Defining Voice
The study of voice incorporates analysis of diction, detail, figurative language, syntax, and tone. These are five basic techniques that students are expected to understand deeply by the time they sit for the AP exam, so it is vital that they begin to hone their understanding of these concepts early. While many students may be able to define these terms, I have discovered that few can begin a discussion of the function of these techniques when they enter my class. Enter The Poisonwood Bible.
For this unit I will first cover each component of stylistic voice in mini-lessons using examples from The Poisonwood Bible and other texts. Then we will go through Ruth May's narratives in detail examining the different aspects of her voice and character. The students will progress to a written analysis of Ruth May's voice and how it may reveal the larger meaning of the work. After students write we will examine some of those pieces as a whole class to look at different ways students approached writing about voice. After this modeling of how to teach and discuss voice through Ruth May's narratives, small groups of students will be assigned either Adah's, Leah's, or Rachel's narratives to analyze and teach to the rest of the class. After the student teaching we will return to a large group discussion of Orleanna's narratives, which are denser and provide a better bridge to discussion of the more figurative issues of voice in the text.
Stylistic Voice
Voice can be examined in two ways within The Poisonwood Bible: stylistically and figuratively. The first way my students will examine voice is within its stylistic construction, which lends itself so easily to a beginning unit for an AP English Literature course or to most high school English classes. Throughout my years of teaching and studying English, I have heard voice defined in a variety ways and used in place of other terms such as tone. For the purposes of this unit, the definition that best fits what I want my students to consider can be found in Nancy Dean's Discovering Voice: Voice Lessons for Middle and High School. Dean states, "Voice is created through conscious choices. In other words, the writer, painter, or musician purposefully chooses his or her 'tools'(words, colors, instruments) and uses them in ways that create a certain effect." 2 This plays on the ideas of specific choices writers make, which is one key component that students need to consider when reading analytically and preparing for the AP exam. In another of Dean's books, she describes voice as being "central to communication" because "Voice, the color and texture of communication, stamps expression with the indelible mark of personality. It is the expression of who we are: the pitch and timbre of verbalization. Voice is the fingerprint of a person's language." 3 While students are examining the narratives of Orleanna, Ruth May, Adah, Leah, and Rachel Price, I want them to identify the ways in which the "color and texture" of the narratives differ, thus creating different voices and, in turn, different characters and perspectives. While we work through the novel we will focus on five components of voice: diction, detail, figurative language, syntax, and tone. 4
By starting the year with The Poisonwood Bible my students will get practice examining diction, syntax, selection of detail, figurative language, and tone with five separate narratives that allow them to do a comparison of how the techniques are used from character to character. For example, the character Ruth May is only five years old. An early line within one of her narratives is, "If somebody was hungry, why would they have a big fat belly? I don't know." 5 The content of this line is immediately suggestive of a younger character because it is asking a practical question based on a visual observation, something children often do. As students look at the diction in the lines, the phrase "big fat belly" sticks out as suggestive of a younger speaker because of the redundancy of words and the choice of the word "belly" over "stomach," a slightly more specific and mature word. The final sentence, "I don't know," is a simple statement demonstrating the lack of knowledge of the character, and its placement directly after the question shows the speaker does not attempt to puzzle out the question, an action an older character might attempt.
Students can easily juxtapose Ruth May's sentence with 17-year-old Rachel's statement that opens her first narrative, "Man oh man, are we in for it now, was my thinking about the Congo from the instant we first set foot. We are supposed to be calling the shots here, but it doesn't look to me like we're in charge of a thing, not even our own selves." 6 The content of Rachel's statement is clearly different from Ruth May's in that Rachel is commenting on the larger place (Congo) and the larger differences she sees (us vs. them), while Ruth May looked at one specific visual image and could not connect to a larger concept. When looking at Rachel's diction, there is the use of a slang phrase "man oh man," calling to mind teenagers and their fondness for more casual language and language experimentation. There is also the structure of the sentences with the parenthetical comments lending a caustic tone to the statements, which is much more sophisticated than Ruth May's simple question that she fails to puzzle through. The changes in narrative speaker from chapter to chapter provide the students with the opportunity to compare the voice changes and see the striking differences between the diction, syntax, and tone of 17-year-old Rachel and five-year-old Ruth May. This way they can begin to identify word choices and structures that seem to be unique to each character and consider the larger function of those choices. What is it about the phrase "man oh man" that calls to mind a teenage voice? What effect is made on the reader by using this phrase? What does the use of the phrase tell us about the character using it? By extension then, what can we, as readers, begin to think about the character's purpose in telling us her side of this story?
