Friday, April 5, 2013

    

                                                       Kayla Blurton

                The Beauty Within


      The jungle, full of beauty, life, and death. Many animals roam free and inhabit the 

land. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbra Kingsolver, takes you deep inside the Congo. 

The story of a family trying to adapt to the wild environment around them. The 

deeper you get into the book, you begin to realize similarities between certain people 

and the animals. I will show you what I mean. 

      As I began to explore the vast animals of Africa, I stumbled across an African 

Manatee. Because of the largeness in size, it tends to be relatively slow. Another 

interesting fact is that they are usually found by themselves. Throughout the novel, 

Adah is described as some one that is abnormal. She is also very slow because of her limp

She prefers too spend time by herself, but she is very very wise/smart for her age.



         In Africa, there are many different types of birds, but one that caught my eye is 

the Handsome Franklin. As you can see in the picture below, she is tending to her 

young. They are known too be very protective over their children. Orleanna Price, the 

mother of the Price family, plays a very important role in the book. She tends too her 

children and makes sure they have plenty too eat and that they stay well and healthy. 



      Cheetahs are known for their magnificent running ability. They can hunt, jump, 

and turn in an instant. They are always on the move and they usually have a mate. 

Leah Price is symbolized through this brilliant animal. She may not run as fast, but she 

is always on the move whether it's trying to gather food, taking care of her children, 

or spending as much time and devotion as she can with her husband. 



     
       Rachel Price is your typical teenage girl. She takes a lot of pride in her looks and 

how she dresses. She likes too be as radiant as possible. In other terms, Rachel is very 

spoiled and selfish. If you look closely at the peacock, you will begin to realize similar 

characteristics. Peacocks flair their beautiful/colorful feathers to gain attention. They 

are also very prideful in they way they walk; they strut around with their head held 

high.





        The lovable little girl we all fell in love with,Ruth May, always loved too play; 

She was full of life. However, her curiosity seemed to get the best of her. A baby 

African antelope can easily portray her. The antelope is young and carefree. 

However, if it separates from the herd, it can run into prey just 

like Ruth May did.





   Nathan, the hot headed father, that does only what he wants, is clearly ignorant and 

oblivious too the world around him. Throughout the novel, the more time that passes 

by, he slowly becomes more distant from his family. He is very rude and hurtful with 

the things he says. I think his personality closely relates too a crocodile. Crocs are 

very dominant, and they do what they want too do no matter who 

gets hurt in the process.




    The real question is, was Barbara Kingsolver purposely trying too relate the animals 

with the characters in this novel? There is no real answer too this question. In my 

opinion, I think she was. She is very dedicated in her work, and I'm sure she did her 

research about the wildlife and the environment.

“Every time I write a new novel about something sombre and sobering and terrible I 

think, ‘oh Lord, they’re not going to want to go here’. But they do. Readers of fiction 

read, I think, for a deeper embrace of the world, of reality. And that’s brave. I never 

get over being thankful for that – for the courage of my readers.” 

As you can tell by that quote, Barbara is a very deep thinker about the world and the 

things that make it up. 

"Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal. As spirits they belong to the 


eternal world, but us animals inhabit time." quote by C.S. Lewis

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