The transition that language has undergone strips her previous Biblical language of its Leah’s power. She describes the way that the prayers mouth like suggesting the dry “[stuff her] cotton,” emptiness that they now assume. Her acknowledgement of the prayers as only way of “my knowing what to reveals the hollow comfort that this form of language affords her, and we do” realize the difficulty of attempting to cast aside that which one has grown up knowing and believing in exchange for something new. Despite this difficulty, Leah manages, in this passage, to invert her prior Biblical language by taking it with a grain of salt. In addition to transforming her own language, Leah uses language to invert the powerful misinformation churned out by the United States in its quest to justify imperial involvement in the Congo to an enchanted American public. Leah speaks of an interaction that she has had with her sister Rachel: Rachel informs me had my brains washed by a I’ve Communist plot. She’s exactly right. been won to the side of schoolteachers and nurses, and lost all allegiance to plastic I’ve explosives. No homeland I can claim as mine would blow up a struggling, distant and water pipes, inventing darkness and dysentery in the country’s hydroelectric dams service of its ideals, and bury mines in every Angolan road that connected food with a hungry child. (Kingsolver, 503) Poisonwood Leah ironically states exactly in response to charge that her have “She’s right” Rachel’s “brains” been by a Communist In doing so, Leah exposes and inverts one of the core “washed plot.” façades erected by the United States during the Cold War period and beyond: the construction and criminalization of something akin to a She goes on to describe the many “Communist plot.” forms of ambush and terror that the United States has perpetuated in Angola, rejecting the United States as her due to the hypocrisy that it continually exhibits in other nations. This “homeland”
The transition that Leah’s language has undergone strips her previous Biblical language of its power. She describes the way that the prayers “[stuff her] mouth like cotton,” suggesting the dry emptiness that they now assume. Her acknowledgement of the prayers as “my only way of knowing what to do” reveals the hollow comfort that this form of language affords her, and we realize the difficulty of attempting to cast aside that which one has grown up knowing and believing in exchange for something new. Despite this difficulty, Leah manages, in this passage, to invert her prior Biblical language by taking it with a grain of salt. In addition to transforming her own language, Leah uses language to invert the powerful misinformation churned out by the United States in its quest to justify imperial involvement in the Congo to an enchanted American public. Leah speaks of an interaction that she has had with her sister Rachel: Rachel informs me I’ve had my brains washed by a Communist plot. She’s exactly right. I’ve been won to the side of schoolteachers and nurses, and lost all allegiance to plastic explosives. No homeland I can claim as mine would blow up a struggling, distant country’s hydroelectric dams and water pipes, inventing darkness and dysentery in the service of its ideals, and bury mines in every Angolan road that connected food with a hungry child. (Kingsolver, Poisonwood 503) Leah ironically states “She’s exactly right” in response to Rachel’s charge that her “brains” have been “washed by a Communist plot.” In doing so, Leah exposes and inverts one of the core façades erected by the United States during the Cold War period and beyond: the construction and criminalization of something akin to a “Communist plot.” She goes on to describe the many forms of ambush and terror that the United States has perpetuated in Angola, rejecting the United States as her “homeland” due to the hypocrisy that it continually exhibits in other nations. This