While this seems like a relatively simple concept and each idea appears to flow easily to the next (identification to figuring out meaning to considering function) all teachers know that students will not automatically make these leaps within their analysis and learning. That will only occur in some strange utopian classroom that I have certainly never encountered. That movement among levels of analysis takes work to teach. In order to get there, a teacher must have the students consider each concept individually at first; only then can they build to that swirling of concepts together to consider the larger meaning and function of the voice.
Diction
The first component of stylistic voice to consider is diction. When I ask my students to define diction they quickly yell out "Word choice!" Certainly diction is at its simplest word choice, but it is really about choosing the perfect word to convey your exact idea. Also, words do not just have a dictionary definition, they have a connotation as well. The connotation of a word often resonates more with a reader or audience and is one of the things my students need to consider more deeply. I tell my students (in a rather clichéd manner, I admit) that words are not simply black and white; they are a thousand shades of grey, depending on their context. Students should consider that "Words can be formal or informal, depending on the writer's audience and purpose...A writer's words should always suit the audience and purpose of the piece." 7 The idea of purpose is an important concept I want my student to examine when reading the novel. Since character narratives often overlap in The Poisonwood Bible, the reader gets the chance to hear about the same event from more than one perspective. I want my students to look closely at the retelling of events and see how the diction of the differing narratives shapes our understanding of the event.
A nice place to look at diction is in the middle of the novel. The family is attacked by a swarm of fire ants and must leave the village in a mass rush of confusion. The story is told in fragments by each of the daughters as they are awoken in the middle of the night covered in ants. Leah begins, "This awful night is the worst we've ever known: the nsongonya. They came on us like a nightmare. Nelson bang-bang-banging on the back door got tangled up with my sleep, so that, even after I was awake, the next hours had the unsteady presence of a dream. Before I even knew where I was, I found myself pulled along by somebody's hand in the dark and a horrible fiery sting sloshing up my calves." 8 Notice the use of the words "nightmare," "sleep," and "dream." Obviously each of these words is related by subject, but they provide us with the impression that Leah is confused and unaware of the exact events of the evening. When she states, "I found myself pulled along by somebody's hand" the word "found" makes it seem like she did not go to anyone or reach for anyone deliberately, but that someone pulling her to safety was a discovery she made. She was not an active participant in leaving and running to safety. When the dream references are linked with this she is an even less active participant in her escape from the ants. This becomes important later in her narrative; she is asked where her family is and she realizes she never looked for them and has essentially abandoned her family. "'I don't know. I don't really know where anybody is, I just ran.' I was still waking up and it struck me now with force that I should have been looking out for my own family. I'd thought to worry about Mama Mwanza but not my own crippled twin. A moan rose out of me..." 9 Note that in this realization that she abandoned her family, Leah uses the phrase "I was still waking up." At this point in her story she has run some distance from the village and is currently standing in the water at the edge of the river, waiting to be placed in a canoe. Leah is generally considered by herself and her other family members to be the most able-bodied member of their family and the one with the strongest ability to survive the Congo. In fact, within Adah's description of the ant swarm their mother, Orleanna, tells Adah that, "Leah will, Leah can take care of herself" as Orleanna tries to figure out which daughter or daughters to save. 10 According to Orleanna, Leah, the most able member of her family, never thought of helping them in a time when they most needed her help. Leah's repeated use of words related to sleep give the reader the impression that she was unconscious in her abandonment of her family. Was Leah truly unconscious or did she just wish to appear so in her retelling? This passage is a good example of one in which the speaker's purpose should be examined closely, and diction is a good entry into that discussion.
