The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver Essay

In the book, “The Poisonwood Bible” there is a rather interesting character, named Nathan Price. The tone used to describe Nathan Price in the book is always related to his cruelty, oppressiveness and the devious way he acts throughout the book. The tone used by his wife and daughters throughout the novel produces the feeling that he is the main Antagonist in the book. Nathan is also extremely abusive against his wife and daughters. He is an extremist, a coward and a terrible preacher. His lack of knowledge about God and more importantly, life in general, cause everyone in the novel to despise him, especially his family. Nathan Price was so desperate about preaching, he decided to move from the United States to the Congo. This is ironic

Nathan sees the Congolese religion as vague, he is portrayed as ignorant and continues to preach what is morally and religiously right in his opinion rather than taking into account the things the Congolese face that effect their ideas on what religion is, or a god that cares for their needs. From a political point of view, Kingsolver shows the superiority of the western ways of government, even though the Congolese aren’t ready for these systems of government yet. The Congolese people

The reason why Nathan and Leah have this conflict is because of Nathan’s narrow-mindedness and lack of self awareness. The main purpose of The Poisonwood Bible is to show how different people deal with guilt. Nathan however has no guilt, and this is the source of many conflicts with Leah. Nathan has no self-awareness. When he does something he never thinks of his family, he only thinks

Every time Nathan was present in the story I was immediately displeased and wanted him gone. His vulgar comments and actions anger the reader so much, and Kingsolver wanted that image to stay. She wanted the readers to hate him so they can sympathize with Orleanna and her daughters. If she included his narrations in the book, the reader could possibly see his “soft side,” and his anger. His frustration has to have a root somewhere (his horrific experience in the war), and with the exposure of his own thoughts and feelings, the reader would be able to witness them and have a new opinion of him. For the purpose of The Poisonwood Bible though, Nathan had to remain the antagonist and stay the “bad

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

No one shows the oppression, inflicted upon the Congo’s people in hope of spreading imperialism, better than the main characters in this story. Nathans only goal is to convert all of the native people’s beliefs to Christianity. By hoping to doing this, they will be able to grasp control and establish their dominance upon the village. This can be seen through Orleannas thoughts, “Call it oppression, complicity stupefaction, call it what you’d like, it doesn’t matter. Africa swallowed the conqueror’s music and sang a new song of her own” (Kingsolver 385). Kingsolver shows that individuals are always going to want and demand control, however the victims of this oppression will fight past it and won’t give in. Many people have come before the Price family, trying to do the same thing. However, the natives are smarter than to give into their new ideologies.

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"

As Mathew 6:1 states, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven,” Nathan Price, is very hypocritical as he does his good deeds to be noticed, while Orleanna does them out of faith and moral righteousness.

People in some societies have faced situations that changed them in unique ways. The Poisonwood Bible written by Barbara Kingsolver represents how people are affected by horrific events and different cultures. This is caused by the missionary father; Nathan having led his family to spread their own beliefs in the Congo. In return, each Price woman is influenced in unique ways, according to their own perspectives. Unique ways is included in how transformations were due to the effects of losing someone or something. Ruth May’s death as well as individual experiences in the Congo, act as the catalysts for change in each of the Price woman, transforming their “core selves”

This can be read as a religious allegory because it talks about the Baptist missionaries. They had to deal with the rejection from the Congolese people. The Congolese people rejected the religion and the Price family since they were white. The Price family also had to deal with the same diseases and situations as the people of the Congo. They had to sleep with mosquito nets or the mosquitos would have eaten them alive. Some of the Prices (Leah, Adah and Orleanna) almost got eaten by

Religion, like many things, is taught and learned, passed through the generations, written in many forms and spoken in many languages all around the world, yet how one perceives and uses it, gives religion a further meaning. For many years now in places as Africa where Kingsolver places the novel, religion isn’t taken as seriously, as it is idealized in the western world, it is in different forms than what westerners are used too, but unwillingly, individuals are forced into the westerns way of teaching, compelling them to believe it can fix all their problems. In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver criticizes the way religion affects an individual’s arrogance, political stance, and guilt, due to a belief that religion can fix

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.

Father to the Price family, Nathan Price emerged his family into this mission in the hopes to spread religion to Congo. He chose to endanger his family in the hopes that he would be able to affect the religion of everyone he influenced. Similar to Rachel, Nathan also represents western ideals influencing Congo. Nathan believed that an education for women was a waste. "Sending a girl to college is like pouring water in your shoes. [...] It's hard to say which is worse, seeing it run out and waste the water, or seeing it hold in and wreck the shoes." This proves that Nathan Price was sexism towards his family was driven by his belief of Christianity. Throughout the book Nathan represents the Christianity in America in the sixties.

As their journey to and through the Congo is just beginning it is already seen that compromise will be the key source for survival. The Congo did not have much to offer the Price family, though Leah has high expectations for it. She “expected everything: jungle flowers, wild roaring beasts. God’s Kingdom in its pure, unenlightened glory.” ( Kingsolver, 17) The Congo is already revealing an expectation Leah would never have found between the pages of a King James version, the rewiring of her thoughts on equality and her inner need to fight for justice are compelling emotions that are overtaking her. She can see that this place poses a potential challenge much greater than anything a hot Georgia summer put her family through. Still measuring her worth in the few short breaths her father permits her, Leah is still determined the Congo would not stop her from gaining the acceptance of her father. “If only I could ever bring forth all that I knew quickly enough to suit father” (Kingsolver, 37), but little did she know that nothing her female mind could do or say would suit the righteous Nathan Price. Similar to The White Man’s Burden, once given the thought of superiority nothing “beneath’ that was beneficial. Leah’s cognitive thought process is starting its shift into survivor instead of

“I’m a plain fool for the nature images of the Bible, Brother Price. I find it all so handy here, among these people who have such an intelligence and the great feeling for the living world around them. They’re very humble in their debts to nature” (Kingsolver 252). This way of thinking inspires a respect to nature and therefore God that is created by ones self. It’s not forced upon them like Nathan Price’s way of preaching the word of God, but is rather a self chosen respect and modesty. The way of pantheism balances out the thought of defeating and conquering. Ultimately, the perspective of Brother Fowles wins. In the beginning of the novel, the most dedicated to Nathan Price’s teachings of the Bible was Leah. The other daughters more or less agreed with their father and his strict preaching. However, as they progress in their lives in Kilanga, each of