Thursday, March 31, 2011
Poisonwood Bible Title Meaning???
Since the first day that we recieved our poisonwood bible books i was always curious as to why it was called such, and what the significance of Poisonwood was. Early on in the book it makes a brief appearance when Nathan is afflicted with horrible rashes, when he does not heed the warnings of Mama Tataba. Since that section Poisonwood has been absent, at least until Judges. On pg 276 on Adah's section she say "TATA JESUS IS BANGALA! declares the reverend every Sunday at the end of his sermon. More and more, mistrusting his interpreters, he tries to speak in kikongo." and further on she states "Bangala means something precious and dear. But the way he pronounces it, it means the Poisonwood Tree. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, my friends! for Jesus will make you itch like nobody's business." To me these quotes epitomize just how foolheaded and ignorant Nathan is, meaning that he has not taken the time to understand the natives and their culture, he is unaware that a word in kikongo can have different meanings depending on the way that it is said. And as far as the natives are concerned Nathan is preaching the GOSPEL OF POISONWOOD(hence why the book is called the Poisonwood Bible.) Anyways these are just my opinions on the meaning of the title, and i would like to know what other people's thoughts were?
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Im with you Eric! I have also been wondering why PWB is called PWB. I am hoping it all comes together in the end or something, because if they already gave away the purpose of the title in the book, I guess I missed it!
ReplyDeleteYeah Eric! I wish you would have brought this up in class (of course we didn't talk about the book today). The title really signifies the tendency to think we know everything about the world... the way we jump to assumptions and wave our ignorance proudly. When in reality, we should admit we don't have all the answers, we may not understand everything, we may need to learn. I reality we all preach the Bible of Poisonwood sometimes.
ReplyDeleteNathan's character is continuing to bother me because he is so closed-minded. I know what he should be seeing, but he just doesn't see it!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of reading MacBeth in Brit Lit and talking about dramatic irony. i.e. We knew the negative things on his mind about how he needed to kill so-and-so while he was talking to them, all while smiling at them, but the person he was talking to had no idea what was really on his mind.