Syntax
Syntax is another term my students feel confident defining as "word order." I, however, like the more expressive phrase "sentence arrangement" which has a greater scope than simply "word order." When students examine syntax they are looking at where a writer chooses to place words, which word is placed near another, how phrases are configured and organized within the sentence, and the punctuation choices used within the sentence. Whenever I study syntax with my students, I face two barriers. The first is, "No way this guy thought about every sentence like this, Miss!" The same student who will spend all night figuring out how to beat one level of an Xbox game cannot fathom someone examining their writing with the same level of concentration and attention to detail the student gives to Xbox. Students need to realize that these are expert writers and that writing is their livelihood. Additionally, students seem reluctant to discuss syntax because they do not have ready access to grammatical terms within their vocabulary. However, as long as students know the basics of subject, predicate, verb, noun, pronoun, adjective and a few others, they have more than enough term knowledge to proceed with a discussion of syntax. They should also be able to discuss punctuation, especially the semi-colon. If your students are not comfortable with these basics, then a quick review is probably necessary, but syntax is not a nerdy study of grammar minutiae and should not be approached in that manner.
Adah's narratives within the novel provide an excellent examination of syntax and could make for some fun discussions or even warm up activities. Her fascination with palindromes and word play can really hone discussion in quickly on syntax. Adah's animosity towards her twin sister is revealed when she states, "Leah fancies herself Our Father's star pupil in matters Biblical. Star Pupil: Lipup Rats. Miss Rat-pup read the quote, nodding solemnly" 11 Adah's palindrome of 'star pupil' as 'lipup rats' gives her the opportunity to call her sister a rat-pup, which is not an exact replica of the palindrome. This syntactical change is subtle, but revealing about Adah's feelings toward Leah.
Selection of Detail
Detail selection is a murky idea to many of my students because they are reluctant within their own writing to cut out anything they have already written, even if it doesn't work, because it takes such an effort to get it onto the page. So the very thought that any writer may have added, removed, and then added something different to create a certain effect is foreign to them because they are rarely willing to do it themselves. "Detail...shapes the reader's understanding and view of a topic. The writer can emphasize a point by focusing the reader's attention on a thought or reason through detail." 12 This is also a clear reason to examine detail choices with my students so they begin to see the purpose behind including one phrase but not another. Within Poisonwood some characters seem to care far more about what details they include than others. For example, Ruth May might not be including certain details about an event, but she is five years old, so her reasons for not including those details are very different from Leah's, Adah's, or Rachel's reasons.
The most fascinating narratives to examine for selection of detail are Oreleanna's. Her narratives in general are rife with meaning and she is clearly in deep emotional conflict about her time in the Congo and her behavior while she was there. One of her daughters dies and the Price family is involved in the coup to change leadership, even though it is a peripheral involvement. Orleanna's guilt over these events is often in conflict with her need to be released from whatever responsibility she feels about these things.
Orleanna's passage that opens the novel is an excellent one to consider from the standpoint of selection of detail. "Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened. First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees. The trees are columns of slick, brindled bark like muscular animals overgrown beyond all reason. Every space is filled with life: delicate, poisonous frogs war-painted like skeletons, clutched in copulation, secreting their precious eggs onto dripping leaves. Vines strangling their own kin in the everlasting wrestle for sunlight." 13 This passage is filled with detail, but upon examination the detail connects to larger events in the story. Orleanna states that the "space is filled with life", but then she proceeds to describe a poisonous and destructive life. This alludes to [the] destructive force of the jungle on her family (malaria) or it could connect to the destruction America brought to the Congolese people. "Vines strangling their own kin" could be connected to what Nathan does to his children by taking them to the Congo and being so incredibly strict about religion and his expectations for them. It could also be Orleanna admitting that she played a part in the "strangling" of her own daughters. The detail choices within Orleanna's narratives are complex and revealing about character's purpose.
