The Poisonwood Bible contains many themes throughout the novel. It is interesting to see how the characters react towards certain themes, especially the theme regarding justice and injustice in the Congo as well as globally. Justice can be defined by many as the quality of being just or righteous. Most of the Price family reacts to this in the same way, but Adah responds in sort of a different way. Adah Price is a very intelligent girl. Although intelligent, she isn’t the compassionate one between her and Leah. She is more of just an observer of the world coming into this book.
She loves er family without being intellectual with them. She does not consider them as best friends. Her mind would have to be her best friend since it travels along with her everywhere she goes. Adah is in an unfortunate situation with her health. She was born with a condition called hemiplegia which disables the left side of her body. Instead of dwelling on this she seems to look toward the more optimistic things on life. She likes to seclude herself from the world, but at the same time is very aware of what’s taking place. Adah even refused to speak a lot unless it were an emergency.
She likes to view the world sort of ackwards. One of her hobbies is spelling words in reverse order, also known as a palindrome. The use of this literary technique is seen throughout The Poisonwood Blble often in the Books of Adah. Random names and words are scrambled all the time. She loved science and to read books. She loved going to the libraries in Bethlehem. Even her elementary school noticed her gifted brain. Her family is very religious since her father is a preacher and mother considers herself a devout christian as well.
The rest of the family is just trying to figure out the world and further their religion. They go through on a rollercoaster ride hroughout the novel which tests each family member’s ability to thrive in an unknown environment. They want to spread the word of Christianity throughout the Congo which is a task itself since the natives have beliefs of their own. Most of the family does not agree with what their father is doing, but they will do whatever to impress him. That does not seem to affect Adah as she could care less, and seems to be well off independent.
She finds her own source of religion which happens to be science in which she devotes most of her life to. Adah just goes with the flow around her dad and Christianity to pass by as she just anders around in her mind. At the beginning of The Poisonwood Bible Adah and her family experience strange things right off the plane that they’re not used to. Even the nude women freak out Nathan. Moving to the Congo seemed like a new beginning for the family. It looked as if Adah could really express herself and interests in a new environment. She already knew how the United States was after living there her whole life before now.
The Price family was exposed to injustice in the United States and sought to bring justice with them to the Congo. Adah’s goal was to be able to continue to thrive in her hobbies. She didn’t know how people in the Congo would react to her unorthodox ways. She carries on with her ways as she begins to communicate with some of the people in the Congo and spell their names backwards. One thing that plagues the villagers is the kakaka which can not really be stopped. Adah soon realizes that things have to take their natural course, in which her love for science helps her with understanding this.
Nature almost Lumpkin 3 came back to bite her when she barely escaped being a nice dinner for a hungry lion. This helped her be more optimistic and grateful on life. This event sort of changes her towards being ore compassionate like her sister Leah. The real question is, are people showing injustice across the whole world or not? With the want of global justice she then begins to realize that the world can never reach complete perfection. Not everyone can live as long as each other and everyone is different. With all the dangers in the Congo there is no way to cure everything bad.
If someone does not die to malaria then someone will die to a snakebite such as Ruth May, which was rough for the Price family. This brought the family closer for sure although this was another thing that could not be fixed. If you try to cure someone ho is sick to one disease, they will just catch another one as easy as that especially in Africa. People die at a tremendous rate in Africa and the United States sends doctors over to fix it because they believe it is unjust, but in reality justice can not take place completely in some circumstances.
With a new birth in the world, one must go. You can not change the balance of the world and Adah is okay with that. She does not despair over it since she has a huge interest for science which focuses on the balance of nature. Adah does become more open to trying your best for justice later in the book. She even begins to speak and cares more about her life realizing her worth in the world. This is the transition of her ways towards justice. Instead of being worried about every little bad thing that happens or takes place around her she still seems to just be an observer about everything.
Adah does become more involved with everything but still tends to observe as it makes everything less frustrating as the rest of her family are torn by the small things. This leads to a lot of grief which Adah is smart enough to avoid. You will never achieve your own happiness if you try to worry about every ther little issue. Adah was able to move on after Ruth May’s death in which it took the rest of the family some time since they are more intellectual. Adah sticks to her true self and follows her passion and studies the life of viruses.
The older Adah has a more realization of the world and its features. Most importantly she finds herself which is not to much different but has a few tweaks. She even gains the strength to overcome her disability with the help of a neurologist. All of her experiences build her up to be the character she is later in the book. She is easily still the smartest person in the family. No one will have a more prestigious job than her in the family. Even grown up Adah still likes to play with palindromes.
It is just fascinating with all Adah has been through she is able to stay true to herself and keep her composure. The Poisonwood Bible has a wide variety of characters and Adah happens to actually be one of the different. You just get this lonely vibe from her even though she has an extraordinary mind which propels her from others. A lot of the text of her books in The Poisonwood Bible is just her thoughts floating around her head. She does not necessarily have a lot of action that goes on her books. Another big reason for this is because of her being crippled most of the novel which is unfortunate.
Adah is okay with it and loves herself and has an idea of the girl she wants to be for the rest of her life. She exiled herself from others when she was younger and still did it following her own path when older. She did not go on to marry guys and have kids like her other sisters. Orleanna wants forgiveness from Ruth May at this point and Adah just kind of looks past it still. The Congo ended up not being the place for Adah and the Price family as a whole. It really hurt others morales because they did not want to go in he first place, but lost their daughter and sister while living there.
By leaving the Congo they are leaving their mark and legacy behind as they tried to fight for justice. You can learn new things anywhere and the Price family definitely took home some life lessons with them. They won’t make the same time mistake again. There many themes throughout the novel. One that is interesting is global justice and injustice in which Adah realizes it is impossible to have complete justice all over the world. Nature nor God will allow according to her. The less despair you have, the less you have to worry about.