Finale of Poisonwood Bible!!

FINAL BLOGPOST OF THE YEAR!!!! <3 :)

Growing up is very important and crucial in every person. Unfortunately some people never grow up and always stay in the realm of being oblivious to real world issues around them. Sometimes kids have to grow up faster than others because of their situations. If a kid is in a violent environment then the kid has to grow up faster so he/she can fend for itself against anything that wants to harm it. Sometimes the phase in which a person grows up is through an experience he/she has. In the Poisonwood Bible Rachael, Leah and Adah have to grow up. They are faced with issues that made them open their eyes and realize that the world they believed in before is not what they want to believe in now. Many/most of them grew up after their sister Ruth died. It was a traumatic event, which made them realize they needed to see the world in a different way. Throughout the book they all had a point in their experience at the Congo in which they were forced to finally grow up.

One of the most important events was when Ruth died this was because she was so innocent and important to every single girl and that’s why her death made such an impact. Besides experiences, the girls viewed the world differently. Adah went on to view the world in a scientifically way. She saw the way nature and just the human food chain worked. Every person had to die in order to give space to the next person who is born. Adah went on to live her world in more knowledge and complex way. She actually was one of the smartest of her sisters and became to see the world in a totally different way from the way her dad made her view the world when she was younger. Adah no longer had that strong faith towards god in fact she only just viewed that god was there she no longer actually believed in god. Leah became separated from her dad. In the beginning of the book she was hesitant about her beliefs in god and how her father wanted her to believe in god. She wasn’t sure. As the book progresses was it then that she realized she didn’t want to believe and have so much faith in god like her father. She didn’t want her world to revolve around church and obscure her eyes from other ways of seeing the world. Leah became a lover of nature and understood how the Congo worked. The Congo in some ways owned the people but at the same times was very beautiful. Leah understood the Congo more than anybody else and that’s the very reason why she stayed behind. Rachael became different too. In the beginning she didn’t or want to be very religious but by the end she had a clearer sense of what she wanted to do with her life. She didn’t care about appearances anymore she learned from Ruth’s death that there are so many other important things besides the way she looks. As all the girls grew older they started developing their own separate ways. They were all still sisters that loved each other but the things that happened to them in the Congo made them who they are now. This experience was their coming of age and realizing that they needed their own opinions’ about god, civilizations and the world in general. The girls were finally able to grow up as their father loosened his ties on them and finally died. This was when they all had a clear opinion on some levels about where they stood on a global scale.

Growing up and coming of age are the same. They both demonstrate how 1 person changes. This phase/ change can and may be different to every person. Sometimes the person they were before was shy and insecure but by the end of their journey they are outgoing and brave. Sometimes the change is minimal but still noticeable. For example the person may be snobby because she is popular and is gorgeous but maybe by the end of their experience they may be more kind to people, which can be a big subtle difference. This phase doesn’t happen when the person wants it to happen sometimes it happens so unexpectedly. A person may grow up at 10 or they may grow up in their late teens to early 20’s. As I’ve said before growing up is a phase every person must grow through. At the end the person may become a better person but sometimes they can become nastier. It just depends on how they viewed others and the world when they were younger. Sometimes people can’t change how they view people because it was so drilled into their minds. For example if a person lived in a racist environment then they most likely will become racist because that’s the only way that person knows on how to view people. If another person lives in a very arrogant place then most likely the person will become as arrogant as its parent unless they have an experience or another person that corrects their views.

All the girls grew up in the book at their mid teens to late teens. The age changed because they sort of viewed the world differently at almost the same time some longer than others came to this realization. They all grew up. Their father was their obstacle. He sort of prevented them from seeing the world however they wanted to see it. The dad was so caught up in keeping his views about church so drilled into his daughters that he lost them amidst all his drilling. He became obsessed with changing the people in the Congo that he forgot that he didn’t have to change every single detail about the people who lived in the Congo he just had to respect them and help them like a good Father he was supposed to be. The dad should’ve listened to the land and people around him because then and only then would he have realized he wasn’t helping anyone but actually harming everyone and blocking them from opening their eyes. The environment he made his daughters grow up in was what made all the girls coming of age seem so drastic because the dad was blocking them from issues all around them. The Congo pushed all the girls to grow up and make their own opinions without their dad in the way.

