Essay #1

            In The Poisonwood Bible Orleanna Price is faced with separation from everything she has ever known. Orleanna was not only separated from her life in the states but she was separated from her sense of security. These thing broke her down mentally but at the same time they made her become a strong independent woman.

            Orleanna went to Africa with her husband to help him with his missionary trip to try and “save African souls” in the village of Kilanga. Not only is she forced to raise her four daughters in the small village unsure of what would happen to them every day but she could not listen to the radio or read the newspaper like she was so use to doing back in the states, this struggle was one that brought her personal pain. She did not want to stay in Africa with all of the political turmoil. She did not only have to fear for her life but she also had her daughters to worry about.  All of these thing that she was not use to broke her down inside. She would constantly plead to her husband about how she wanted to leave. Since he was the man of the house he was in control and would not let her take the children back to America. With the struggles of trying to adapt to life in a whole new way Orleanna mentally broke to the point that she stayed in bed for a month.

            These pains did not only break her but they made her a strong independent woman. Orleanna had to be the anchor for her children while they were Africa. Her husband had gone crazy trying to “save African souls.” Being strong while in Africa helped her to become a strong independent woman when she finally escaped to the states. She had to live on her own completely and make her own money to live off of. It also helped her teach her daughters how to become their own person and how to live on their own. Orleanna had to get over the loss of a child and deal with a psycho husband all at the same time. This experience did not make her hate Africa but it did make her look at her old life in a whole new way.

            The experience was not one only filled with bad memories and traumatizing events but it was one that taught Orleanna a lesson she will never forget. She learned that you almost have to think for yourself and watch your back or bad things will happen.