Poisonwood Bible Essay Example for Free

Poisonwood Bible Essay Adahs Development In Barbara Kingsolvers novel The Poisonwood Bible, the Price family, Nathan and Orleanna Price and their four daughters, travel to the Congo to convert the locals to Christianity. Kingsolver constructs a multi-voice narrative and in doing so Kingsolver constructs five different personalities: Orleanna Price, Rachel Price, Leah Price, Adah Price, and Ruth May Price. As the novel progresses, each of the characters experiences a dramatic change throughout the book and through the use of textual evidence and deep analysis of the diction and rhetoric used for the character Adah Price; leading us to discover how she transforms in the novel and what this variation is exactly. Adah, who is a cripple since birth, has never been able to move the left side of her body and is psychologically a mute. This enables her to see the world from a different perspective and strangely views things backwards. She believes that her life has no value to her or anyone else. Adah has a twin sister Leah who is perfectly normal and Adah carries a lot of hatred toward Leah because its her fault that she is handicapped. Oh, I can easily imagine the fetal mishap: we were inside he womb together dum-de-dum when Leah suddenly turned and declared, Adah you are Just too slow. I am taking all the nourishment here and going on ahead. She grew strong as I grew weak. And so it came to pass was cannibalized by my sister (Kingsolver 34). This view held by Adah comes into play many times in the novel and even Leah can tell that here is some hostility between them. Young Adah also has this fascinating plan. She is believed to be mute because of what doctors had told her parents, but in fact she is very intelligent and she insists on not talking in order to simplify her life and act more as an observer rather than a doer. Her naturally detail-oriented nature is well illustrated by the diction and tone she uses. the women working their field will stand up one after another, unwrap the pagne of bright cloth stretch it out wide before retying it. They resemble flocks of butterflies opening and closing their wings (Kingsolver 137). The initial observation of the way these women work the field is unlike the other girls who merely comment that the women pound the manioc. Adah observes and analyzes the women in a factual manner and yet that last sentence reveals more about her character. She oes from making a remark that almost scientifically evaluates the womens movements to making a statement that brings an artistic form of examining the actions and uses powerful imagery for the reader to associate with. However, Adah does not stay like this throughout the whole novel. She experiences an event that shifts her character in such a way that although it does not have an immediate impact, it changes her completely in the long run. Live was I ere I saw evil (Kingsolver 305). On the frightful night when Kilanga, the village were the Price family was living, was swarmed by a massive group of ants known as Nsongonya Adah was left behind. She woke to the sound of screams and felt ants all over her. Her mother ran into the room, baby Ruth May bundled in her arms. Adah, for the first time perhaps pleaded for help. Help me (Kingsolver 305). Orleanna stared at her crippled daughter and turned away. This was a huge turning point for the young girl. In the simple plea alone, the way Kingsolver phrased it l [Adan] spoke out loud, tn only time: help me (Kingsolver 305), one could see that this was a simple phrase; not shouted or screamed, simply stated. When Adahs plea was not answered she was left dumbstruck and proceeded to fght for her life. Although Adah originally believed that everyone found her life to be of no value she was still horror struck when her mother did not come to her aid, but she still decided to save herself because she realized her own self-worth. No longer was she an idle observer, she became a doer. If her mother would not save her, then Adah would do it on her own because she knew her life was worth saving. This fateful night carries on into the rest of her days, perhaps not immediately, but it does affect her character in the end. When Adah finally returns to the US with her mother, Orleanna, she has almost completely ndergone her transformation. The Journey from Africa alone had left a great mark on Adah because of her mothers tenacity to bring her daughter home safe and sound. Adah was astounded by her mothers ferocious protection of her. When they finally do get home however, Adah immediately applies to Emory University and studies the medical sciences which she takes up as her religion. However, much has changed. Adah finds that without anyone to speak for her she must get used to speaking rather than observing and is shocked at first by the sound of her voice, but this is not the greatest change. The most dramatic alteration is one that she only picks up on for a moment in the final part. She states that she has always sacrificed life and limb and half a brain to save the other half (Kingsolver 410). Adah finds it unusual to now owe her mother something when her own life has been a constant struggle. My habit is to drag myself imperiously through a world that owes me unpayable debts. I have long relied on the comforts of martyrdom (Kingsolver 410). The very tone of this phrase represents beautifully the realization that has struck Adah like a lightning bolt in this moment. The word imperiously gives the reader perfect imagery of a disgruntled and displeased Adah who hates the world and yet that second sentence reveals something else. She has come to know what it feels like to owe someone an unpayable debt and that her whole life has been driven from this one disability. The words comfort and martyrdom are so opposite that they balance out the sentence and give the reader an understanding of how Adah felt about her handicap. What is even greater is the physical transformation that follows this mental one. Adah meets a neurologist who informs her that he can help er overcome her limp. This intrigues her and after several months Adah no longer has to bear her physical disability. She is at first amazed that this cross she has born all these years could somehow be taken care of like that. However, as she progresses through the novel she finds that this recovery is balanced out by the inability to see words and phrases backwards and in a completely different perspective like she used too. At times she limps purposefully around [her] apartment trying to recover [her] old ways of seeing and thinking (Kingsolver 492). This sentence shows ow she still longs for the days when she was different and had something to wield against the world. The imagery provided allows the reader to vividly imagine Adah trying with all her might to limp and be as she once was, but away from the public eye. She continues to live as the recovered individual that she is now and only seems to regret the loss of an edge that she once held. Adahs transformation in the novel was one ot a seemingly helpless child into a tully tunctioning adult who nad experienced things that no one in her community could top. She realized a self worth that she did not possess at the beginning of the novel. Adah Price was a cripple. Adah Price is a cripple. The genius girl that went to the Congo is not the same one that returned and lived the rest of her life in the US. She no longer has a physical handicap that got her mocked and looked down upon, but she does not have that special outlook on the world either. Adah now knows people whom she can work with and share time with because she will talk now, but she owes her mother an unsettled debt, that may never be resolved in her heart and mind. Adah has changed for better or worse is uncertain. In the end experiences add up and the results always balance each other out.

