Essay #1

Isolation can create distress to one’s mind and the desire to escape from the solitary. In the book, Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the Price family moves from the United States to Congo to do missionary work, but soon after the family realizes that they cannot escape from Congo. The one of the Price daughters, Rachel who is the oldest and known as a “beauty queen” brings her the most precious item from the states, which was a hand mirror. She tends to have a difficult time adjusting in Congo where she has to change her life style in order to survive such as the convenience of bathrooms, filtered water, and more. After being stripped away from her home, Rachel experiences isolation, loneliness, and closure during the time she spent in Congo.

At first, all the women are desperately trying to survive the wild life of Congo, but Orleanna guarantees that one of her daughters won’t make it out alive. In the other hand, Rachel seemed to not care for anything, but eventually reality strikes and finds herself stuck in Congo for a long time. The family is dealt with exile for a long period; most everyone in the family becomes short tempered and somewhat apathetic towards everything. The exile leaves Rachel bitter towards her father, "I was sore at Father all right, for us having to be there in the first place."  As the oldest child of the Price, Rachel enriched herself and helped out around the house when Orleanna and Ruth were lying “sick” in bed for a period of time. Although, the isolation in Congo changed Rachel’s attitude slightly, she closed herself from her family. Rachel only speaks in her mind, but her words are usually harsh and self-centered. Rachel carries around her mirror everywhere she goes. It was the most important item she took with her to Congo, but when the Kakaka (ants) infested the village; the mirror dropped and shattered. As Rachel stared at the broken pieces she felt that she can never escape the isolation and Congo because the mirror was the only thing that reminded her of her home. The events that Rachel had to overcome leads to her lying and desperate enough to do anything to escape the lonely African country, she intends to seduce Eeben Axelroot so he can fly her and her family back to the states.

The isolation of a typical American family plays an important role to the story. One of the many themes of the book is survival. Rachel is one of the “survivors,” although she never leaves Africa. Her experiences affect the book as a whole because she was the only one who wanted to escape from the beginning to end. Unlike Leah, who voluntarily stay in Congo with her husband, Rachel was not up for being “exiled” for the rest of her life. After her broken mirror, she vowed to herself that she would escape; but the irony was that she never truly escaped and went back to her home (United States). The attitude towards her family members was a feeling of guilt at the end when she was in her fifties. Although, Rachel does not exactly escape, she lives a luxurious she can dream of, but once again alone.   

Ultimately, the experiences Rachel dealt with exile have made her strong in way where she was able to commit and settle down in Congo on her own, but the past have left her a scar. Even after she escapes the wild life, she continues to live an isolated life when her sisters and mother are back in the United States. Rachel is basically trapped in a solitude life due to her actions and choices she made. Her desire and strength to keep her alive in the situations she was in allowed her to become independent yet with regret. The memories of leaving the states, the shattered mirror, and never getting home has shaped Rachel’s life in Congo differently from her sisters.