In English class we watched the movie The Mosquito Coast, starring Harrison Ford. We had to compare this movie to the book, The Poisonwood Bible. The Mosquito Coast and The Poisonwood Bible have many similarities and differences. Like the Price family, the Fox family starts out as a close happy family in America, and near the end, they start to go against the views of their headstrong fathers, Allie Fox and Nathan price. Allie Fox, is a lot like Nathan Price and they share many similarities and differences. Allie, played by Harrison Ford, was a smart, amazing inventor with many ideas to simplify the lives of the people in the town that he bought in africa. He even made a larger machine from his ice machine invention that he made in America which helped the poeple in his village a lot. He was on a mission to bring ice to Africa because he thinks that ice=civilization, and thats why he came to Africa, to make it better like his village which he called a superior civilization. This is just like Nathan Price, but Nathan's mission was to bring cristianity and spread the words of God to the poeple of africa. Both of the fathers have a similar mindset. They are both very bossy, and determined to do what they came there to do. Also, they both think that everything has to be done in the way the want it to be done. Another similarity is that both Allie and Nathan had good intentions when going to Africa, and they wanted to help the people, but it seemed like they were doing it more for themselves than the poeple. Allie wanted to be able to work on all of inventions, and be appreciated for all of the amazing things that he invented, which wasn't happening in America, and Nathan was trying to prove his worthiness to God, so that he wouldn't have to feel guilty about what happened to the other men in his group when he went to war, and so that he would automatically be able to go to heaven. One difference between the two fathers is that Allie felt very strongly against missionaries, he believed more in science, but Nathan was a missionary.
Both of the fathers were so set in their way of living, and trying to complete their "missions" they were neglecting their families, and even puting their families in dangerous situations. For example, when Allie decided to make his family live on the land near the beach coast, Mr. Hattie warns them that it is dangerous, but Allie wanted to stay there anyway. This is like the part in The Poisonwood Bible where People tell Nathan that he should go home because the Congo is going to become independent, and the Congo will not be a safe place for them to live anymore, but Nathan says that he and his familly won't be leaving the Congo untill he succesfully spreads the word of the Lord. Also, Nathan and Allie both get into scripture battles with a missionary. Another similarity had to do with the very destructive
ants in The Poisonwood Bible, and the destructive imaginary ants in the Mosquito Coast. they ultimately left the people with nothing, and they all had to start their lives up again from scratch. So, in both families, everyone had to deal with all of their losses, and figure out what they had to do to survive. Two other characters that I thought were very similar are Leah Price and Charlie Fox. Both Leah and Charlie totally and completely idolized their fathers in the begining, but while they were in Africa, they leaned a lot, and started to form their own opinions, and trust in their fathers less and less. The two mothers also have some similarities. The main thing that i noticed was their reactions to death in the family. Both Mrs. Fox and Orleanna Price have very calm reactions when a member of their family dies. One more similarity between the two famillies is the basic structure of the families. Both families have four children, and two of those four children are twin girls. Well, the movie, The Mosquito Coast, and the book, The Poisonwood Bible have lots and lots of similarities and some differences, but those are what i thought the main ones were.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Literature Circle 3
Historian
This part of The Poisonwood Bible takes place durring 1960 and 1961. On June 30, 1960 Patrice Lumumba was elected Prime Minister of the independent Belgian Congo. Lumumba was Prime Minister and Joseph Kavabusu was President. After Lumumba became Prime Minister and Kasavubu presidentriots started to occur, a military coup broke out. Africa's richest (in natural resousces) province Katanga which was under the control of Moise Tshombe withdrew from "the repuplic". They did this because they wanted to be independent so they could decide what they wanted to do with their resources. 20,000 UN peace keepers were sent to Katanga to protect the European citizens in the province. Around this time the Kasai province also anounced that they wanted to become independent.
Lumumba asked for help from the USSR, but this didnt work out. In December 1960, Kasavubu and Mobutu overthew the repuplic and took away all of Lumumba's power and the army arrested him. At the end of 1960 the Congo became divided into four quasi-independent parts. On January 17, 1961 Lumumba was murdered while trying to escape from prizon. Lots of people thought the US played a part in his assianation.
The USSR tried to blame Hammarskjöld for Lumumba's assianation, and they wanted him to resign but he refused. On February 21, 1961 the Security Council used resolution 161. This resolution allowed the Council to take action if a civil war broke out. There was lots of tension, and many outbreaks between the africans and the missionaries. One example of this happening in the book was the Prices and the Congolese people were arguing over the food they caught, and they were also mad that Leah was trying to kill animals with the men.
