Lit 8 Group Discussion numero uno

So when we started our groups on the Poisonwood Bible, I wanted to be a feminist and talk about all the different intricacies of the mom and daughters. But as started to analyze, I found myself much more interested in each of the specific characters. When we got in our groups, I brought up the topic of trying to capture the essence of each girl. This launched my group into a grand discussion on each character.

We started with the four girls: Rachel who is the oldest, Leah and Adah who are the twins, and Ruth May the youngest. The easiest to label was Rachel; she’s just an ignorant girl who cares way too much about material things and the way she looks. We found that Rachel related more to her mom but was nowhere near as mature as her mother is. Then comes along Eddie, the devils advocate, and announces that Rachel is nowhere close to being like her mother. In fact, he said that they were complete opposites. Their mother had made an effort to adapt to the Congo and is in control of her own life where as Rachel refuses to accept reality.

Leah was the next topic of discussion. She the hardest worker of the girls and wants to please her dad so much that she comes off as somewhat of a suck-up. She’s acquired her dad’s work ethic, which helps her adapt to the Congo better than her older sister. On the topic of their dad, I decided that he has adapted the best physically to where he is, but has a mental block when it comes to their lifestyle. It’s like he doesn’t realize that he’s a completely different country and culture and because of his ignorance he tends to offend the people he’s trying save.

I can’t say I know much about Ruth May right now because her character hasn’t really stuck out for me. I plan on paying more attention to her in the next section. I can however talk about Adah because she fascinates me the most. Her chapters have the richest language and I love reading them because she sees everything from such a different perspective. I want to know more about her as far as her looks and how her family treats her. All I really know about her is that she has, what she calls, a half-brain and she doesn’t like to talk. She however seems to appreciate the Congo the most. The part that really stuck out to me was when she noticed how basically everyone had some type of physical flaw so they didn’t really notice hers. Does that mean that she looks different? I want to know more!

Any ways that was the extent of my characters analysis so far. If there’s anything you would like to add to these characters, then please do!