Sacrifice In The Poisonwood Bible

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Sacrifice is a way of expressing what you truly love and hold dear in life. It is an outward expression of your values and your passion for what you are sacrificing for. The Poisonwood
Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, displays many acts of sacrifice throughout the novel. The main one being the Price family’s choice to move to the Congo, leaving their comfortable life in
America. This choice, however, was not a group decision. The family is dictated by Nathan
Price, the father of the household, and he alone makes decisions for the whole family. Although everyone in the family has to endure the harsh rule of their father, nobody has it worse than
Orleanna, the mother of the household. She sacrificed her life to follow and please him, and …show more content…
These three stages highlight her values through her act of sacrificing her life to Nathan and his profession.
Jenkins 2
Orleanna and Nathan’s relationship was not always like the one we see in the events of
The Poisonwood Bible. She once loved him, and he loved her. In “The Judges”(187) Orleanna speaks of when Nathan is reading her scripture during their dating phase. He says, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times; and He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.”(194)Orleanna then responds to this saying, “Oh I wanted those green pastures.”(194) Perhaps by this she meant that she wanted to live a calm and peaceful life with Nathan. It could also mean that she only dated Nathan in order to be sure that she would have a husband that had good morals and treated her with respect. Though, in reality,
Nathan was most likely only saying this to trick her into following him. Sadly, those hopes of a calm future for Orleanna were only temporary. Nathan was drafted into the second World War shortly after Orleanna and him became married, which left Orleanna very distressed and
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