both have the idea that they can change the land they have come upon. In both cases, this belief is proved wrong. In the Poisonwood Bible, the Congo is not changed by anything brought by Nathan Price from Kentucky Wonder Beans to Christianity. Instead, Africa devoured these things and claimed them as its own. Similarly in Mosquito Coast, the place does not readily accept the inventions brought from America. For example, the people were thrilled with the ice machine at first, but in the end the invention was destroyed and Mosquito Coast remained unchanged. Instead the destruction of the ice machine changed Allie just as the incident with the vegetable garden changed Nathan Price. Both men found that their American way of doing things would not work in their new environment.
Another similarity can be found between Leah and Charlie. Both of these characters simple adore their father. In Mosquito Coast, Charlie says that he thought the world belonged to his father. He thought that everything his father said was true. Leah had similar feelings for her father. The Poisonwood Bible is full of examples of Leah trying to impress her father and win his favor. "I was thrilled by the mere fact of his speaking to me in this gentle, somewhat personal way"(77). This quote shows what kind of adoration Leah has for her father. She is excited just because he is speaking kindly to her. Both children struggle for attention from their fathers, and both children are not granted this. Throughout the story, both Leah and Charlie begin to change in the same way. As they start to realize their fathers are not always right, they start to lose faith and respect for them. After their beach house is swept away in the storm, Charlie knows that his father is not doing what is best for the family. He actually gets so angry at his father, that Charlie wishes that his dad was dead so that they could return to America. Leah also begins to rebel against her father when the village goes hunting for animals. Father forbids Leah to go hunting but she disobeys his and goes anyway. She disobeys him again when he tells her not to help Nelson and his superstitions. "I'm going out there to help Nelson, and Father can go straight to hell"(358). At the end of these stories, the children no longer need the approval of their fathers. They outgrow their blind worship and see what kind of men their fathers really were. Mosquito creek ends with Charlie saying this, "Once I had believed in father and the world had seemed small and old. Now he was gone and I wasn't afraid to love him anymore. And the world seemed limitless." Since they weren't just following in their fathers' shadows, Leah and Charlie had a better view of the world.
"Perfection of means and confusion of ends seem to characterize our age." Dante
The first and probably the most obvious comparison between the two pieces is the fathers in both of these stories. They are both the guiding hand of their families and will not accept anyone else's opinion. They both have to always do it their way and no one can tell them what to do. They also have this absurd belief that they are helping everyone they come in contact with. Nathan in the Poisonwood Bible hopes to save the people of the Congo by bringing them the Holy Spirit. He doesn't understand that the people are rejecting Jesus and they don't want help or salvation. In Mosquito Coast, Allie pushes his inventions onto the villagers around him and is convinced that the inventions will help modernize the simple natives. Although one man attempts to spread religion and the other wants to spread science they both have the idea that they can change the land they have come upon. In both cases, this belief is proved wrong. In the Poisonwood Bible, the Congo is not changed by anything brought by Nathan Price from Kentucky Wonder Beans to Christianity. Instead, Africa devoured these things and claimed them as its own. Similarly in Mosquito Coast, the place does not readily accept the inventions brought from America. For example, the people were thrilled with the ice machine at first, but in the end the invention was destroyed and Mosquito Coast remained unchanged. Instead the destruction of the ice machine changed Allie just as the incident with the vegetable garden changed Nathan Price. Both men found that their American way of doing things would not work in their new environment.
Another similarity can be found between Leah and Charlie. Both of these characters simple adore their father. In Mosquito Coast, Charlie says that he thought the world belonged to his father. He thought that everything his father said was true. Leah had similar feelings for her father. The Poisonwood Bible is full of examples of Leah trying to impress her father and win his favor. "I was thrilled by the mere fact of his speaking to me in this gentle, somewhat personal way"(77). This quote shows what kind of adoration Leah has for her father. She is excited just because he is speaking kindly to her. Both children struggle for attention from their fathers, and both children are not granted this. Throughout the story, both Leah and Charlie begin to change in the same way. As they start to realize their fathers are not always right, they start to lose faith and respect for them. After their beach house is swept away in the storm, Charlie knows that his father is not doing what is best for the family. He actually gets so angry at his father, that Charlie wishes that his dad was dead so that they could return to America. Leah also begins to rebel against her father when the village goes hunting for animals. Father forbids Leah to go hunting but she disobeys his and goes anyway. She disobeys him again when he tells her not to help Nelson and his superstitions. "I'm going out there to help Nelson, and Father can go straight to hell"(358). At the end of these stories, the children no longer need the approval of their fathers. They outgrow their blind worship and see what kind of men their fathers really were. Mosquito creek ends with Charlie saying this, "Once I had believed in father and the world had seemed small and old. Now he was gone and I wasn't afraid to love him anymore. And the world seemed limitless." Since they weren't just following in their fathers' shadows, Leah and Charlie had a better view of the world.
