essay assignment #1

An Unsettling Transition

Not every American gets to experience the authentic Africa experience with positive joy and purpose. But when Rachel Price is exiled, or forced in other words, to live in the Congo with her family for missionary work, she experiences life on a whole different level. Rachel Price from The Poisonwood Bible is the stereotypical teenager that is superficial and very materialistic, with a hint of rebellion. Unlike most people who enjoy volunteering for mission work, she plays as having a negative attitude about the whole experience. She goes through several stages of growth as a character throughout Poisonwood Bible, from feeling like a complete outsider to being a little humbled by her experiences. 

Rachel Price first arrived in the Congo around the age of fifteen, still young and still naive. Even though she was at a perfect age of appreciating culture, she was not the type of gal to do so. Throughout her younger years living in the Congo she never fully appreciated or understood the culture that was living around her. Which led her to feel like an outsider and condescending towards the people. Since her native language was not the native language of the village, communication was fustrating and near impossible. Another factor that affected Rachel's experience was the fact that she was a caucasian female. The type of treatment she recieved was nothing like how she would have been treated back home. This type of experience had led her to have a constant yearning of going back home. She felt idle and lonely because she didn't have anyone to relate to in the Congo. But her sense of alienation was most peaked in her younger years, because when she grew older, her perspective on her situation changed and she was more humbled by her experiences.

The book last addresses Rachel at age fifty. By this time she had lived almost her entire life in the Congo. Through aging, Rachel learned a lot about herself through self discovery and was successful in fulfilling her own personal goals. Rachel also learned how difficult life can be for the young ones here compared to back home. She always wanted to go home but never came around to it because she felt she couldn't compare. Her friends would just be getting out of high school and experiencing their first heartbreak while she had lost her little sister and experienced her first marriage. At times she appreciates the experience because she flew through several marriages, owned a fairly wealthy hotel, and looked quite well in doing all of that. The experience of her being exiled from her home in the United States had changed her personality for the better and her appreciation for the events that happened in her life.

People travel to the countries of Africa for a good reason whether it's fate or chance. While Rachel had no choice of her own, she managed well and made it out alive in the end. Places change people for the better or the worse and in The Poisonwood Bible Rachel learns to accept and compromise her high living for the third world country. The experience Rachel had explains a common theme in the book, the ignorance of culture may bring unrest and unhappiness.