One Students Observations of an Online Community Essay -- Sell Websit

One Student's Observations of an Online Community   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An online community is a place where individual users with common interest come together to build relationships with similar people.   Recently I was looking through the Yahoo and MSN websites, searching for an interesting community to join.   Unfortunately, all of the message boards I was interested in had been inactive for over a year.   Online communities must involve growing relationships among active users.   Many people believe that online communities are a waste of time and are destroying our current society.   Howard Rheingold, an author, argues another point of view (92).   Ã‚  Ã‚   Rheingold states that a virtual community is an online group in which relationships are developed through interaction.   He also says that virtual communities are an advance in the uprising technological world.   Virtual communities bring people of different backgrounds and locations together through a common interest (Rheingold 93).   Rheingold shares with his audience stories of young parents rallying together while their infants are in critical condition. This exemplifies that online relationships are important to many people.   Rheingold argues that although we may not experience face to face interaction with fellow online users, it does not keep us from developing a sound and structured society.   It may not be traditional, but online communities are societies that are here to stay.   The relationships developed through online communities will remain only if users post frequently and take a genuine interest in other user's posts (Rheingold 9 2-97).   In an attempt to find a community to join and a group of people I could form growing relationships with I logged on to many diff... ...own at collegehumor.com, growing relationships are almost guaranteed.   This website has brought me to a group of people who I enjoy interacting with.   Although I have not been able to fully integrate into their community, I am hoping that with time, I will be considered a senior myself.   This message board community is a great place to sit back, relax, and let the laughter come.   Works Cited CollegeHumor.com.   Homepage. 28 Oct. 2002.  Ã‚   <http://www.collegehumor.com/bbs/> "God damn headaches."   1 Posting.   Online Posting. 30 Sept.   2002. 7 Oct. 2002 http://www.collegehumor.com/bbs/ "God damn headaches."   6 Posting.   Online Posting. 30 Sept.   2002. 7 Oct. 2002.  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.collegehumor.com/bbs/ Rheingold, Howard.   "The Virtual Community."   The Wired Society.   Ed.   Carol Lea Clark. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.   92-97.   

Poverty and Human Essay

Poverty is a disgraceful and unjust condition that has always haunted mankind. Most people see the problem as insoluble. They see previous solutions that have failed. Some even think that previous remedies have worsened the condition of the poor. They claim that assisting the poor increases dependency and produces a â€Å"culture of poverty† that persists from generation to generation. Some go further and blame the poor for their problems. They think many of the poor are shiftless, lazy, unintelligent, or even parasitic. All that said, there is widespread pessimism about mankind’s ability to reduce the world’s level of poverty and wasted lives. But why help the poor? This is a subject about which I feel passionately, yet at the same time realistically – with a strong compassion rather than sentimentality. Nevertheless, as I have traveled the world, my indignation has often been aroused by the sights and sounds of human need. I had the privilege once in Calcutta to meet Mother Teresa at one of her feeding centers for the poor and outcast of that teeming city. When I asked her how she coped with all the fame and adulation she receives, she replied: â€Å"It means nothing to me. But one thing I have done which I believe is important. I have helped people to talk to the poor and not just about the poor†. That is a simple but very significant statement which indicates ‘the poor’ are not just some conglomerate group which can be dismissed as an economically, non-productive sector of society that we are unfortunately stuck with. They are fellow human beings – real people, individuals – for whom we have concern and responsibility.