This part of The Poisonwood Bible takes place durring 1960 and 1961. On June 30, 1960 Patrice Lumumba was elected Prime Minister of the independent Belgian Congo. Lumumba was Prime Minister and Joseph Kavabusu was President. After Lumumba became Prime Minister and Kasavubu presidentriots started to occur, a military coup broke out. Africa's richest (in natural resousces) province Katanga which was under the control of Moise Tshombe withdrew from "the repuplic". They did this because they wanted to be independent so they could decide what they wanted to do with their resources. 20,000 UN peace keepers were sent to Katanga to protect the European citizens in the province. Around this time the Kasai province also anounced that they wanted to become independent.
Lumumba asked for help from the USSR, but this didnt work out. In December 1960, Kasavubu and Mobutu overthew the repuplic and took away all of Lumumba's power and the army arrested him. At the end of 1960 the Congo became divided into four quasi-independent parts. On January 17, 1961 Lumumba was murdered while trying to escape from prizon. Lots of people thought the US played a part in his assianation.
The USSR tried to blame Hammarskjöld for Lumumba's assianation, and they wanted him to resign but he refused. On February 21, 1961 the Security Council used resolution 161. This resolution allowed the Council to take action if a civil war broke out. There was lots of tension, and many outbreaks between the africans and the missionaries. One example of this happening in the book was the Prices and the Congolese people were arguing over the food they caught, and they were also mad that Leah was trying to kill animals with the men.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Literature Circle 2 Reflection
In The Judges section of the book, a lot of things happened that helped us to learn more about the Prices and the people of the Congo. I think that the section where the girls are the narrators was called "The Things We Didn't Know" because the Price family realized that they didnt know as much as they thought they did, and how many things that they never knew about before. Also, it gives us the opprotunity to learn many things, especially how the women in the Price family change.
Rachel goes through a lot durring this part of the book. Tata Ndu, the chief, has been visiting the Price's house and giving them gifts almost everyday because he wants Rachel for a wife. So she doesn't have to marry Tata Ndu, she pretends to be engaged to marry Axelroot. He tells her the American's plot against Lamumba, but she is so oblivious she doesn't realize what is really going on. It also seems like she she has stopped caring about her appearance as much as she used to, and after her father pushed her out of plane, she has realized that she won't be going home anytime soon. To me, the biggest thing that happens to Rachel is when the ants come and the villagers push Rachel out of their boat. Rachel's mirror shatters which could be a metaphor for Rachel's life. Rachel's life is just like the broken, shattered mirror. She has nothing left, she doesn't know where to go or what to do. She basically has no life anymore. Her life is broken.
Leah changed a lot in this section of the book. Her belief and faith in her father is pretty much gone. She basically shifts her belief and faith she once had for her father to Anatole. Instead of always trying to help and impress her father, she tries to impress Anatole. When the ants swarm the village, Leah has no one to turn to except for Anatole who saves her. She feels that she has been betrayed by God,and says, "I felt the breath of God go cold on my skin" (310).
Adah has had her faiths in her family, herself, and America changing. She feels betrayed by the President, for planning to kill Lumumba, and her father or God, for not being there to help her when the ants come, she also feels betrayed by her own mother for not helping her, but instead helping Ruth May. She also questions her own worth, and weather she is even worth saving.
The ants in this section were also a metaphor for the African people. It showed that when they are pushed down for so long and with little resources, they will revolt and take everything in their path for freedom. It could also be a metafor for what could happen if Nathan continues pushing Christianity onto the people, then they will eventually get fed up and rise against him. Another meaning for this metaphor is the Independence movement, where Lamumba led the people to rise up against the Belgians.
Rachel goes through a lot durring this part of the book. Tata Ndu, the chief, has been visiting the Price's house and giving them gifts almost everyday because he wants Rachel for a wife. So she doesn't have to marry Tata Ndu, she pretends to be engaged to marry Axelroot. He tells her the American's plot against Lamumba, but she is so oblivious she doesn't realize what is really going on. It also seems like she she has stopped caring about her appearance as much as she used to, and after her father pushed her out of plane, she has realized that she won't be going home anytime soon. To me, the biggest thing that happens to Rachel is when the ants come and the villagers push Rachel out of their boat. Rachel's mirror shatters which could be a metaphor for Rachel's life. Rachel's life is just like the broken, shattered mirror. She has nothing left, she doesn't know where to go or what to do. She basically has no life anymore. Her life is broken.
