Postmodernism in The Poisonwood Bible

Postmodernism is often considered to be the style of writing that began after World War II.  It is characterized by the use of rhetorical devices like fragmentation, untrustworthy (or biased) narrators and generally unconventional methods.    Barbara Kingsolver's novel The Poisonwood Bible is relies heavily on many of these Postmodernistic devices.

The novel's very organization is fragmented.  Each "Book" is divided into many sub-sections (chapters) which are narrated by one of five narrators.   The mother, Orleanna, narrates the first section of each book and the four daughters narrate the proceeding chapters.  Each section is relatively short and each narrator has an unique voice, giving the book a fragmented feel.

Furthermore, the use of a first person, unreliable narrator is characteristic of Postmodernism.  Each narrator brings her own biases forward, many of which potentially cloud her judgement.  The youngest narrator, Ruth May, is often simply naive,  while the other narrators bring their own preconceived notions and judgements with them to Africa.  The use of the unreliable narrator, as well as fragmentation, enhances  The Poisonwood Bible and reflects the views many Americans and Europeans had on African society and culture.

Heart of Darkness vs. Apocalypse Now

For me the most striking, albeit most obvious, difference between Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness and the Francis Ford Coppola film Apocalypse Now was the change in setting.   Heart of Darkness is set in the Belgium Congo as Leopold II attempts to expand his colonial empire just before the turn of the century.  In Apocalypse Now the setting is moved to war torn Vietnam in the 1960s.  Despite the change in setting the underlying stories are the same.  This shows the common nature of conquest and that in any state of subjugation there will always be imperialists and authoritative, power hungry men like Kurtz.  The differing settings highlights the similarities between the two stories and shows the transcendence of Conrad's original novel.