Mobutu Sese Seko

Patrice Lumumba’s Struggle Against Belgian Imperialism It is hard to believe that in 2002 there is still imperialism being practiced in the world, but the fact of the matter is, it is. Imperialism is the policy of extending a nation’s territory or power by establishing dominance over other nations. A modern example of imperialism is the Congo. At the 1885 Berlin Conference, where the European powers carved up most of Africa among themselves, they sanctioned the claim of Belgian

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, a.k.a. the DRC, or more commonly “the Congo”, has experienced an endless nightmare of violence, poverty, famine, sickness, and murder for the past 16 years. The constant bloodshed between the national and armed forces has led to countless civilian deaths, or the genocide in the Congo. Before I go on any further, I must explain what a genocide is. A genocide is the attempted destruction of an entire group of people. The most famous example is the Holocaust in

The History of the Belgian Congo The year is 1960, at first the Congo was a colony, but on June 30th, 1960 Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba gave independence to the Congo freeing its citizens. Only to be kicked out of office just a few weeks after their independence. Six months later Lumumba to be assassinated. When Lumumba came into office, it was a time where the Anti-colonial movement reached its peak. “It is a staggering example of what the Western ruling classes are capable of when their vital

The Poisonwood Bible tells the captivating story of the Prices, a missionary family thrust into the turbulent world of late 1950’s Congo. From the start, the Prices are placed in a particularly vulnerable position, and the family order is eventually torn apart by internal and external influences. In order to illustrate how the vast and mysterious Congo changes the family, the Price children all go through a maturation; giving a deeper look into the factors at play, and how they as individuals develop

Congolese Decolonization The Congolese people always had a right to be a free country. Since 1884, Belgium’s claims towards the Congo Basin were recognized, however Belgium never monitored that closely what was occurring in the Congo under their watch. The citizens of the Congo who were not white elites mostly lived lives of poverty and misfortune. It was a struggle to even find the basic necessities of live as shown in The Poisonwood Bible. This was not a problem from the United States point of

The Democratic Republic of Congo has a very violent history and is still filled with conflict to this day. Ever since the Democratic Republic of Congo (known as Zaire until 1996) gained independence in 1960, there were violent plays for power and two wars occurred. Since armed forces have appeared, they have committed (mainly sexual) crimes against the people in this country. In 2006, the South Kivu Province was reported to have more than 27,000 sexual assault occur. According to the Universal Declaration

In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingslayer shows that differences in values and appearance between Africans and the Western world causes cultural arrogance and slavery of the ‘inferior’ race of Africa. There are many other themes depicted in the novel, but this is a main theme that occurs throughout the entire story. The Price family gets thrown into the unstable Congo and the women, not including close-minded Rachel or preadolescent Ruth May, learn how they were wrong about being above Africans

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver uses two extremely contrasting places in the Congo and the United States in order to represent contrasting ideas. The United States represents civility and home for the Price family, while Congo in contrast represents a much more savage, sinister, and less developed country throughout the novel. The two places are major contrasts of each and represent entirely different ideas. The United States is a place of civility, development, and hospitality throughout

There are various depictions of opposite ideas in Barbra Kingsolver’s “The Poisonwood Bible”. Symbols of good and evil, lights and darks, sick and healthy, and social and natural balances are reoccurring images throughout Kingsolver’s work. Among these images is the one shown of Nathan Price and his counterpart Brother Fowles. Nathan Price is a typical hardcore southern Baptist from South Carolina. Without even asking for his family’s opinion, Nathan decides that he wants to go to the Congo to be

In the novel The Poisonwood Bible, written by Barbara Kingsolver, the reader is introduced to the Price family, Baptist missionaries who are attempting to “Christianize” the country of Congo, more specifically the village of Kilanga. As the story progresses, the family realizes that they are not changing the Congo, instead they themselves are transforming. The development of the characters within the novel is due to the instrument of cruelty. Although distasteful to regard it as such, cruelty motivates