Themes in The Poisonwood Bible Essay

The Poisonwood Bible

My father, of course, was bringing the Word of God, which fortunately weighs nothing at all. (19). Missionaries from all backgrounds have been traveling all over the world in a vein attempt to spread the base of their beliefs. Christian missionaries in particular have struggled in their efforts to convert indigenous people. With a conversion of faith comes an adoption of customs, morals, lifestyles, and even political views. Even though the Word of God weighs nothing, it was actually the heaviest burden the Price family had to carry with them during their stay in the Congo. The Poisonwood Bible documents thirty years in the Prices lives. From the time that they left Georgia to the death of Methuselah, the familys beliefs and bonds were put to the test.

Throughout The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver utilizes the experience of the Congo to enhance and overturn the faith of three of the Price daughters. At the age of fifteen, Rachel reveals her true beliefs of her religion through her remarks of the Congo. During her stay in Africa, Rachel only talks of possessions she left behind. Rachel misses items such as toilet paper and sets of clean clothes. She doesn't mention the bible in the list of items she longs for. Rachel states, "The way I see Africa, you don't have to like it but you sure have to admit it's out there. You have your way of thinking and it has its, and never the train ye shall meet!" (235). From this quote, it is obvious that the Congo and religion have the same priority in the life of Rachel. She doesn't agree with the idea of faith, however she does not forget that it is there. She chooses to live a very superficial life in Congo, leaving behind the luxurious life in America as well as her religion.

Each of the sisters are unique in their own ways and have chosen to adapt to the new environment differently. Through the book, Leah struggles to re-balance herself as a person. This feat is finally accomplished when she realized who her father has become. She said, "My father wears his faith like the bronze breastplate of God's foot soldiers, while our mother's is more like a good cloth coat with a secondhand fit" (433). She has seen her father as someone she doesn't know anymore. Leah was probably the most changed out of all the sisters. In the end of the novel she says, "I am the un-missionary, as Adah would say, beginning each day on my knees, asking to be converted. Forgive me, Africa, according to the multitudes of thy mercies" (420). Instead of taking the change in her life in a negative way, she saw the positive perspective of it.

The protagonist in this novel seems to be the only one of the Prices who doesnt narrate any part of the book. This is none other than the infamous Nathan Price. Rather than reading his self-righteous explanations of his own actions, the reader is given five different personalities through which to understand the failure of the Price family mission. Through the clever use of individualized "voices," Kingsolver is able to bring together a portrait of an evangelist possessed by a great ego but, ultimately, lacking in knowledge. Of the five narrative "voices," Leah acts most often as her father's apologist, often explaining and reasoning through her father's actions in the first half of the book. This support comes not from a desire to squelch the native cultures, however, but from genuine faith and compassion. Thus, as her father slowly dwindles into a self-righteous mouthpiece for Western colonialism, Leah's respect for him gradually ebbs. Her moral qualities remain, but they begin to find new expression in politics as the story progresses, signifying a slow turn from abstract religious thought to concrete moral action.

Because this novel deals so heavily with morality, ethics, and politics, it could all too easily become a one-sided argument for a particular point of view. By allowing the reader to learn about events through the eyes of Nathan Price's family, however, Kingsolver is able to paint a fully believable portrait of this prideful evangelist's struggle. Rather than condemning or exalting the Price family mission, the author presents the impact that it has on five individual personalities, and, by extension, on the Congolese people. This creates an effect of realism and forces the reader to consider the story from different viewpoints and, in the case of Adah, even different belief structures. For the evangelical Christian, this acts as a profound reminder of the fact that the manner in which we present our message is as important as the message itself, which is the underlying theme of the novel.