The Poisonwood Bible : The Flaws Of Fundamentalist Christianity

As a soldier stationed in the Philippines, Nathan ran away from the fray when he was wounded by piece of shrapnel. While in hiding, his unit would meet their death in the infamous Bataan Death March. Nathan is the only one to in his unit to survive. This is root of his guilt and the influence of his actions, for the rest of the story. Nathan, forever guilty of his cowardice, is permanently scarred. “Hounded by what happened in a Philippine Jungle and the ghosts of a thousand men who didn’t escape it, his steadfast disdain for cowardice turned to obsession” (Kingsolver,96) Nathan even receives the Purple Heart for “surviving” the war, the medal isn't for heroism or bravery, its for being wounded. It’s a medal of failure, that further provokes Nathan’s shame. After the war is when Nathan began his strict devotion Christianity, what the reader witnesses throughout the story. This is what leads him to Kilanga, willingly putting his family in danger to spread the name of the lord, in hope of redemption. Nathan’s guilt at having escaped the Bataan death march has twisted his belief in God, he sees God as one who punishes and rewards strictly on the basis of merit. He lives trying to earn his, by pushing the teaching of Christianity to the Congolese. Nathan masks his cowardice using a sort of “divine right”. He uses god to justify every decision he makes, disregarding anyone elses opinion. “father needs permission only from the Saviour"

Before Leah move to Congo, she clearly believes that her father is a God-like figure. When Mama Tataba and Leah’s father, Nathan, argue about how to correctly tend the soil, Leah observes how her father “stood his ground… tall as Goliath and pure of heart as David” (40). Comparing Nathan to biblical figures such as Goliath, a long-time undefeated warrior, and David, a man who defeated Goliath with his faith in God, shows how Leah views her father. Nathan has an undeniably strong relationship with God, and that Leah aspires to have that kind of strong bond with her father, who represents an almighty figure like God in her life. Because Leah sees her father as an idol, she believes that although “Not everyone can see it… [her] father’s heart is as large as his hands” (42). Leah chooses to ignore others’ opinions about her father because she is unaware at the time of her father’s true character; she sees her father as an inspiring, caring, and knowledgeable man. She uses Nathan’s past experiences, such as his participation in the Second World War, to justify his wisdom and actions. Leah, therefore, devotes her early life to gain her father’s approval. When Leah and her sisters take the blame for teaching Methuselah, the parrot, profanity, Nathan

In The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, the aspect of biblical allusion is clearly present throughout the majority of the novel. For example, one of the most conspicuous allusions to the Bible is the way that Kingsolver has purposely named some of the main characters in her book after different people and images in the Bible. Kingsolver uses this biblical allusion to develop important themes, events, and characters in her novel. Kingsolver makes references to the Bible by tying in and creating similarities between important events and themes in the Bible and important events and themes in her novel.

America has been, and still is, known for its obsession with materialism and ignorance towards lifestyles not surrounded by grandeur. Success in America could be defined as a life full of incredible wealth and few worldly problems, whereas success in a third world country can be defined as simply living to have healthy children. Are Americans truly aware of the stark difference between their own lives and the lives of the majority of humanity? Probably not. In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver uses the character of Rachel to represent, explore, and explain these American cultural issues. Rachel Price represents the voluntary ignorance, political issues, and materialism woven throughout the novel and America.

Book two is entitled “The Revelation” and the girls’ sections is entitled “The Things We Learned.” The Revelation was intended to mainly the Price family, excluding the father. The theme revelation has another definition: apocalypse. In the bible, the apocalypse leads to destruction and demise right before when God makes it a better place. In connection to the book, at this time the new prime minister, Patrice Lumumba was elected. This election set the stage for the independence movement in the Congo. In addition, Methuselah (the parrot) passes away as soon as he is freed, after being banned from liberation for most of his life. This foretells the destiny of Congo and the delicate independence they acquired. The Book of Revelation explains about how God’s creation encountered savagery and anguish so that it will become altered. The Belgian doctor who treats Ruth May for her broken arm has a little conflict with the Reverend. He prophesies that Congo will experience savagery and anguish if it changes to a self-determining state from a colony. In the Revelation section of the story, all the members of the Price family come to face a new sense of comprehension about the Congo’s culture, plants, animals and tradition. Throughout the book, the characters go through many hardships and success which permits them to learn

During the beginning of the Price family’s arrival at the Congo, the family settles in an unfamiliar land of Kilanga and Nathan is being portrayed as the physical representation of the American perspective on the African people by creating conflict. Since the family is from Georgia, the surroundings and the atmosphere of

Nathan Price struggles with survivor's guilt from WWII. This grief weighs him down, and it not only causes him to be hard on himself personally, it causes him to be hard on his wife and four daughters. He sees himself as a coward, however, in order to hide how he truly views himself, he shows himself off as brave and strong. In reality, Nathan is a coward for hiding himself behind God, and a selfish man for not letting himself commiserate with others. Along with trying to make himself seem like something he is not, he convinces himself that he is going to save the souls of the Congolese people using God’s power. In reality, he is just trying to save his spot in Heaven since he is so guilty about not dying in WWII. Nathan Price has a certain moral code and if anyone, including his family, disobeys it, he believes they should then be punished by God. He also thinks that God will frown upon any actions that are not centered on God. For example, Nathan does not even take the time to love his own wife and daughters. "Father would sooner watch us all perish one by one than listening to anybody but himself"

