Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The POISONWOOD BIBLE

Barbara Kingsolver's best seller, The Poisonwood Bible, was published in 1998. It's the gripping story of the Price family. Nathan, a Baptist preacher-missionary obsessed with ramming Jesus down African throats, moved his wife and four daughters in 1959 from Georgia (US) to the Belgian Congo. He is narrow minded and obsessed, a misogynist amidst his four women, inflexible and totally closed to the intricacies and strength of the culture and spiritual life of the village of Kilanga and its inhabitants. In this day and age, after 911 and incessant bombings in the US, the Middle East, and Indonesia, to name a few places, I believe, that mentality would be classified as hardliner, although I have never heard the term being applied to a Protestant. 
His wife Orleanna is a prime victim of the husband and the situation. The four daughters—Rachel who is very blond and 15 when they arrive in the Congo, wants nothing more than to return to Georgia and become the belle of the ball. The twins Leah and Adah, one year younger than Rachel, are identical in respect of their tremendous intelligence, but physically totally different. Leah is a tomboy daring, outspoken and enterprising, while Adah, hemiplegic[1] from birth, is restricted in her movements and does not want to speak. Ruth May, the five years old late arrival, is playful and independent and the first one to establish a contact with the village children.
The villagers are not interested in the fire and brimstone sermons of Nathan Price and strongly oppose his endeavours to baptise them in the river. His sermons are translated by Anatole, the highly intelligent village teacher and only one who speaks English. The village chief Tata Ndu is against the foreign intrusion and the attempts to erode his authority. A shadowy South African bush pilot delivers their monthly rations from Leopoldville.
When in 1960 the Congo gains independence from Belgium, Nathan Price is instructed by his Mission HQ to leave the Congo and return to America. He refuses and against the wishes of his females he decides to stay. The monthly rations are terminated together with the 50 dollar stipend.
Times are dire and just to feed the family a daily problem. When suddenly Tata Ndu pays them regular visits they are very confused not having any idea what is happening. When their helper Nelson, who has been placed there by Anatole, explains to Orleanna that the village chief wants to marry Rachel—because the blonde would be entertaining for his six wives. Rachel throws a tantrum and demands to be repatriated, which only results in her having to copy the appropriate Bible texts, the ones that refer to honouring thy father...
Nathan comes up with the idea to pretend that Rachel had already been promised to Eeben Axelroot, the bush pilot.
The evening I read that I woke up in the middle of the night, not really woke up, more like a vivid dream where I had a very active role to play as director and writer of the scenario. In a country where, after independence, whites were paraded naked in the streets of Leopoldville, or just shot, resisting the wishes of a village chief was not advisable. Would Eeben be shot, Rachel be abducted, the whole family chased out of the village, or poisoned...? I couldn't come up with a satisfactory solution.
I'm not going to tell you how it all ends. Read it yourself. It was a bestseller in 1998 and selected by Oprah for her book club, and it still is good. I strongly recommend.
Jakarta, 21 August 2013



[1] Paralysis of one side of the body