The first book of the Poisonwood Bible, Genesis, introduces us to the Price family who is going to be living in Africa for a year trying to spread their religion, Christianity, to the African people.
Because this book is titled “Genesis” I immediately thought that this part of the novel would have multiple references to the book of Genesis in the bible. The book of Genesis in the bible starts at the very beginning when God created the world, and this book also starts at the very beginning of the Price family’s journey to Africa.
When the family first moves to Africa, they have a challenging time adapting to the Congolese culture. One of the first kinds of wildlife that is mentioned in the book is the okapi “by the stream.” Okapi are most closely related to the giraffe, although from a distance they look similar to a zebra. Okapi are unsocial animals that enjoy living in large, secluded areas. The mannerisms of the okapi are similar to the Price family when they first arrive in Africa. Since they are the minority in Africa, the family resides in a home isolated from the rest of the people, similar to the okapi.
Thus far, throughout their stay in Africa, the Price family has had a difficult time accepting the beliefs of the African civilians. Of course, this isn’t surprising because normally, every person thinks that their beliefs are the correct ones and that that makes them superior over others. Leah and Reverend Price attempt to plant a garden outside of their house, so that when the garden becomes plentiful with crops, they will be able to supply the villagers with food at a large picnic. The garden that is planted is symbolic of The Garden of Eden in the bible. The imagery in this chapter helps describe the area around the garden and it is easy to see that the poisonwood tree is a symbol of the Tree of Knowledge in the bible. The Tree of Knowledge is the tree that God forbade Adam and Eve to eat from, yet they disobeyed Him. In this chapter, Leah and Reverend Price represent Adam and Eve and Mama Tataba represents God. Mama Tataba instructs Leah and Mr. Price to plant the seeds in “hills” so that the rain would not wash them away, but thinking they knew better than their master, they planted the seeds how they thought would be best, but then were punished for disobeying when the rain washed the seeds away. It is ironic that Reverend Price was actually the one being taught the lesson in this situation, showing that although he is a higher authority, he still needs to be taught, just like everyone else because no one is superior to God.
Also in the garden scene, I saw the seeds as a reference to the biblical parable of the mustard seed. In this parable, Jesus tells a crowd that although they may not understand something he teaches, if they have faith the size of a mustard seed, they will flourish like the seed does when planted. When Leah and Reverend Price aren’t open to planting the seeds how Mama Tataba instructs them to, all of the seeds are washed away by the rain, but when they become open to her ideas, the seeds flourish.
This novel has already taught so much about being open to others ideas and beliefs in order to make us better people, but I wonder if throughout the book, the Price family will continue to be open to the African way of life or if they will let their egos get the best of them?
