herself to the reader she states, name is Ruth May and I hate the Devil. For the longest time “My I used to think my name was Sugar. Mama always says that. Sugar, come here a minute. (Kingsolver, 21). In this passage, Ruth May chooses to Sugar, now do that” Poisonwood don’t identify herself in two ways; first, by professing her hatred of the Devil—a hatred she derives from her father and the Baptist church—and secondly, by demonstrating the significance of naming. Due to her fallacious impression that her mother named her Ruth May once “Sugar,” assumed that her identity corresponded to that name. Her confusion has political implications; as seen above in the instance of re-naming campaign throughout the Congo—or Zaire, as Mobutu’s he would have it—the names assigned to locations have political significance while simultaneously containing complex meanings of identification for the people who have internalized those names. In re-naming cities and other geographical features with African names, Mobutu garnered support for his theoretical denunciation of Belgian influence in the Congo. Ruth May inadvertently shows how the associations formed through naming operate on an individual level. Ruth older sister Rachel shares the same ignorance about the insight embedded in May’s her language. Rather than attribute her obliviousness to youthful misunderstandings, however, critics see Rachel as a (Austenfeld 295), a “literal-minded, materialistic teenager” “heavy-handed symbol of crass American consumerism and and a paternalistic racism” (Demory 191), “clueless and character (Ognibene 31). Within her selfish and oblivious dialogue, morally neutral” however, Rachel unwittingly unearths some of her hypocrisies and offenses. The most father’s significant of her revelations derive from her frequent malapropisms, which critics often note: Kingsolver equips Rachel with a laughably poor mastery over language, “Because Rachel’s malapropisms create moments of humor within the novel; however, her observation, though seen
herself to the reader she states, “My name is Ruth May and I hate the Devil. For the longest time I used to think my name was Sugar. Mama always says that. Sugar, come here a minute. Sugar, now don’t do that” (Kingsolver, Poisonwood 21). In this passage, Ruth May chooses to identify herself in two ways; first, by professing her hatred of the Devil—a hatred she derives from her father and the Baptist church—and secondly, by demonstrating the significance of naming. Due to her fallacious impression that her mother named her “Sugar,” Ruth May once assumed that her identity corresponded to that name. Her confusion has political implications; as seen above in the instance of Mobutu’s re-naming campaign throughout the Congo—or Zaire, as he would have it—the names assigned to locations have political significance while simultaneously containing complex meanings of identification for the people who have internalized those names. In re-naming cities and other geographical features with African names, Mobutu garnered support for his theoretical denunciation of Belgian influence in the Congo. Ruth May inadvertently shows how the associations formed through naming operate on an individual level. Ruth May’s older sister Rachel shares the same ignorance about the insight embedded in her language. Rather than attribute her obliviousness to youthful misunderstandings, however, critics see Rachel as a “literal-minded, materialistic teenager” (Austenfeld 295), a “heavy-handed symbol of crass American consumerism and paternalistic racism” (Demory 191), and a “clueless and morally neutral” character (Ognibene 31). Within her selfish and oblivious dialogue, however, Rachel unwittingly unearths some of her father’s hypocrisies and offenses. The most significant of her revelations derive from her frequent malapropisms, which critics often note: “Because Kingsolver equips Rachel with a laughably poor mastery over language, Rachel’s malapropisms create moments of humor within the novel; however, her observation, though seen
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