Talk:The Poisonwood Bible
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Why the link to Heart of Darkness?--TWaye 05:51, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Heart of Darkness reference
Part of the reason I had difficulty reading The Poisonwood Bible is that from the moment I began, I kept thinking, Heart of Darkness has already been written -- why is this book needed?
The two books share a common theme. Mainly, the attempt of the western world to impose its beliefs on Africa not only harmed Africa but, in the process, destroyed the western envoys
I aggree with the above poster, who has indeed summed up the theme that Western attempts to impose beliefs on Africa have, indeed, harmed Africa. This notion should be clearly stated under themes if it isn't already. However I would say that the Poisonwood Bible is different in many ways. It has more respect for Africans, who appear as individual people with aspirations and strategies of their own (in Heart of Darkness they appear only as corpses, starving laborers, canibals, and heads on sticks). The character of Brother Fowels, the previous missionary who assimilated into the African culture is a type of character more or less absent in Conrad's novel (unless one counts Kurtz who is somewhat assimilated but who still asserts himself as a deity above his tribe). Also The Poisonwood Bible rebukes Marlowe's rather Victorian assertion that women are "out of it completely." Orleanna says (p. 9 Original Edition)"What is the conqueror's wife if not a conquest herself." Leah may be idealistic and Rachel may try to lead a "normal" or "respectable" life, but all of the daughters are victims, and all of them must find a way of coping with their expiriences. Indeed, it is Nathan who most most often seems "out of it completely."
[edit] Miniseries
kingsolver, in one of the latest editions of the poisonwood bible, says that she is writing a screenplay for a miniseries for the book. does anyone have any info?