Figurative Language
Kingsolver is an incredibly lyrical writer, so her book is tailor-made for an examination of figurative language. Also, the more lyrical passages can indicate different things about the speaker of the narrative than passages with plainer language. Writers use "figurative language because it's a rich, strong, and vivid way to express meaning. By using figurative language, we are able to say much more in fewer words." 14 Seeking out different figurative techniques the Price women use and "analyzing the crap out of them" (as my students say) might seem tedious and annoying, but when this activity is couched in the larger realm of voice it gains a context that lends a clear purpose to the activity. The simple act of considering why Orleanna, for example, is much more metaphoric and uses more sensory language than Rachel provides students with a way to escape analysis of technique in isolation and slides them into looking at how a technique builds to a larger meaning in the text.
Adah is an interesting character to look at as well when considering figurative language and voice. Her language slides from syntactically complex to lyrical to sparse and back again. Looking at when it is sparse compared to when it contains figurative language makes it easier for students to consider how these choices affect the purpose behind the narrative. At one point, Adah says about her own potential death, "I should like to be a doctor poet, I think, if I happen to survive to adulthood. I never imagined myself as a woman grown, anyway, and nowadays especially it seems a waste of imagination," 15 but when describing yet another funeral for a Congolese baby she says, "All the mothers come walking on their knees. They shriek and wail a long, high song with quivering soft palates, like babies dying of hunger." 16 Commenting on her own mortality she is very straightforward, but when describing the crying of mothers at a funeral she equates it with "babies dying of hunger." The use of figurative language in one and not in the other makes the death of babies have more of an impact on the reader. Perhaps this choice is Adah's way of coping with her own realization of her mortality as she is surrounded by dying children when she herself is still a child. Students can use the ways she categorizes death to consider what she is trying to relate to her audience or what these lines reveal about the psychological impact of her African experiences.
Tone
Tone is a concept that is vitally important for students to understand and understand well in an AP English Literature course; without fail it is covered on the exam. Despite its importance, I often dread my discussions of tone with my classes because in some long ago class that it seems every single one of my students has taken, they are told that tone and mood are the same thing. We repeatedly discuss the vast and distinct differences between these two elements, but my students continually treat them as one and the same. It is my hope (deep and desperate) that by linking tone with a discussion of voice, my students will begin to comprehend the concept of tone. I recommend covering tone last in the initial discussion of these concepts because "understanding tone requires an understanding of all the elements writers use to create it: diction, detail, figurative language, imagery, and syntax." 17 The concept itself is difficult to understand because it is so abstract and often elusive in written language, yet so easy to comprehend in spoken language. A limited vocabulary is another issue I have discovered that impedes my students' ability to examine tone properly. Apparently many teachers have this problem because handouts of tone words are easily found on the internet. I recommend pulling a sheet off the internet that best suits your students' needs, passing it out, and discussing it prior to looking at tone in the text.
When students are discussing tone there are really two components to the discussion. They need to figure "out what the tone is and how that tone is created." 18 Rachel's narratives are a great way to start a tone discussion because she is filled with teenage attitude and contempt. Turn to the start of any of her narratives and you are greeted with something like, "Well, Hallelujah and pass the ammunition. Company for dinner! And an eligible bachelor at that, without three wives or even one as far as I know." 19 Rachel's flippant use of a Biblical term and mocking reference to the cultural differences between her ideas of an eligible bachelor versus the Congolese version immediately conveys to the reader her general disdain for the situation and starts an easy discussion of tone.
If my students look at each of these components individually at first, just to get a sense of how to approach each component of voice, then they should be much better equipped to examine the overall voice of each character. Through their analysis of each character I hope they will realize that "each narrator serves not only as a focal vehicle for telling the story, but also as a determining agent whose choices of whom and what to include in her portion of the story shape the overall message and thematic slant of the entire work." 20 This realization that the overall message of the story is being shaped by the choices the characters make within their narratives will be a nice segue into the larger questions of who can speak for others.
