On The Image Of The Other In The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible,written by Barbara Kingsolver,shows the life of a missionary family in Africa.Nathan Price comes to save Africa,but he fails to redeem the soul there.Instead,he causes his family to face constant crisis.They come with hope,but suffer the blow of reality.They experience the test of the jungle and the growth of the soul on the African continent.It is a history of the Price family and a history of women’s growth.In Africa,the women from the Price family bid farewell to Jesus,to their fathers,and to the past "Self".The attributes of the missionary family determine that the core of the thesis cannot leave the Bible and Christianity.This thesis starts with the contradiction between the novel and the text of the Bible.From the novel’s referential relationship with the Bible and its irony in the ideological content,the thesis discusses how the missionary family gradually abandons their faith and become a "pagan family" in Africa.The loss of the"ideal Self" and the break of the symbolic order play crucial roles in it.In addition,taking the Price’s experience in Africa into account,the thesis explores "the Self" and"the Other" in the novel,and discusses the cultural identity confusion as well as reflection on Western culture.The first chapter begins with the complex relationship between The Poisonwood Bible and the Bible.On the one hand,the text of novel has a certain referential relationship with the text of the Bible.The Poisonwood Bible uses the Biblical allusions,scriptures,names,etc.in many places,and its plots and characters are closely related to the Bible.It also uses the contents of the Bible to connect the metaphors and storylines;On the other hand,The Poisonwood Bible contains irony of the Father and the Bible.It is inherently questionable and rebellious to the Bible.Through the different natural environments and cultural environments between Congo and the United States,the novel deconstructs the authoritative position of the Bible and lays the disillusionment tendency of the white family culture identity.In the writing of images of "the Other" and "the Self’,the writer completed her expression of cultural identity.The second chapter mainly discusses the construction of"the Other" in the novel.At the individual level,the image of "Fathers" is the core."Father" is a key figure in the work."Fathers" includes the father of the Price family in the novel,as well as the "Father " in Christianity.In the novel,Nathan is not a narrator,and the Father has no entity.They are both "absent Fathers".The "absent Father" plays an important role in the symbolic sense of the suppression of individual desires and the perception of "self’.It is because of the influence of the "Father" that the characters of the novel possess their own unique personalities and traits.Above the individual,the"white Price family",which exists as a symbol of cultural identity,has experienced"being seen" and "being constructed" in Africa.By analyzing the mutual observations between African families and white families in the novel,this chapter discusses the role of "gaze".Furthermore,"gaze" prompted the Price family to form a unique heterogeneous space and to experience "the cage of sight" as well..In the gaze of others,the Prices construct themselves and lost their dominant position.In "the gaze of the Other",people shape themselves.The third chapter mainly discusses the deconstruction of the self-image.The trait of "split" is a property commonly shared by characters in the novel.The most typical one is "Ada".Through the analysis of "Ada,the thesis explores the important role of the construction of "Ideal Self" in the "Self" cognition.On the basis of understanding the establishment of "Ideal Self",the thesis further discusses the connection between the construction of "the Self" and "the other";after that,according to the loss of white subjectivity and cultural identity subversion,this thesis discusses the cultural relationship between the Prices and Africa.Under the special post-colonial context,the Price family suffered assimilation,alienation and even the subversion of identity cognition on the African continent.Barbara Kingsolver completed her cross-cultural writing through the construction of "the Other" and the deconstruction of "the Self".