"Perfection of means and confusion of ends seem to characterize our age." Dante
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Revelation
This is my Lit. 8 on The Revelation.
This book book begins again with Orleanna speaking to what I think is one of her children who has died. "Oh little beast, little favorite. Can't you see I died as well"(89). At this point, we don't really know who she is talking to but it is obvious that there is a deep connection between these two characters. I think the first section of each book when Orleanna speaks is a foreshadowing to the rest of the book. For example, in Orleanna's chapter, she speaks of scars. "They are what there is to lose. A wife is earth itself, changing hands, bearing scars"(89). The image of scars occurs again later in the book when the Price family is introduced to Anatole. Anatole is a black school teacher who came to talk to Nathan about the affects his sermons were having on the community. "He has scars all over his face. Not accident scars, but thin little lines, the type that some of them here get done to them on purpose, like a tattoo" (125). In Orleanna's chapter, she talks about wives bearing scars and here comes Anatole with scars covering his entire face. I think that the scars represent the burdens of life that we all have to face. Anatole's family tragically died and he had to endure numerous years on the rubber plantations and in the diamond mines. The scars on his face show that these events will remain with him forever like a tattoo. It also shows that this character wears his scars proudly and is "beautified" because of them.
Another theme we see in Orleanna's chapter that relates to the the rest of the book is Nathan becoming more and more closed off from the rest of the family. "He noticed the children less and less. He was hardly a father except in the vocational sense, as a potter with clay to be molded"(98). This is the second time that Orleanna talks about herself as an object of her husband. She also refers to herself as "a conquest" in Genesis so it seems like she thinks she belongs to her husband. This relates to the theme of freedom which is present throughout the story. Orleanna's struggle for freedom from her husband parallels Africa's fight for freedom. A metaphor of this fight for freedom is Methuselah. The parrot finally finds freedom after he is killed by a civet cat. "After a lifetime caged away from flight and truth, comes freedom. After long seasons of slow preparation for an innocent death, the world is theirs at last. From carnivores that would tear me, breast from wishbone"(186). Only in death was Methuselah free at last. This says that freedom is only reached after violence and death. The carnivore is the whites that want to tear Africa breast from wishbone.
"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." John Milton
This book book begins again with Orleanna speaking to what I think is one of her children who has died. "Oh little beast, little favorite. Can't you see I died as well"(89). At this point, we don't really know who she is talking to but it is obvious that there is a deep connection between these two characters. I think the first section of each book when Orleanna speaks is a foreshadowing to the rest of the book. For example, in Orleanna's chapter, she speaks of scars. "They are what there is to lose. A wife is earth itself, changing hands, bearing scars"(89). The image of scars occurs again later in the book when the Price family is introduced to Anatole. Anatole is a black school teacher who came to talk to Nathan about the affects his sermons were having on the community. "He has scars all over his face. Not accident scars, but thin little lines, the type that some of them here get done to them on purpose, like a tattoo" (125). In Orleanna's chapter, she talks about wives bearing scars and here comes Anatole with scars covering his entire face. I think that the scars represent the burdens of life that we all have to face. Anatole's family tragically died and he had to endure numerous years on the rubber plantations and in the diamond mines. The scars on his face show that these events will remain with him forever like a tattoo. It also shows that this character wears his scars proudly and is "beautified" because of them.
Another theme we see in Orleanna's chapter that relates to the the rest of the book is Nathan becoming more and more closed off from the rest of the family. "He noticed the children less and less. He was hardly a father except in the vocational sense, as a potter with clay to be molded"(98). This is the second time that Orleanna talks about herself as an object of her husband. She also refers to herself as "a conquest" in Genesis so it seems like she thinks she belongs to her husband. This relates to the theme of freedom which is present throughout the story. Orleanna's struggle for freedom from her husband parallels Africa's fight for freedom. A metaphor of this fight for freedom is Methuselah. The parrot finally finds freedom after he is killed by a civet cat. "After a lifetime caged away from flight and truth, comes freedom. After long seasons of slow preparation for an innocent death, the world is theirs at last. From carnivores that would tear me, breast from wishbone"(186). Only in death was Methuselah free at last. This says that freedom is only reached after violence and death. The carnivore is the whites that want to tear Africa breast from wishbone.
"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." John Milton
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Ruth May Walk
In English today, we had to imagine ourselves as a character from The Poisonwood Bible and walk around as them. My character was Ruth May, the youngest of the Price girls. This is a post written in her voice.