Leah changed a lot in this section of the book. Her belief and faith in her father is pretty much gone. She basically shifts her belief and faith she once had for her father to Anatole. Instead of always trying to help and impress her father, she tries to impress Anatole. When the ants swarm the village, Leah has no one to turn to except for Anatole who saves her. She feels that she has been betrayed by God,and says, "I felt the breath of God go cold on my skin" (310).
Adah has had her faiths in her family, herself, and America changing. She feels betrayed by the President, for planning to kill Lumumba, and her father or God, for not being there to help her when the ants come, she also feels betrayed by her own mother for not helping her, but instead helping Ruth May. She also questions her own worth, and weather she is even worth saving.
The ants in this section were also a metaphor for the African people. It showed that when they are pushed down for so long and with little resources, they will revolt and take everything in their path for freedom. It could also be a metafor for what could happen if Nathan continues pushing Christianity onto the people, then they will eventually get fed up and rise against him. Another meaning for this metaphor is the Independence movement, where Lamumba led the people to rise up against the Belgians.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
History of the Congo (2000-2007)
In the last seven years of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (Zaire) history, the Congo was put through many hard times like the Second Congo War. This war began in 1998 and finally came to an end in 2003 when a Transitional Government took over. It was the widest interstate war in modern African History, and it involved eight separate African Nations, as well as twenty armed groups. The war ended in April 2004. Many people suffered, and there was a death count of around 3.9 million people. This turned out to be the deadliest war since World War II. Although the war had come to an end in July 2003, and an agreement to create a government of national unity was formed, the state remained weak. In 2004, an estimated 1,000 people died each day from violence or lack of food supply. The last decade in the Congo has been a hard time of suffering.
History of the Congo (1955-1966)
The Congo was controled by King Leopold II, but because of his harsh ruling, he was forced to give his control over the Congo to Belgium. This was exchange was made in a treaty on November 15, 1908. When the Belgian Government took over the Congolese Administration from King Leopold II, the Congo began improving both socially and economically. Because the Belgian Congo was a colony, the Congolese people were not given the same rights and privelages as the Belgian people. In 1952, the governor-general Leon Antoine Petillon wrote to the Secretary of Colonies, that stated that if nothing was done about the situation in the Congo, Belgium would lose its colony. Leon wanted to give the native people equal rights and privelages to the Belgians. The Belgian government did not support this, and didn't do anything about the unequal rights. This lead to the fomation of lots of groups that wanted to overthrow the Belgian government. In Belgium, members of the Parliament wanted to make sure they kept the Congo in the Belgian Kingdom, so the Congolese people were given the same rights that the Belgian people had. On June 30, 1960, the first elections were opened to the Congolese people. Joseph Kasavibu was elected as President, and the country was finally independent.
Literature Circle #2
Moderator
1) Why do you think Orleanna married Nathan Price?
2) Who or what do you think the "little beast" is that Orleanna refers to in the book?
3) How do you think that Leah's relationship with her father is changing?4) Do you think that Leah is starting to disbelieve in Nathan Price and his ways?
5) What do you think that the ants could be a metaphor for?
6) How do you think that Rachel, Leah, and Adah's relationships with each other changed when they started having to help cook when Orleanna and Ruth May were sick?
7) Do you think that the way Nathan says that the bible and tata jesus is Bangala which he thinks means precious, but actually stands for the poisonwood the way he pronounces it is significant?
8) Do you think that the Price girls names, or the Kikongo names given to them by the people describe their personalities better?
9) What do you think that Rachel's broken Mirror could symbolize?
10) What are the differences and similarites of Nathan Price and Brother Fowles? Why do you think that the people liked Brother Fowles more than Nathan Price?
1) Why do you think Orleanna married Nathan Price?
2) Who or what do you think the "little beast" is that Orleanna refers to in the book?
3) How do you think that Leah's relationship with her father is changing?4) Do you think that Leah is starting to disbelieve in Nathan Price and his ways?
5) What do you think that the ants could be a metaphor for?
6) How do you think that Rachel, Leah, and Adah's relationships with each other changed when they started having to help cook when Orleanna and Ruth May were sick?
7) Do you think that the way Nathan says that the bible and tata jesus is Bangala which he thinks means precious, but actually stands for the poisonwood the way he pronounces it is significant?
8) Do you think that the Price girls names, or the Kikongo names given to them by the people describe their personalities better?
9) What do you think that Rachel's broken Mirror could symbolize?
10) What are the differences and similarites of Nathan Price and Brother Fowles? Why do you think that the people liked Brother Fowles more than Nathan Price?
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