Palestinian, Edward Said, wrote "Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home; its essential sadness can never be surmounted." He is trying to say that isolation can be harmful to one, as well as a cultivating experience. In The Poisonwood Bible the Price family must leave their home of the United States for a missionary trip to the Congo, but when they arrive the alienation is even firmer on Adah then the rest of her family. She deals with isolation from the natives and her family, which has a multitude of effects on her.
Adah is one of the few white folks in the small village of the Congo. When they arrive they feel out of place due to the clash of cultures that they struggle to keep up with, but once the hype of the arrival of the Price family dies down they realize they are family with no knowledge of how to live in their new environment, with their only help coming from Mama Tibata. Adah having a major physical handicap looks like she could be one of the villager with white skin. I felt like this led to her family looking past here, for example when Adah and Leah were sent to the river to get water, Leah impatiently left Adah behind on the trail where she was stalked by a lion and pronounced dead by the villagers. When they told the Price family they believed she was attacked, everyone was shocked when Adah appeared off the hammock at the house because no one had any awareness of where she was. As the story continues and Adah's sisters become closer to the natives or their family, she almost choose to exile herself from her family due to her unrelenting desire to not be affiliated with them.While her journey in the Congo was about to end she had lost her younger sister Ruth May to a snake bite, Leah got sick with malaria and stayed with Anatole's family, Rachel staying and marrying herself into enough money to satisfy her needs, Adah was surprised when her mother chose her over Leah. Leah whom Adah always considered a family favorite. When Adah returned to the states she overcame her disabilities and continued her education into college, where she later went on to study new cures for African diseases. These achievement of hers were possible from the experience she gain while she experienced the Congo "by herself".
Adah began her adventure to the Congo already semi-distant from her family, but once arriving they almost pay no attention to her and she grows on her own. She continued to exile herself until the end where she came together with what was left of her family to leave for home. After the rest of her sisters stayed behind, her mom and her made it home. She became a new Adah and went back to Africa to try and save lives by producing cures to dieseases.
Lukas! Your introduction was something that grabbed my attention which made me interested in reading the rest of your essay, especially the way you put Adah's personal experiences from the novel which readers can relate to. One thing, I recommend is that with all these experiences you have in your essay, you could have expanded by adding what Adah gained or lost from that incident. That can help the reader view, as well as yourself, on how and why Adah shaped into who she becomes. Other than that, this was a well-constructed piece Lukas and I am excited to see more of your work throughout the year!
ReplyDeleteThank you Milli, I see what you mean and I will work on that for future essays like this on. I as well am excited to see your work as well as what we can do we this new profound power of this blog.
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