Cameron Walker

Period 6

8/13/14

Change

In “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver, the story is about four daughters who were born in Georgia but spend most of their childhoods in Africa. Rachel the eldest daughter, is the daughter who it takes a while to adjust to their current circumstances. She is a city girl, and is used to living in the developed world, so when she moves to Africa with her family it takes her awhile to get adjusted to her new home. She isn’t very grateful in her current situation and wants to return home.  Her exile is both alienating and enriching and it illuminates the work as a whole because he teaches her to adapt to a new culture, and humiliating herself to fit in.

 

            Rachel’s process to adapt to the new culture takes a while. She begins as a materialistic, and snotty fifteen year old, but slowly changes. She can’t get away from the reality that she will be living there for a short period of her life, so she might as well get used to it. But as the book continues, she continues to adapt to the culture. She even ends up getting engaged to Eeben Axelroot because she was going to have to marry Chief Ndu. Out of all the daughters she ends up spending the most time in Africa, and moves to Johannesburg where she lives for a while and marries three different husbands.

 

            In order to fit in to the new circumstances, she has to lower her standards to fit in. When she gets there, she can’t stand the stench of people, even though they give her a warm welcome. Then she judges the people because it takes her awhile to figure to out that they are singing Christian hymns. As the book continues she keeps lowering her standards, and stops thinking that she is superior to the Africans. This makes her a much better person, especially due to the fact that every person is equal.

 

            In conclusion, exile can be a good thing or bad, depending on how you spend it. For Rachel, it started off as bad, but eventually she accepted the situation that she was in and tried to make the best out of it. Her time in Africa made her a better person, and she was able to live their for a longer time.