We did just come back from the Congo and I swear to Jesus that we were not in Georgia for more than 20 minutes before leaving again. We came to this place where everything is shiny and green. Not like Africa which is brown everywhere. The people here are strange and all of them are different. There are whites like us and some of the Tribes of Ham but also every other shade of people in between. There are these people with yellow skin and black hair. I wonder what they did to make God curse them with eyes that can't open all the way. Mama says they're Asian like the people Father fought in the war. I don't think father would like it here all that much because of all the Asians. He doesn't like to remember about the war much I don't think. He'd probably say they're all going to hell besides. He'd say they're going to hell for not treating their body as a temple and showing too much skin. I think compared to the Congolese, these kids cover up just fine. But boy oh boy if Father was here, he'd have a fit if he saw some of the girls here. Every last one of 'em seems to have painted nails and piercings. I saw one girl who had piercings all over both of her ears. Mama said I'd better not stare so I try real hard not to. A whole bunch of 'em even wear makeup everyday. Father says these things are signs of prostitution but I can't believe future prostitutes would all be living in a place as pretty as this.Mama likes this place a lot. She says it's the most beautiful place she's ever been. Everyone else likes it here too. Rachel is getting along just fine with the white people at this school. The other people have no problem coming right up and talking to her but she thinks she's too good to talk to them. There are a lot of smart people here too. Smart like Ade and Leah. Some people still stare at Adah but mostly they're nice about it. I laugh at Leah sometimes when she talks to the other kids. Some of um just go and cuss right in front of her like it wasn't a sin at all. Oh boy when they do that Leah looks like she just might go and wash their mouths out with soap. I would feel sorry for them if she did that. Soap doesn't taste good. I would know because sometimes I am bad. We are all happy here, although Leah misses Father. There are lots of trees here and grass to run on. Mama lets me play out here even though I broke my arm in the Congo. I think she is just happy we are not there right now.
So that was Ruth May. It was quite hard to write in her voice. Yea.. so I hope it sounded like her.
"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." John Milton
We did just come back from the Congo and I swear to Jesus that we were not in Georgia for more than 20 minutes before leaving again. We came to this place where everything is shiny and green. Not like Africa which is brown everywhere. The people here are strange and all of them are different. There are whites like us and some of the Tribes of Ham but also every other shade of people in between. There are these people with yellow skin and black hair. I wonder what they did to make God curse them with eyes that can't open all the way. Mama says they're Asian like the people Father fought in the war. I don't think father would like it here all that much because of all the Asians. He doesn't like to remember about the war much I don't think. He'd probably say they're all going to hell besides. He'd say they're going to hell for not treating their body as a temple and showing too much skin. I think compared to the Congolese, these kids cover up just fine. But boy oh boy if Father was here, he'd have a fit if he saw some of the girls here. Every last one of 'em seems to have painted nails and piercings. I saw one girl who had piercings all over both of her ears. Mama said I'd better not stare so I try real hard not to. A whole bunch of 'em even wear makeup everyday. Father says these things are signs of prostitution but I can't believe future prostitutes would all be living in a place as pretty as this.Mama likes this place a lot. She says it's the most beautiful place she's ever been. Everyone else likes it here too. Rachel is getting along just fine with the white people at this school. The other people have no problem coming right up and talking to her but she thinks she's too good to talk to them. There are a lot of smart people here too. Smart like Ade and Leah. Some people still stare at Adah but mostly they're nice about it. I laugh at Leah sometimes when she talks to the other kids. Some of um just go and cuss right in front of her like it wasn't a sin at all. Oh boy when they do that Leah looks like she just might go and wash their mouths out with soap. I would feel sorry for them if she did that. Soap doesn't taste good. I would know because sometimes I am bad. We are all happy here, although Leah misses Father. There are lots of trees here and grass to run on. Mama lets me play out here even though I broke my arm in the Congo. I think she is just happy we are not there right now.
So that was Ruth May. It was quite hard to write in her voice. Yea.. so I hope it sounded like her.
"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." John Milton
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Big Island
So I am leaving for a trip to the Big Island tomorrow at 5:10 in the morning!!! I am super excited because the fourth grade Big Island trip was one of my favorite memories ever. I am also kind of nervous because I am responsible for taking care of these five little fourth graders. That's quite scary. It's also quite scary when the teacher tells you that your group is a "challenge". I met with my class on Thursday and I got this really nostalgic feeling when I did. I remember my own Big Island trip. It was the first time I had ever traveled without my parents but I wasn't homesick at all. Between the hiking and the games we played, I remember it as a trip filled with fun and lots of laughs. I am still friends with the same people I was friends with in fourth grade and I think that this Big Island trip helped to keep us close. We still look back and say what an awesome class we had and what a memorable time it was. Everything was perfect. I had great friends and an amazing teacher. I guess that's why I have such high expectations the second time around. I don't really know how this trip could be any better than the first time around but I'm not supposed to be going for me anyways. I'm supposed to be going for the kids. I hope that they have as great an experience as I did because I want to give back to a program that I think affected my life.
