25 Discussion Questions for The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (With Analysis) | Chapterly Blog
Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is a sweeping, furious, and deeply compassionate novel about what happens when a family — and by extension, a nation — imposes its will on a place and people it refuses to understand. The Poisonwood Bible discussion questions push readers to confront the legacy of colonialism in Africa, the dangers of religious certainty, and how a family can be destroyed by one man's hubris and saved by the strength of the women he silences. Whether your book club is reading this as a family saga, a political allegory, or both, these questions are designed to generate the kind of conversation the novel demands. The novel follows the Price family — Baptist missionary Nathan Price, his wife Orleanna, and their four daughters — as they travel to the Belgian Congo in 1959, on the eve of independence. Nathan's zealous mission to convert the Congolese is a disaster from the start, and the family's experience becomes an allegory for Western arrogance, cultural blindness, and the destruction wrought by those who believe they know what is best for others. These 25 questions are organized by theme. The Poisonwood Bible Discussion Questions: Colonialism, Culture, and Western Arrogance Kingsolver uses...