The Poisonwood Bible (Blog 4) A Family Tragedy

In Loving Memory of…

Ruth May

Ruth May Price, 5 years old, originally from the United States travelled to the Congo to help the Congolese villagers. Ruth May always held a positive outlook on life. She enjoyed being outside and learning more about nature. Ruth May died out back of the family home in Africa due to a Black Mamba Snake bite injury. Leading up to her death she contracted malaria and spent many weeks sick in bed 
with the disease.

Throughout Ruth May’s life she has held animals nearest and dearest to her heart. This past year has been especially remarkable when it comes to animal pets. Owls, snakes, various birds, and even a mongoose have come to call the Price house their home. In Ruth May’s free time she enjoyed walking through nature and spending time with her family.

Ruth May is survived by Mother Orleanna Price, Father Nathan Price, and Sisters Rachel, Adah, and Leah Price. Ruth May is the youngest of her three sisters.

Please join her friends, families, and animals as they celebrate the short life of Ruth May Price on the third day the sun rises out front of the Price family home.
Following the funeral will be a pot luck by the river and everyone is asked to please bring a dish to pass.

The Poisonwood Bible (Blog #3) (Week 3)

Rachel Price is by far the most self centered, egotistical, and narcissistic person in the price family, with the exception of Reverend Nathan Price, their father. Everything that Rachel thinks about is how rough the Congolese people have it and how much they actually need to learn before they can become good enough to be considered a true and real culture. This mentality she clearly gets from her father. Reverend Nathan is very set on his ways about changing the Congo into “God Loving” people. Nathan is the type of guy who automatically assumes he is correct and knows that this is what he was put on earth to do. Because of his war experiences and how his entire brigade lost their lives but he was saved he took it as a sign from God himself. Nathan believes that it is his duty to teach God’s word at any and all cost. Rachel knows that her father means well, but can’t help but also think to herself that she shouldn’t be wrapped up in any of this because she is better that it. When the swarm comes through the village everyone must run to the river to stay alive. In the process, Rachel drops and breaks her mirror. The mirror, in actuality, resembles Rachel’s narcissism. Now that it is broken and she cannot look and admire herself she may be able to open her eyes to the beauty of the Congo and Congolese people around her. Also in the swarm, Orleanna must make the decision of which child she must help. On one hand there is Ruth May. Ruth is very sick with malaria because she did not take her medication, but on the other hand there is Adah. Adah is crippled from birth and struggles to walk as it is. Orleanna quickly makes the decision to grab Ruth May. Adahis sickened. She feels as though she has been betrayed by her own mother. She always knew that she was a burden to her family because of her condition, but to be left on the ground in the middle of chaos was a true slap in the face.

Adah's Perspective

The Poisonwood Bible

Adah’s Perspective of the Congo

The Price family is comprised of six people: Orleanna, Nathan, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May. Each and every one of the family members has their own unique characteristics and opinions about the African Congo. Reverend Nathan is obsessed with bringing change to the people of Africa and showing them the correct way to seek God. Rachel is tired of being in the Congo and judges every person she sees there with her Western ways. Adah, though, is very different. Adah is Leah’s twin sister. Adah looks at everything with a totally different perspective than other people. She was born crippled so she knows that she is unique and it can be seen in the way she views the African Congo. Because Adah is a twin and crippled she likes to feel as though she is different than every other person in the family. She even has her own “backward code” language. By using this “coded” language she reveals to the readers that she views herself as almost incompetent to speak the same language as the rest of the family. Even when she speaks about herself as a twin she calls herself a “niwt” instead because she doesn’t have the self-worth to use the same word for herself as she does her sister. During the duration that she is dragging herself in the jungle she notices many different animals and natural features such as: elephants, and streams, and waterfalls. She also notices how the women work as they have their babies. She admires their work ethic and how they all go about their day. When Adah got back from the jungle she decided to relax and take a nap in the hammock. Tata Ndu found blood by the tiger and thought that Adah was killed by the tiger. He was ectatic about his finding because he though God was sending the village a sign to not listen to the Prices teachings. Adah decided to rain on his parade by getting out of the hammock and setting everyone straight. She began to notice how the villagers washed clothes and showered and cleaned and drank. She noticed their system. The Congolese people know more about hygiene than the Prices do at this point. They wash their clothes downstream, bathe in the middle, and drink above. They baptize and carry out communion on their own system. Adah is starting to admire how the villagers use and have their own system. She is beginning to realize that the Congolese people do not need help in anyway because they already know how to manage themselves. Adah is, by far, the most mature and open eyed person in the Price family.