118 pages 3 hours read

Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1998

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Symbols & Motifs

Poisonwood

Poisonwood is a type of tree which causes puss-filled boils when touched. Reverend Price first encounters it when planting his demonstration garden. He fails to heed Mama Tataba’s warning that it “bites,” resulting in the characteristic painful swelling and boils. Reverend Price later mistakenly uses the phrase “Tata Jesus is bängala!”, which says “Jesus is poisonwood” rather than his intended statement of “Jesus is precious.” This statement becomes an emblem for Reverend Price’s ignorance as Jesus is unintentionally associated with the dangerous tree.

Congo (personified)

Orleanna and Adah, as well as other characters, repeatedly personify the Congo. Orleanna frequently draws parallels between herself and the Congo, on the basis of their respective histories of abuse and loss. By personifying the Congo, Orleanna makes her understanding of its state clear. She considers it to be the “barefoot bride,” taken in by false promises, robbed by her husband, and left with boot marks on her back. Similarly, Adah’s personification of the Congo highlights the reinvention its conceptualization has undergone through revisionism. The chained, female Congo becomes the young man Zaire, seemingly free from the history of exploitation after his transformation.

Related Titles

By Barbara Kingsolver

Plot Summary

logo

Animal Dreams

Barbara Kingsolver

Animal Dreams

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Barbara Kingsolver

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver

Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Flight Behavior

Barbara Kingsolver

Flight Behavior

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

High Tide in Tucson

Barbara Kingsolver

High Tide in Tucson

Barbara Kingsolver

Plot Summary

logo

Pigs In Heaven

Barbara Kingsolver

Pigs In Heaven

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Prodigal Summer

Barbara Kingsolver

Prodigal Summer

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

The Bean Trees

Barbara Kingsolver

The Bean Trees

Barbara Kingsolver

Plot Summary

logo

The Lacuna

Barbara Kingsolver

The Lacuna

Barbara Kingsolver

Study Guide

logo

Unsheltered

Barbara Kingsolver

Unsheltered

Barbara Kingsolver