Speaking for the Voiceless
Speaking of incarcerated women, L. Jeanne Fryer observes, "The 'master narrative' is the story told by the dominant culture and fosters normative ways of seeing, thus marginalizing, and indeed attempting to silence, all that don't comfortably fit into this story." 21 Students often encounter only the "master narrative" in school through the novels and plays they study in English class. In recent years my school district and others have been making strides in attempting to change this narrative so it is more reflective of the multi-cultural student body we see each day in our classes. Despite this, there are still a shocking number of stories that go untold by the people who actually experienced them. Social media has been changing this, as seen via Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube in the reports that come out of various countries in the Middle East as governments are challenged by their citizens. While we are seeing stories told as they unfold, there are many from the past that are still untold, and will remain that way unless opportunities are provided for those stories to be spread.
When a writer chooses to tell the story of a traditionally voiceless person questions arise. Who tells the stories? Should the person who has experienced the story relate it for others, or can someone else who already has a public platform available speak for others? Fryer speaks for many when she contends that "real voices need to be heard; voices of direct experience are significant and authoritative. They help to crack the 'master narrative' allowing space for increased awareness, expanded understanding and possibilities for change." 22 When a person is speaking from experience there is a particular kind of authority automatically granted to them. For example, Richard's Wright's novel Black Boy (American Hunger) is generally considered an autobiographical account of his life, although Wright refused to call it an autobiography. Since the story is so closely associated with his life it is generally considered a powerful account of African American life during that period of history. Some people may question whether some of the events in the story actually happened to Wright, but no one questions the validity of his voice in telling that story. Kathryn Stockett's novel The Help has been widely read by my students and many others. It retells the stories of a series of fictional African American maids in the South, and it raised a firestorm of concern by critics and readers alike because the author of the story is white. Many questioned whether she had the right to speak for the characters she portrayed in her story, and many wondered if her portrayal of the women relied on too many stereotypes. Most of my students loved the book. Prior to reading they had no knowledge of the hardships faced by African American women as domestic workers in the South. Stockett's book introduced them to an issue they would have never otherwise known about or considered.
Kingsolver's novel raises similar questions. She is telling a story that few Americans know and touching on traditions of American colonialism that many are not aware exist. Most of Barbara Kingsolver's writings have a political and social justice element within them. Kingsolver has said, "It surprises me that almost everyone else in the United States of America who writes a book hates to be called a political writer. As if that demeans them." 23 Kingsolver clearly embraces the title of political writer and has focused much of her writing on the treatment of women and underrepresented people in her books Bean Trees, Holding the Line, Homeland and Other Stories, and Another America/Otra America. "Throughout the two decades of Kingsolver's literary career, she has followed this calling to be the progressive social conscience of her times, and her political interests are largely rooted in her personal experiences." 24 Through her writing she has raised issues concerning Native Americans, the poor, union workers, race, immigration, agriculture, environmentalism, as well as many others. Clearly she see issues in society that she wants her readers to think about, so she uses her platform as a writer to bring these ideas into the public discourse. Is that problematic or not? Is it appropriate for her, a white woman with a relatively privileged upbringing, to speak for people she believes need to be heard?
These difficult questions are the very ones I would like my students to ponder while reading The Poisonwood Bible. We read many novels throughout the year that raise social justice issues, but Kingsolver does so in a way that seems to invite her audience to question whether it was appropriate for her to do so. Elaine R. Ognibene comments that in Kingsolver's novel, "the effects of Nathan's missionary position on his wife, Orleanna, his four daughters, and the Congolese become clear as Kingsolver parallels Nathan's behaviors to imperialist actions in the Congo." 25 It is very clear to any reader that Nathan's behavior with his family mimics the behavior of America and other nations toward the Congolese people. The interesting thing is that Kingsolver remedies the situation for the Price women by allowing them to tell the story and silencing Nathan. This choice in narrators essentially imposes imperialist actions on Nathan by the very people he oppressed. However, in providing the Price women with a voice Kingsolver makes "Orleanna and her daughters . . . interpreters of the African world for Kingsolver's American readers." 26 I would like my students to consider the implications of such a choice. "Kingsolver's sympathies are clearly on the side of the Congo; but because her Congolese characters never speak for themselves," Kimberly A. Koza contends, "she seems to deny them agency in their own story." 27 So which is more important, that the story gets told, or that the Congolese people get to tell the story themselves?