Health And Globalization On Public Health - 940 Words

Health and Globalization When determining whether the movement of people, food, and manufactured goods negative impacts on public health are outweighing the positive, we must consider what is important to us or worth the risks. Some seem to think that the economies built around and jobs created through global trade are more important than the risk of spreading disease. On the other hand, the thought of risking lives or serious illness contracted from global movement is devastating in itself and would provide valid reasoning to promote the idea of slowing the flows of these global movements. The movement of people globally can spread airborne diseases like TB, influenza, malaria, and even sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. Some of which, like TB, do not show any signs, so it’s very hard to control. Reasons for travel vary widely from visiting friends and family, vacation traveling, career opportunities, and even for migration purposes in order to leave oppression, war, or famine. I don’t personally think that the flow should be slowed, but I do feel that there needs to be a better system for preventing the spread in the first place like better medical infrastructures, readily accessible immunizations, and more communications and regulations between countries in order to work together in order to combat the spread of disease. The movement of food and the spread of food borne illnesses such as e. Coli, salmonella, and mad cow disease are the results of mass foodShow MoreRelatedThe Impact Of Globalization On Public Health1208 Words   |  5 Pagesissue of globalization and its impact on the development of the global health situation has generated much controversy. Some believe that health has gained from the phenomenon of globalization some of the general benefits that have helped to improve the overall state of global health, while others have differed in this regard in that globalization has been a challenge in advancing the level of public health. Some studies and statistics indicate that globalization and the areas of globalization, suchRead MoreThe Impact of Globalization on Public Health in United States2017 Words   |  8 Pagesï » ¿The Impact of Globalization on Public Health in United States Introduction Good health for all people has turned out to be an acknowledged global objective and the records reveal that there have been extensive achievements in life expectancy over the past century. However, there has been persistence in health disproportions between affluent and deprived despite the fact that the prospects for upcoming health trends depend more and more on the latest processes of globalization. In the previousRead MoreAdvantages and Disadvantages of Global Integration1476 Words   |  6 PagesAND DISADVANTAGES Globalization is the process by which different societies, cultures, and regional economies integrate through a worldwide network of political ideas through transportation, communication, and trade. Generally, globalization has affected many nations in various ways; economically, politically, and socially. It is a term that refers to the fast integration and interdependence of various nations, which shapes the world affairs on a global level. Globalization has affected the productsRead MoreGlobalization Has Brought New Opportunities For Equitable Health1560 Words   |  7 Pagessurrounding health around the world, health equity is a common concern. Though a highly normative term, equity is used for operationalization and measurement and can be defined as: â€Å"the absence of systematic disparities in health (or in the major determinants of health) between social groups with different levels of underlying social advantage or disadvantage†¦ (Braveman and Gruskin, 2002, p. 254). While many factors influence health equity, one of the largest today is globalization; in fact, TheRead MoreThe Social Work Policies1506 Words   |  6 Pagescrucial amendment was established to increase domestic workers earnings. Public welfare was first established during the great depression to aid widows, deserted children, mothers and the needy. United States was an expanding country with most of its economy predominantly on agriculture. As the country industrialized, many were employed who entirely dependent on them for their income. Social insurance approach to public welfare was thought by the federal government to be the only way to meet certainRead MoreDoes globalization affect negatively on civilizations? The term globalization means the procedure800 Words   |  4 PagesDoes globalization affect negatively on civilizations? The term globalization means the procedure of connections and incorporations among individuals, organizations and legislatures of diverse countries, a methodology determined by global exchange and speculations, and helped by data innovations. In other words, it is a process of interactions between people, on the basis, that they live in one planet, regardless the limits and sp aces separating them. The term globalization was a seldom known articulationRead MoreGlobalization Is The Development Of Increasingly1130 Words   |  5 PagesAccording to Merriam Webster (2015) Globalization is the development of increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets. In general, Globalization has affected many nations in various ways; socially, politically, economically, and environmentally. Over a period of time globalization can now turn the world into an integrated economy instead of the isolated economy. The more trading that takes placeRead Moreeffects of globlization1124 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Health Globalization has both positive and negative effects about one of the major concerns, health. The health care is primarily affected by globalization is through the increasing and worsening of internationalization of various health risks. However, if you will have to define the terms and other dimensions of the health risks such as; Technological, economic, social, political and cultural as well as scientific aspects. The linkages between health care and globalization are quite complexRead MoreMinistry Of Health Programs For High Tech Medical Services Essay1137 Words   |  5 PagesMinistry of Health provides funding to District Health Boards through vote Health. Each District Health Board provides funding to Public Health Organizations, Hospitals, Community Services, Disabilities sector with in the same district. Health Service Manager works in these public health, 9community settings .They are responsible for running and managing the organization by making ensure that all guidelines ,policies and procedures are followed up as per laid down by government. I am responsibleRead MoreGlobalization And Its Impact On Globalization1097 Words   |  5 Pagesactivities that connects to globalization. Globalization in a broad sense is the process or processes that increase the movement of people, culture, technology, ideologies and information across the world. In the case of technology everyday activities are becoming faster, closer, and easier than they had ever been. It allows us to have access to virtually anything, communication has never been easier. The technological advances all around the world is a result of globalization. With a click of a button