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Foreshadowing
Genre
Explanation and Analysis:
The Poisonwood Bible is a historical fiction novel, which means it incorporates real political and historical events into the lives of its fictional characters. While the Prices and most of the African characters are fictional, the story's events are mostly either plausible (for instance, Kilanga is similar to a real Congolese village in the mid-20th century) or historically accurate, as is the case with the description of Patrice Lumumba's execution and the reign of American-backed dictator Mobutu.
The historical novel is a genre that allows authors to educate readers about history and express opinions on past and current events. Kingsolver spends much of the book introducing the readers, through the Prices, to the realities of life in the Belgian Congo. She also exposes and condemns imperialism, and especially American foreign policy practices in the 20th century, by writing characters who experience its consequences firsthand. Because the book, published in 1998, seeks to examine and interrogate such practices as Christian missions to Africa, segregation, and colonialism, it can also be called a postcolonial novel.
The Poisonwood Bible's focus on historical accuracy does not prevent it from also being a character-driven novel that tries to examine the psychology of its characters. The reader's intimate view into the minds of the five narrators also allows Kingsolver to discuss other social concerns throughout the book, especially feminism (all the narrators are female), the treatment of disabled people (through Adah), and the uses and misuses of organized religion.
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