Exile In Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible

Edward Said once wrote “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift between a human being and a native place, between the self and it’s true home: its essential sadness cannot be surmounted,” however Said also stated exile can be “a potent, even enriching” experience. The Poisonwood Bible, a novel written by author,
Barbara Kingsolver, features a young girl, Leah Price, who experiences exile in both of these manners and is completely changed by her experience while living in the Congo as a missionary’s daughters. Leah Price is exiled from her father, her homeland, and her entire belief system, all of which she believed defined her as a young woman. Through this ostracism Leah develops her own sense of self and is able to grow …show more content…
Exile can bring about some of the most difficult, yet most enriching and exciting changes in a person’s life. Barbara Kingsolver explores exile in her novel, The Poisonwood Bible, through Leah Price, the second price daughter. Leah is exiled from her father, her homeland, and her belief systems, which brings about many shifts in her character. Kingsolver uses exile in order to develop her characters from childhood to adulthood, much like in real life. Kingsolver mirrors the separation from a person's child like manner and the way they can no longer connect to who they were at that young age and early stage in a person’s life. The Poisonwood Bible features exile in Leah’s life in order to allow the reader to see how growing up and being
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separated from childhood changes a person. Edward Said was correct in stating the exile is both
“enriching” and “alienating” as demonstrated in the life of Leah Price and her personal development. The unhealable rift between Leah and her past have shown how exile can drastically change a person’s entire