When the Price family is placed in a life or death situation, the daughters are forced to choose and bring their most valuable object with them. The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, takes place in a small village named Kilanga during 1959. The family is in the Congo for a missionary mission to help the Congolese people and make the Congo a better place. When an ant invasion terrorizes the small village, the Price girls must make a quick decision on what to bring with them while the ants destroy the remaining things.
Rachel, the oldest daughter, chooses her hand held mirror but Adah, brings her own voice with her. While Leah, chooses her love for the Congo and Congolese people. The physical or mental objects that the daughters choose to bring are carried with them for the rest of their lives. First and foremost, Rachel brings her hand held mirror with her during the ant invasion and into her future because she only values her mirror. The mirror symbolizes the respect that she has for the Congolese people because when the mirror “fell like knives into the mud” (302), her manner and respect for the Congo disappears.
Moreover, when Rachel is trying to escape from the ants, she fools herself into believing that Mama Mwanza is selfish for not inviting her onto their boat. Rachel even states, “She did deserve help, poor thing, but I personally have a delicate constitution” (302). However, Mama Mwanza is missing limbs and is a mother to a lot of kids that are filling up the space in the boat. Also, Mama Mwanza has to be carried on her husbands back because she is unable to run or walk. When Rachel’s mirror breaks, she loses all of her respect to the Congo as well because from that point on, she is nothing but rude and isrespectful to the people of the Congo.
“I can’t see how those boys are any kin to me” (464), Rachel states, which consequently showcases her attitude toward every Congolese person because she is unable to acknowledge any of her nieces or nephews. Since Leah, her sister, is married to Anatole, Rachel is unable to see past the fact that her nieces and nephews are half white and half black. In other words, Rachel’s hand held mirror is a symbol of her respect to the Congolese people, even when it shatters into a million pieces. In addition, Adah chooses her own voice that she values the most and uses it for the rest of the novel.
Before the ant invasion, Adah never said a single word but when the ants came into town, she finds her voice and speaks her mind. As a result, Adah’s voice is a reflection of learning how to speak up for herself. She starts to use her voice when Orlenna tries to leave her behind in the invasion, but as her last attempt for help, she cries out, “Help me… please” (305-306), to her mother. Ironically, from Adah crying for help, she learns that to survive in the real world, she has to speak up for herself because nobody can help her unless she asks.
Hence why, in the future when Adah attends Emory University, by talking to her colleges, she learns that her disability is reversible and she can be a regular human being. Since Adah makes the decision to choose her voice, she is able to interact with other people and find opportunities that may have never came if she stayed mute. Thus, Adah chooses the power of speaking as her object during the ant invasion in Kilanga, and it sticks with her into the future. Last but not least, Leah chooses her love for the Congo and the Congolese people over her belongings that she owns.
When the Price family starts to flee from Kilanga, most of the members in the family only worries about their own belongings except for Leah. Instead, she worries about Mama Mwanza and the first thing that she thinks of is, “I’d thought to worry about Mama Mwanza but not my own crippled twin” (300). The fact that Leah worried about Mama Mwanza surviving the invasion more than Adah, her sister, shows a lot of compassion, love, and respect for the Congolese people. Later on in the novel, Leah says, ‘When I can remember to be a good Congolese wife, I tie it up in a headcloth” (430), where she is referring about being a good wife to Anatole.
Since Leah, chooses to value the Congo over anything else during the ant invasion she is able to understand that the Congolese people are the same as her, while being able to maintain a loving relationship with a ngolese man.. Her relationship with Anatole can only last if she carries the compassion, love and respect for the Congo like she did during the invasion, and Leah proves that she does over and over again. All in all, even though Leah did not bring anything physical, she does however, bring the love of the Congo and the Congolese people with her and into her future with Anatole.
In conclusion, Rachel, Adah and Leah all chooses an object that holds value to them and keeps the value of the object into the future. Rachel takes her mirror, which symbolizes the respect she has for the Congolese people. While, Adah brings her own voice that showcases the value of being able to speak up for herself. Finally, Leah chooses her love for the Congo over her belongings and family. Overall, the Price daughters had to choose their most valuable object to bring with them when the ant invasion occurred and after the ants left, the daughters still held the value of each item with them throughout the rest of their lives.
