Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Intertexul Links

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2. Literary works may echo, imitate or allude to other works. Discuss with close reference to The Poisonwood Bible. Kingsolver utilizes numerous allusions in The Poisonwood Bible to emphasize the main issues in the novel. The reader is heavily influenced by their personal context and their relationship with other novels, which shapes their conceptualized idea of the text. The intertextual links that Kingsolver has exercised helps entice connections to the main themes of her novel, which may foreshadow other sources. She relies largely on biblical parables, with some comparisons being explicit and others being more obscure and subtle. Lying underneath many complex layers are themes such as western hegemony and conflict between the force of nature and death. These are accumulated from several plots that pertain Christianity in the bible and build a coherent sense of meaning to the important aspects in the text. The Poisonwood Bible does not only associate certain links with the bible, but is also similarly structured. It exemplifies common chapter names such as Genesis, Revelation and Judges, which correspond to the happenings in the novel. For example there is an overarching theme of Genesis at the orientation of the novel. This is also the first book of the bible. It signals the idea of new birth, which symbolizes the Price’s beginning in Congo, having to orientate themselves and completely renovate their way of living. It represents the notion of the formation of an open mind, having to relearn old skills much like a newborn. Genesis then transcribes to the second book revelation, which is the final book in the New Testament of a biblical canon. Each character exerts their own sense of a new understanding and adapts to the culture individually, much like in the biblical stories where lessons of triumph and tragedy are learned. Ironically though, The Poisonwood
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