History Literature / ThePoisonwoodBible

** Rachel, too, though like her father the second time, she [[StaticCharacter didn't learn anything from it]].

* AMillionIsAStatistic: The constant deaths of village children to disease is only ever mentioned in passing. The death of [[spoiler: Ruth May]] is a major turning point in the book. When the Prices suddenly see the villagers' routine death rituals [[spoiler: applied to one of their own]], it hits them that they've been surrounded by tragedy the whole time and just haven't seen it because it wasn't happening to them. [[WordOfGod Barbara Kingsolver]] has stated in interviews that she intended this realization to be a lesson to her readers about this trope as well as MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: Kingsolver lived in the Congo as a child. However, in the foreword she makes it very clear that her family was nothing like the Prices.

* AmoralAfrikaner: The only one we meet is Eeben Axelroot, a racist diamond merchant who takes advantage of [[spoiler: teenage Rachel]] by agreeing to transport her out if she marries him. [[spoiler: The marriage doesn't last]].

* BrainyBrunette: The twins are defined as brunettes in contrast to blonde Rachel.

* DumbBlonde: Rachel often comes across this way in comparison to her brunette younger sisters, especially with her frequent malapropisms.

%%* AmoralAfrikaner: Eeben Axelroot.

%%* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Nathan]]

%%* DumbBlonde[=/=]TheDitz: Rachel
%%* EverythingTryingToKillYou: At times.
%%* FinaglesLaw

%%* FishOutOfWater: The premise of the story.

%%* TheFundamentalist: Nathan Price. [[spoiler: Also, Tata Kuvudundu.]]
%%* FunWithPalindromes: Lots of these in Adah's early narrations.

* GoingNative: Subverted with Nathan. Averted, and eventually inverted with [[spoiler: Rachel]] (who seems to become ''more'' racist and jingoistic the longer she spends in Africa). Alternately played straight and deconstructed with [[spoiler: Leah]]. Played more or less completely straight with the last American or Christian to spend significant quantities of time in the Congo: Fyntan Fowles, a Catholic priest who deserted his order.

%%* HopeSpot

%%* {{Jerkass}}: ''Nathan''. Eeben Axelroot.

%%* LittleMissSnarker: Adah.
%%* {{Malaproper}}: Rachel, UpToEleven.

%%* TheMissionary: Nathan Price and Fyntan Fowles.

%%* PrecisionFStrike

%%* RuleOfSymbolism

%%* SwitchingPOV: Between the women.

%%* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: A lot of the tension between Rachel and Leah later in the book.

%%* AesopAmnesia[=/=]IgnoredEpiphany: Rachel, all the time.

%%* BrainyBrunette: The twins.
%%* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Rachel.

%%* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything

** The local language Lingala is tonal and has multiple meanings for most words. While the girls quickly catch on, Nathan is too arrogant to realize his ignorance and spends week after week proudly declaring that Jesus is a poisonwood tree (although to be fair to him, it never occurs to his wife or daughters to actually inform him of things like this for some reason).

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Nathan's frequent "I fail to understand why nobody informed me that [X]" complaints are meant to characterize him as a stubborn fool who refuses to aknowledge the need to adapt, but he's right. His wife and daughters spend a lot of narration remarking ''that'' his ways are uneffective at best and counterproductive at worst due to various factors he's seemingly unaware of (such as the MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels entries above), but it never occurs to any of them to try and, you know, ''actually inform him'' of these factors.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Nathan's frequent "I fail to understand why nobody informed me that [X]" complaints are meant to characterize him as a stubborn fool who refuses to aknowledge the need to adapt, but he's right. His wife and daughters spend a lot of narration remarking ''that'' his ways are uneffective at best and counterproductive at worst due to various factors he's seemingly unaware of (such as the MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels entries above), but it never occurs to any of them to try and, you known, ''actually inform him'' of these factors.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: Nathan's frequent "I fail to understand why nobody informed me that [X]" complaints are meant to characterize him as a stubborn fool who refuses to aknowledge the need to adapt, but he's right. His wife and daughters spend a lot of narration remarking ''that'' his ways are uneffective at best and counterproductive at worst due to various factors he's seemingly unaware of (such as the MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels entries below), but it never occurs to any of them to try and, you known, ''actually inform him'' of these factors.