Kingsolver goes to great lengths in the story to demonstrate guilt on the part of almost all of the American characters. "Kingsolver's novel gains its power through her exploration of the Price women's struggles to judge their own complicity in both their family's fate and that of the Congo." 28 Orleanna especially feels responsible not only for what happened to her daughters, but also for America's activities in the Congo. Her narratives are riddled with statements like "How can I ever walk free in the world, after the clap of those hands in the marketplace that were plainly trying to send me away?" 29 In addition to Orleanna's numerous references, Leah marries Anatole, a Congolese teacher, and immediately becomes invested in the fate of the Congolese people as she lives under the dictator Mobutu's rule. Mobutu changes the name of the country to Zaire and the names of all of the towns. Leah's daughter Elisabet wonders if her name will have to be changed because it is too European, to which Leah responds, "It wouldn't surprise me actually. Mobutu's edicts are that far-reaching." 30 Through Leah readers get a sense of what madness actually occurs after the assassination of Lumumba and the placement of the dictator Mobutu with the help of vast amounts of American money. For many of my students Leah's experience with her American family and then her African one will be the only time they learn about the events that occurred in the Congo in the 1960s. These events are important because they are similar to many of the things happening in Africa today and provide students with a concrete way to begin thinking about the issues.
There seem to be some legitimate arguments for Kingsolver to tell this story, yet many argue that her portrayal of the Congolese people is thin. Anatole, Leah's husband in the novel, is a major character in the story, yet "the idealized Anatole is more a symbol of African resistance than a fully developed character." 31 In fact arguments about Anatole's portrayal are reminiscent of things said about Mark Twain's portrayal of Jim in Huckleberry Finn as thin and stereotypical. "What A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff says about Kingsolver's depiction of Native Americans in her earlier novels could also be applied to her portrayal of Anatole: 'They're there for local color, for romance. But they are not real people." 32 Some of my students would argue with that statement since they have found Anatole to be a very powerful character in the story.
I do not think there is an answer to the question of who has the right to tell certain stories, but I think the question should be considered by students and readers in general. There is danger in not considering the validity of the stories we read and we should always consider the purpose behind the tale. In the novel What is the What, an autobiographical novel that tells the story of a "Lost Boy" of the Sudan, Valentino Achak Deng, as written by the American author Dave Eggers, the narrator makes an interesting statement about the flexibility of stories even when they are told by the person who experienced them. "But now, sponsor and newspaper reporters and the like expect the stories to have certain elements, and the Lost Boys have been consistent in their willingness to oblige. Survivors tell the stories the sympathetic want, and that means making them as shocking as possible. My own story includes enough small embellishments that I cannot criticize the accounts of others." 33 The narrator,Valentino Acheck Deng, speaks of the storyteller having an awareness of audience. What the audience wants to hear shapes the story he tells of his experiences escaping the Sudan and the violence there. We all shape our voices to fit our audiences (I am doing so as I write this unit) and make changes in our stories to better fit our audience. Does that make the telling of our own experiences any less authentic and valid? Deng wanted his story told and went so far as to have the American writer Dave Eggers write his story and call it a novel. Does this make Deng's story less important to read simply because he did not compose it himself?
By considering questions like these students will understand the larger implications of a literary work and writing in general. The act of putting words on a page has purpose and comes with a responsibility. Maybe by considering ideas like voice, the purpose behind voice, and the right of one to tell a story my students will understand the power their own writing can have.
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