"There is no better exercise for your heart, Than reaching down and helping to lift someone up." Bernard Meltzer
"There is no better exercise for your heart, Than reaching down and helping to lift someone up." Bernard Meltzer
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Poisonwood Bible Genesis #2
Another entry about Genesis in the Poisonwood Bible.
Of all of the characters in the book so far, Adah has been by far my favorite. Her character has such a contumacious personality, and yet she is trapped inside of her shell. She is so complex and definitely has the most interesting voice of all the daughters. Adah is brain damaged so that half of her does not function well. "I was born with half my brain dried up like a prune, deprived of blood b and unfortunate fetal mishap. My twin sister, Leah, and I are identical in theory, just as in theory we are all made in God's image... But I am a lame gallimaufry and she remains perfect" (33-34). These lines say so much about the character and her disdain of her disability. She obviously blames God for her condition and sort of rejects Christianity because of this. I think because she is disabled, she not only hates God but everyone else around her. Her family is all healthy and Adah really just wants to know what it feels like to be normal. She continually refers to Leah as "perfect" and this shows how much she envies her. Adah doesn't understand why Leah is perfect and healthy and she is deformed.
Perhaps I like Adah the most because she is her father's rebel child and I am not particularly fond of the good preacher. I think she feels betrayed by God and I probably would feel like that too. "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). Her sarcasm can be imputed to her insecurities about her disability. Along with hating everyone around her, I think she also hates herself. She is incredibly obsessed with symmetry because she compensates for her asymmetrical self. "...physicians in Atlanta pronounced many diagnosis on my asymmetrical brain..."(34). She hates herself so much that she focuses on things that are the exact opposite of her. For example, she loves palindromes in a fanatical way. She makes up her own hymns or "snmyhymns" as she calls them that are all palindromes. "Evil, all its sin is still alive"(72)! Everything about her language is immersed in symmetry to compensate for her own lack of symmetry. "And palindromes, with their perfect, satisfying taste: Draw a level award"(57)! One of the themes we have been talking about in Lit. 8s is the idea of America not translating well to Africa. Adah and her palindromes might tie into this because Adah likes things that are the same always. Backwards or forwards or in America or Africa they are always the same.
"For never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." John Milton
Of all of the characters in the book so far, Adah has been by far my favorite. Her character has such a contumacious personality, and yet she is trapped inside of her shell. She is so complex and definitely has the most interesting voice of all the daughters. Adah is brain damaged so that half of her does not function well. "I was born with half my brain dried up like a prune, deprived of blood b and unfortunate fetal mishap. My twin sister, Leah, and I are identical in theory, just as in theory we are all made in God's image... But I am a lame gallimaufry and she remains perfect" (33-34). These lines say so much about the character and her disdain of her disability. She obviously blames God for her condition and sort of rejects Christianity because of this. I think because she is disabled, she not only hates God but everyone else around her. Her family is all healthy and Adah really just wants to know what it feels like to be normal. She continually refers to Leah as "perfect" and this shows how much she envies her. Adah doesn't understand why Leah is perfect and healthy and she is deformed.
Perhaps I like Adah the most because she is her father's rebel child and I am not particularly fond of the good preacher. I think she feels betrayed by God and I probably would feel like that too. "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). Her sarcasm can be imputed to her insecurities about her disability. Along with hating everyone around her, I think she also hates herself. She is incredibly obsessed with symmetry because she compensates for her asymmetrical self. "...physicians in Atlanta pronounced many diagnosis on my asymmetrical brain..."(34). She hates herself so much that she focuses on things that are the exact opposite of her. For example, she loves palindromes in a fanatical way. She makes up her own hymns or "snmyhymns" as she calls them that are all palindromes. "Evil, all its sin is still alive"(72)! Everything about her language is immersed in symmetry to compensate for her own lack of symmetry. "And palindromes, with their perfect, satisfying taste: Draw a level award"(57)! One of the themes we have been talking about in Lit. 8s is the idea of America not translating well to Africa. Adah and her palindromes might tie into this because Adah likes things that are the same always. Backwards or forwards or in America or Africa they are always the same.
"For never can true reconcilement grow, Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep." John Milton
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