Andrew Anthon
Given
World Literature
05 February 2018
Poisonwood Bible Response #3
The Poisonwood Bible essentially suggests that humans tell stories in order to come to terms with what they experience and to evolve.“To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story” presents the idea of the process of change in life occurring when one acquires the words of a story. This suggests that storytelling is crucial to the process of individual development. “My life: what I stole from history and how I live with it” facilitates the idea that existence revolves around the past. The past is how we come to terms with ourselves and is our only means of evolution. Reflection upon one’s past is a universal process for humans and is the determining factor …show more content…
Religion is the direct result of the Price family’s plight. If it wasn’t for religion, the Price family would have never embarked on a Christian missionary trip to the Congo to begin with. Nathan’s obsessive devotion to his god results in him abusing his family, losing his mind, the deaths of children, the destruction of the Price family, and his premature death. Leah, the most successful of the Price family, acquires her success and happiness by devoting her life to science rather than the supernatural. The novel suggests that the key to success and happiness is to accept facts and progress forward by learning and letting go of the past. The novel can be read as a political allegory as well. The congo represents the misuse and ambiguity of new found power. When Belgium grants the Congo liberty, they are incapable of responsibly dealing with the situation. Belgium can perhaps be seen as a god like figure for the Congo, when the governing power that is Belgium releases the Congo they are clueless. This can be equated to the anti religious allegory because it insinuates that Christians are too dependent upon a higher power. Rather than doing things for themselves, they presume change will just naturally occur just like the Congo. I do not agree with the notion that all humans are innately complicit. Firstly, because the nature of being complicit is relative. What determines what is good or evil is based upon the general behavior of humans, therefore if all humans were complicit, they would in actuality be normal people. Although I do agree with the claim that all humans at some point can be complicit. Nobody’s an impeccable being, so of course eventually everyone will commit a wrongdoing. I think people are generally good-natured and the reason for their complicity is due to their short sighted nature. They fail to consider outcomes and
Given
World Literature
05 February 2018
Poisonwood Bible Response #3
The Poisonwood Bible essentially suggests that humans tell stories in order to come to terms with what they experience and to evolve.“To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story” presents the idea of the process of change in life occurring when one acquires the words of a story. This suggests that storytelling is crucial to the process of individual development. “My life: what I stole from history and how I live with it” facilitates the idea that existence revolves around the past. The past is how we come to terms with ourselves and is our only means of evolution. Reflection upon one’s past is a universal process for humans and is the determining factor …show more content…
Religion is the direct result of the Price family’s plight. If it wasn’t for religion, the Price family would have never embarked on a Christian missionary trip to the Congo to begin with. Nathan’s obsessive devotion to his god results in him abusing his family, losing his mind, the deaths of children, the destruction of the Price family, and his premature death. Leah, the most successful of the Price family, acquires her success and happiness by devoting her life to science rather than the supernatural. The novel suggests that the key to success and happiness is to accept facts and progress forward by learning and letting go of the past. The novel can be read as a political allegory as well. The congo represents the misuse and ambiguity of new found power. When Belgium grants the Congo liberty, they are incapable of responsibly dealing with the situation. Belgium can perhaps be seen as a god like figure for the Congo, when the governing power that is Belgium releases the Congo they are clueless. This can be equated to the anti religious allegory because it insinuates that Christians are too dependent upon a higher power. Rather than doing things for themselves, they presume change will just naturally occur just like the Congo. I do not agree with the notion that all humans are innately complicit. Firstly, because the nature of being complicit is relative. What determines what is good or evil is based upon the general behavior of humans, therefore if all humans were complicit, they would in actuality be normal people. Although I do agree with the claim that all humans at some point can be complicit. Nobody’s an impeccable being, so of course eventually everyone will commit a wrongdoing. I think people are generally good-natured and the reason for their complicity is due to their short sighted nature. They fail to consider outcomes and