“Look, that’s why there’s rules, understand? So that you think before you break ’em.” (Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time). In Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver presents the idea of punishment and how it can occur if you don’t follow the laws or laws of culture and religion.
The cause of Ruth May’s death was seen as a punishment because of her religion; For example, “For once he had no word to instruct our minds and improve our souls, no parable that would turn Ruth May’s death by snakebite into a lesson on the Glory of God. My Father, whose strong hands always seized whatever came along and molded it to his will, seemed unable to grasp what had happen. “She wasn’t baptized yet,” he said. I looked up when he said this, startled by such a pathetically inadequate observation. Was that really what mattered to him right now- the condition of Ruth May’s soul? (Page 368) Furthermore, this conveys that religion is a big part in the Price family, because throughout the story Kingsolver portrays the message that religion has a big impact on your life; for example, when the family first arrives to the Congo the Father is on a “mission” to save the people of the Congo from their ‘sins’.
In the Congo twins are seen as curses and are often abandoned in the jungle; For example,“…I brought forth a shameless pantomime of a mother giving birth to one baby, then- oh my!- another. Twins. His eyes grew wide. “Baza!”… “Baza?” he repeated, pointed at me (Nelson)…I scribbled with some defensiveness: You never saw twins? (Adah)He shook his head with conviction. “Any woman who has baza should take the two babies to the forest after they are born and leave them there. She take them fast, right away. That is very very very necessary.” (Nelson)…Why? (Adah)…“The ancestors and the gods,” he stammered. “All gods. What god would not be furious at a mother who kept such babies? I think the whole village would be flooded or mostly everyone would die, if a mother kept her baza.” (Page 210-211) Moreover, punishment isn’t only portrayed in religion but also in culture; for example, when Nelson discovered that Adah and Leah were twins he was shocked, scared, and confused because in the Congo twins are seen as curses and many mother when they discover that they are having twins they abandon their baza in the jungle the second after birth to keep their village and people safe.
When people of the Congo worked as slaves in rubber plantations they received punishments when they didn’t follow the laws; For example, “We Belgians made slaves of them and cut off their hands in the rubber plantations. Now you Americans have them for a slave wage in the mines and let them cut off their own hands. And you, my friend, are stuck with the job of trying to make amends.” (Page 121, Doctor) In 1890 before the Congo was the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo) it was the Belgian Congo. When Belgium had control over the Congo they enslaved the people of the Congo and forced them to work in rubber plantations under conditions of great human suffering.
In conclusion, Poisonwood Bible portrays a strong theme of punishment and that events that follow always had a consequence.
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