Anne Parnell

AP English Literature

Mrs. Turner

Feb. 12th 2018

Interpretive Essay on Book 3: “The Judges”

Question: How does Judgement in particular affect the overall message in the third book of

the Poisonwood Bible?

Judgement is one of the most comforting and familiar acts that a human can partake in. It

elevates us, sustains our convictions, and supports our moral and ethical inclinations. In The

Poisonwood Bible, judgment seems to be the only thing that everyone has in common.

Absolutely everyone in the book judges everyone else, especially those who they think

they are being judged by. Axelroot judges the Price Family for thinking they can change

Kilango, and he judges the Kinolingo people for being different. And everyone in Kilango (Price

Family included) thinks that he is a rude, perverted hermit who plays God. Adah thinks that no

one understands her, she thinks that she is above everyone else by keeping her thoughts to

herself. She feels as if she is judged by everyone, so she too judges everyone. Nathan judges

Orleanna for being a weak woman, and Orleanna judges Nathan for his cruelty, his lack of

compassion, and his steadfastness to things that don’t much matter. Judgement is reciprocal. We

as humans make sense of the world by fitting people into neatly labeled drawers. It comforts us

and makes the world seem a bit more manageable.

This, however, also cultivates a one-sided story. By placing ourselves on a pedestal made

from the degradation of others, we are ultimately hurting ourselves. This is true of the Congolese

people. They judge democracy and President Lumbada. Anatole said, “They can throw their
votes in one basket or the other, or perhaps in the river”. This demonstrates a lack of

understanding, but also a truckload of judgement. These people may have reacted to this

institution the way they did because they were judged by it. And after all, judgement is

reciprocal. The American people, a democracy, judge the conolgeese. In the beginning of The

Poisonwood Bible, Ruth May talks about how in school the teacher did nothing to dispel the

rumors about cannibalism in Africa. Americans have always and continue to degrade the

Congolese. Each news article and one-sided story produced only elevates “civilized” powers like

Belgium and America higher on their moral pedestal. And as such, they colonized the congolese

and treated them as less than human. Their judgement transformed these people into mere

animals. So why should the Congolese not judge the white man and his instruments of

democracy?

The Congolese people are numerous and they are important, America just can’t see it yet.

They are rather like Leah and Ruth May playing with the poor ants- the seemingly defenseless

ants. But, at the end of the chapter the ants fought back. The forced all of their oppressors off

their land. They were tired of being killed. And the congolese are tired of being dehumanized.

They could not perhaps put their sentiment into words, but the congolese people are tired of

being judged and treated like cattle. And right at the brink of this explosion of all this judgement,

America produced a man, firm in his judgements and sends him to the congolese to satiate their

anger. Nathan Price’s presence in the congo is perhaps the greatest irony of all. How is a man,

perhaps the most judgemental in all of America, suppose to calm the congolese, who are in this

situation in the first place due to the judgement of nations like that of which produced Nathan

Price?