Life isn’t black and white and this is a sentiment that the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver tried to express. The aforementioned book is about an American family from Georgia, which leaves the comfort of the USA to go to a missionary mission in the country of Congo, in the town of Kilanga. Throughout the novel, it can be seen how the Congo either changes or reveals the true personalities of its 5 narrators (Orleanna, Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May). This can be seen through the use of different motifs, some which even contradict each other help bring life into this novel by creating complex characters and revealing how true personalities are in their own way as, state before, life is not black and white,

Throughout a lifetime, many things are gained; experience, wisdom, knowledge, as well as a sure sense of self. But along with all these great things come regret, guilt, and shame of past events. Everyone deals with these in different ways, sometimes turning to religion and denial as coping mechanisms. In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, By Barbara Kingsolver, each member of the Price family deals with a personal guilt either gained while on their mission in the Congo or long before. This novel exemplifies the different types of guilt the Price family experienced throughout their stay in the Congo, and shows various means of reconciliation and forgiveness as the guilt is absolved.

Nathan’s character has an obsession with authority, and this obsession prevents him from forming healthy relationships with his wife and children. The mother-daughter and sibling bonds are much stronger than any bond the women have with the father. This creates distance within the family, and the author creates a very pessimistic tone towards Nathan’s character, which contributes to the reader’s negative mood towards him. Whether it be one of the Price daughters talking about how Nathan has a short temper, gets frustrated when something does not go his way, how he disrespects the Price women on the whole, or Orleanna Price explaining how Nathan uses her like a doormat, Nathan is very clearly not well-liked.

In the words of Pauline Hopkins, “And, after all, our surroundings influence our lives and characters as much as fate, destiny, or any supernatural agency.” In the post-colonial fiction, The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, a family of six is being led blind into the Congo in the name of Jesus and left all their modern conveniences behind. There are many shifts in the daily lives and beliefs of the Price’s from the “simple” change of drinking water to the complexity of what Jesus truly means in their lives.While adapting to the new normal throughout the developing years of the Price children’s lives, the second eldest daughter, Leah Price, starts discovering who she is and how she is going to take on the task of life. By replacing each

Throughout many novels different characters are sent to a new place to explore and find new things in life. An excellent example would be how the characters in the novel Poisonwood Bible explore a new lifestyle in the Congo. While they are there they have to learn how to adapt to a new life, and they try and teach the Congolese people how to worship the God, Jesus Christ. Even though the Congolese people may believe in different Gods, the Price family, especially Nathan feels that it is their duty to teach them different ways. Thus the poem We Grow Accustomed To The Dark by Emily Dickinson, is similar because it is talking about how people become accustomed to a different lifestyle just like the Price family did in the Poisonwood Bible. In

The Poisonwood Bible is a book about a man named Nathan Price who takes his wife and four daughters on a mission into the Congo. All of their ups and downs are documented throughout the story. This novel was written by Barbara Kingsolver in 1998. This story was inspired from her own personal trip that her father took her on, to the Congo, where they lived without and water, electricity, and many other necessities. During the time period that this book was being written, a lot of feminist and post-colonial literature was being acknowledged. Feminist literature is both nonfiction and fiction that supports women by defending political, economic and social rights for women. Many works of feminist literature depict strong willed women who

In The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, the author uses the complex and contrasting societies the Price family lives in to depict how in different societies the norms and concerning issues are not at all the same. The novel begins with the Price family moving from Georgia, USA to a village in Africa called Kilanga Village. The reason for this shift was for Nathan Price, the father, to enlighten the people of Africa

In a world full of blame and lack of accountability, an individual’s role in injustice needs to be questioned. In the early 1960’s, after many years under Belgian rule, the Congolese people formed an uprising and gained independance. However, the Congo was ill prepared for the organization that independence demanded. The Soviet Union offered aid to the Prime Minister of the Congo. Since this was during the Cold War, the United States retaliated and supported a coup led by Colonel Joseph Mobutu. Mobutu ruled with an iron fist, resulting in pain and oppression of the Congolese. Looking back on history, it is easy to see who was at fault. But at the time, it was not easy to identify blame, especially for the Americans. Barbara Kingsolver wrote about the Congo’s trials much later in 1991. She used a narration from baptist missionary family to symbolize the different kinds of guilt Americans share. In Anne M. Austenfield’s narrative journal, she described Kingsolver’s ability to use, "several character-focalizers whose limited perspectives project highly subjective views of history" (Austenfeld). This technique allowed for Kingsolver to not only produce a more reliable account of what occurred, but to depict her desired theme and message. Kingsolver, in her novel The Poisonwood Bible, uses a political allegory to explore the different notions of guilt through the limited perspectives of her characters.