I believe coming of age is very important and probably one of the most important experiences a person will go through in their entire life. I think this is due to the fact that after his or her experience then that is the person they will become. In fact at the end of their coming of age is how they probably will be and act around others. It’s almost like deciding the final steps in that person’s life. However Rachael, Leah and Adah are at the end is how they will be for the rest of their lives. It’s the finale in which the personalities and views they obtained at the end is how they will be forever. Coming of age happens to everyone it’s just how the person handles it that makes it memorable.

Narrator Acts Like A Kid, Edgar Allan Poe is AWESOME!

EXTRA CREDIT:

           I just finished reading the Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe and let me tell you my mind is blown away. I did not read the whole book I’m just up to the 4^th or 5^th short story, but the mini short story titled The Tell-Tale Heart I read. Gosh, it was intense and incredible. It was one of those books that you take a couple of minutes after you read to absorb the details and then you go back to see a part you want to read again. If you have not read this book or short story you should! Go to B&N and buy it ASAP.  There are so many themes, character changes, traits, setting, descriptions, grammar, writing skills that I can write 10 page essays on, just wow. This book has inspired people; especially that short story and they have been drawn to the main character. The main character is so layered and detailed that it’s shocking. The thing is the story is only 4-5 pages long and I captivates the reader and intrigues us. The main character that does not have a name and is referred to as the narrator is naïve. He is like a little kid and he feels conflicted. He doesn’t know what he wants and uses his silly attempts that are fatal to acquire it.

In the story there is a guy who has a freaky blue eye with film over it. My guess is that it is an eye that is blind or something because the description makes it sound so ugly. Basically the whole idea is that this eye freaks out the narrator too much. The narrator feels as if the eye is always watching him, it is almost described as a mystical eye. The narrator watches the old man sleep in his bed everyday. Each night the narrator slowly peeps his head into the gap of the door just to watch the eye and try to freak it out. The reason he keep coming back is to see if the eye will get freaked out by knowing that someone is lurking in the shadows of the room, freaky I know right. He is described as being patient and determined. He is strong willed into murdering the eye. I don’t understand why he never told the guy to wear an eye patch and be done with the whole situation. The thing is the narrator feels so disturbed by the eye that he plans on killing the old man so he doesn’t have to see the eye. He does kill the guy. The weird thing is that the narrator acts like a little kid who’s in trouble. Remember when your little brother or sister used to break a vase or cup and they would try to fix it by cleaning it up and making it not look obvious but it totally was obvious and then mom used to come home and not saying anything about the vase being broken. Then out of nowhere the little brother or sister confesses and starts saying, “I broke the vase, I did it!” it’s like their consciousness gets the best of them and makes them feel guilty. That is exactly what happened to the narrator. The police came to investigate the murder of the guy with the freaky blue eye and asked the narrator if he knew anything, he lied straight to the police, they even sat down and had some tea in the room the old guy was murdered. Everything was going fine, the police didn’t even suspect anything and ruled murder out but that was until the narrator felt guilty and confessed his crime. He hid the heart of the old guy so well no one suspected a thing. He hid the heart in the planks of the wooden floor but that was until he started hearing the heart beat faster and faster as if the guy was still alive and of course this was in the narrator’s imagination but his conscious was so burdened he had to tell the police.

When the narrator confessed his crime out of guilt I felt bad. He would’ve gotten away with the murder and had a crazy murderous life but then the narrator realizes his mistake and feels horrible. The idea that he actually murdered the old guy eats at him until he can’t take it anymore. The narrator seems vulnerable at the end as if he didn’t full understand and realize the seriousness of his crime. The age of the narrator is never said but if it were a teenager of the age of 15 I would pity them. The narrator was so child like in his murder almost as if it were a joke to him until he was the last one laughing and realized he was wrong doer- a murderer.

             If you have not read this book I’m sorry for the spoilers but you should read the actual story. I am going to write another blog post on this story again, and most likely the overall book. If you did not know the book is scary and its about horror and crimes. Edgar Allan Poe was a very influential short story writer and his work helped the new generations write short stories and horror. He died of alcoholism and his work was written during the 1850’s.  He tried to make his living off of writing but people back then considered his work to be distasteful; his work was actually pretty advanced in his overall usage of writing skills. Alliterations were used the most throughout his stories. Many people now consider his work to be top-notch and it is very praised. Many and most likely all of his stories and poetry has been turn into movies, short films, and TV shows. He is an awesome writer- R.I.P.