ESSAY # 1

            Edward Said’s perception to see exile as a “potent, even enriching” experience for any individual is somewhat confusing to grasp as an exile means, denotatively, to separate or banish. How can banishment, in any form, be enriching? Hence this statement by Said only captures the concept of perspective: perspective towards diverse people; perspective towards diverse culture; perspective towards diverse traditions; even perspective towards diverse events in life. In The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingslover, this theme of perspective was evidently discernible throughout the book. Leah, one of the four daughters (also the protagonists), experienced the “unhealable rift forced” in her life by her father the most. But she chose to acclimatize with the pain and sadness and instead make it an enriching experience that will make her mature as a human being both emotionally and professionally.

            To make a shift from staying in her own oyster to being thrown into the vast ocean of possibilities, Leah managed to make her transitory period of “visiting” Africa an exceedingly enriching time of her life. Enriching has multiple connotations to it: getting exposed to new cultures, new perspectives, new traditions, and growing as a person both emotionally and personally. Leah enriched herself as a person in such a way that she received more opportunities to become more tolerable to diverse cultures. The proof of her elevation as a character is her marrying Anatole, a native of Africa, and settling down with him in a place that snatched her sister away and ripped her entire family apart. Being a fourteen year old, she became so mature that she would braid her sister Ruth May’s hair when she was sick and maybe even depressed to cheer her up.  She also adapted with the other native children by teaching them how to play a game like “Mother May I?” while her other sisters were either too busy locking herself in the room or complaining about not having new clothes and mirror and makeup. But she still was human. Were there not any problems? Of course there were and they were worse than what a regular teen would face in the west.

            The entire shift from coming from the free and safe land of America to a dangerous and dependent land of Africa was alienating. Leah’s dad, Nathan Price, practically picked her up from the ground and snatched her from her own perfect little shell and basically threw her in this mess where there was lack of clothes, food, hygiene, etc. With the little kids dying almost everyday from some kind of disease and hearing the mother and other women shriek for that child’s life, Leah’s heart had a corner of fear set in there that if her family was next to face the lamentable. She herself faced death very closely when ants came from under the ground and attacked everyone. It’s easy to overcome an infectious, but curable, disease but it is extremely hard – almost impossible – to overcome your fear. This fear in Leah’s heart was still there when the book ended and the author kept it so that the readers can predict that the fear would always be there.

            The fears to lose the ones you love: it exists in every single individual in the world but you have to learn how to deal with it. Will you let it control you until you either become depressed or obsessed, just like Leah’s mom, Orleanna Price? Or will you lock it in a corner and have it make you the type of person that you never imagined yourself to be? Like Leah did. The choice was yours and will always be yours.