The Poisonwood Bible

Orleanna instructs the reader to imagine a line of women, a mother followed by four daughters, walking through the jungle. The women sit down for a picnic with what little food they have available to them. She describes a sense of impending doom, foreshadowing dangers to come, as well as a sense of her own helplessness and isolation. She locks eyes with an okapi and no longer feels alone.

She describes the political turmoil in 1960, where powerful men bargained for the Congo’s resources and future; she was there during that time. Orleanna goes on to describe herself as an unreliable narrator, both wanting absolution but also wanting to avoid giving evidence that will cause Ruth May to judge her as “guilty” for her part in what she calls the “apocalypse.” She describes her husband, the Baptist preacher, as a “conqueror” who brought the apocalypse to the Congo. Orleanna admits that she wants to say she had no part in the tragedies that occurred, but she predicts that Ruth May will judge that she stole something from the Congo, just like the men arguing over its political future. Whether she and others know how they received their good fortune, “There’s only one question worth asking now: How do we live with it?” (9).