The Politics of Treatment of Disability in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible

Abstract

Disability is a socio-cultural fabrication. Society creates “norms” and “standard” values. The people who conform to the established “norms” are accepted, and those who do not are looked upon with abhorration, disdain and contempt. The society creates dichotomy between able and disable people, and adheres negative connotation to the later. The research work argues that the necessity of creating disabled people is to maintain superiority of socially able people. Society uses the extremes, the nonaverages, to define what is to be called “normal.” These “norms” and “values” resonate deep into the religious, racial, gender and physical aspects of society. In Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible Nathan Price, the dominant character represents the principle “normal.” The prominent characters, such as Orleanna, Leah, and Rachel, and the natives of Kilanga, do not only face gender bias and stereotypical representation, religious and racial prejudice of western humanistic ideals but they also grow self-conscious of the uniqueness of their own individuality and tradition. The novel rejects the flat and static representation of characters marked with disability. In Congo, Adah finds that people of Kilanga do not look at her disability with difference.