The Poisonwood Bible Book 2, Chapter 2 Quotes
The Poisonwood Bible Book 2, Chapter 2 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 4
"We Belgians made slaves of them and cut off their hands in the rubber plantations. Now you Americans have them for a slave wage in the mines and let them cut off their own hands. And you, my friend, are stuck with the job of trying to make amends." (2.2.29)
This big plot dump says a lot about the politics going on behind the scenes. At this point in the narrative, the Price family doesn't know what's going on with the Congo's government, and if they did, they probably wouldn't care.
Quote 5
"American aid will be the Congo's salvation. You'll see!" (2.2.32)
American "aid" ends up being more like the Congo's damnation. Nathan, despite a world view so narrow you couldn't slide a sheet of paper through it sideways, might actually have his heart in the right place here. He thinks he really can help these people, whereas the American government just wants to take advantage of them. Slavery isn't slavery if it's happening in another country, right??
Quote 6
The ceiling light was a clear glass bowl half full of [...] dead bugs. I know why. They like to come up to the light because it is so, so pretty like something they want, and then they get trapped in there. (2.2.46)
This is a pretty deep metaphor about the Congo's motivations for allying with the motivations, and the consequences of the alliance. They want what Americans have—everything—but diving into it headfirst has fatal consequences.