The Inside

Adah's complex character is a central aspect of The Poisonwood Bible that I love. The flow of her writing, the symbolism she uses in such a gentle manner, and the figurative language that she uses to compare her internal struggles with those that are external all build her chapters into the pages I find myself excited to read and pick apart. On page 170, Adah writes that she would "go home and write whatever I liked about their insides," when she explains that she would want to be a doctor poet if she lives to adulthood. As someone who is constantly overlooked for her disability, it is fitting that she would discuss her fascination with their "insides." Adah just wants someone to actually take interest in her, and relates spiritual inside to physical inside. However, the way she words it is unsettling, marking this passage as one of my favorites. Adah uses language to accurately describe her interest in becoming a doctor poet, but in such a way that reflects her own outlook on the world; slightly disturbing. Much like the way she believes she won't live until adulthood, her grim outlook on life mirrors her life itself. The rampant death in the village, her near-death encounter with the lion, her sick and dying family, and the abundant dangers she is not used to facing in her life in Georgia. Adah's deep thinking is apparent in her writing, making it her "inside." She does not show her inside to the outside world, choosing to keep her true personality to herself; the one thing she can have to herself. In the Congo, the Prices must share everything. Though she has not changed much since leaving Georgia, Adah keeps herself whole while the world seems to be falling apart around her. The symbolism in her wanting people to see her inside is ironic in its own way, as it is known that she has hemiplegia; her inside is "broken," but her spirit whole.