Essay Comparing The Poisonwood Bible And All The Pretty Horses

Do cultures mix? If they do how long does it take? If it doesn’t, then why? Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible and Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, both tell a story about the adventures, excitement, and dangers of learning a new culture. They are both great novels that enables the reader to create an image of what is happening. Both novels also allow the reader to create an opinion on some of the matters that occur in both novels. Kingsolver’s novel tells a story about a very religious family that are on a mission trip to the Congo to enlighten their minds about Christianity. Kingsolver’s novel shows the reader that cultures may attempt to get along, do not fully engage in unity. McCarthy’s novel tells a story about a teen that

has his dream torn, when his family farm is going away, and his passion for horses ceases to existence. The teen later travels to Mexico with his friend in attempt to find work on a plantation. This novel shows the reader that cultures can not mix. In both novels, culture diffusion is a difficult task to accomplish because some cultures do not mix; this is proven by conflicting religious beliefs, conflicting nationalism, and conflicting status guidelines.
First, both novels elaborate on the idea of religions and/or beliefs that do not mix well with each other.

In Kingsolver’s novel, the Price family travels to the Congo on a mission trip to enlighten the Congolese about God’s word and his tasks for us to complete. This is a problem for the Price family because the head of the family, Nathan Price, refuses to adapt to the Congolese culture; whereas the previous missionary, Brother Fowles, had adapted to the culture and successfully united Christianity and the Congolese beliefs. Nathan Price’s ignorance forces him to decline the fact that any aspect of the Congolese beliefs are true. He believes that his religion is the true and right religion. Nathan would refuse to deal with anything Congo-related. He wouldn’t even learn the language. As a result, the Congolese began to leave the church. Like Kingsolver, McCarthy added a hint of religion in his novel, and conflicting viewpoints about it. In his novel, John Grady comes from Texas, which is an Evangelical-believing state. Mexico, on the other hand, is a Roman Catholic country, and John Grady slowly learns it. Catholics tend to believe in a strict interpretation of the Ten Commandments and a loose interpretation of forgiveness. For example, when Blevins kills a man a steals a horse, he broke two commandments. As a result, the Captain of the police kills Blevins. The Captain being in a Catholic country, kill Blevins because he broke two of the Ten Commandments; although he killed Blevins, which breaks one of the Ten Commandments, the people in the country have a loose interpretation of forgiveness, so no matter how grave the matter was they know God is going to forgive them. In Texas, however, it is different. Being an Evangelical state, Texans believe that God will love them as long as they spread his word. Forgiveness is done by acts of the Church, they are for the good. Both novels prove that religion, one part of culture, tend to not get along with other

religions.
Second, nationalism is a huge problem in both novels. In Kingsolver’s novel, the Price family believes that the good ol’ U.S.A is the best country in the world, and the Congolese can’t live without support from the great land of freedom and opportunity. When the Price family finds out about the uprising and revolution, they get scared and angry. They are scared that they could get hurt or exiled; they are angry because they believe that a third world country cannot live without support from a developed country. This creates a tension between the Congolese and the Price family, because both sides believe that their country is better. The Congolese absolutely love their country. The majority voted for independence, of course they love their country. In U.S. culture, Americans believe that they were given a gift to spread the word of democracy and liberty, but when the Price’s arrived in the Congo they knew that idea was not thought of there. The Congolese believed they could live on their own and have a government that was as strong as any government. In McCarthy’s novel, nationalism is also a big problem, and both cultures really love their country. When Grady and Rawlins cross the border, they believe they can do that because they are Americans and they can do whatever they want. This idea comes from the later ideas in the late 19th century to the conclusion of World War II. In Mexico, the Mexicans treat the two Americans like dogs. It can be seen in the prison where they are not seen as the big “muchacho” men from U.S.,but the little guys from the U.S.Blah. Nationalism is a big part of culture. In the beginning of WWI, we see this from many countries such as the U.S.A and Hungary. That being said, both Grady and Rawlins and the Mexicans believe that their country is better and stronger.
Finally, status guidelines and reputation is a cause why some cultures do not mix. In Kingsolver’s novel, the Price family arrive to a country where the men do all the hunting and the women do domestic work; which the Price family didn’t really notice because the U.S. at that time was similar. The only difference was that a Congolese woman’s purpose was to serve her husband, and nothing else. In the U.S., at that time, girls still went to school, and although they all were going to be homemakers, they still got an education. The girls living in the Congo got an education as well, an education about not being the head of family and to listen to the man. Men could also marry multiple women in the Congo, which is another status guideline that didn’t seem to fit into the Price family’s heads. The Prices, being a Christian family, believe in a marriage between one man and one woman, with this polygamy occurring in front of their eyes, they see it as a horrific wrong, and do not agree with it at all. This argument leads to the Congolese leaders and the head of the Price family, Nathan, to clash heads. They never come to an agreement, which proves that some cultures do not have the right puzzle pieces to fit together. McCarthy’s novel takes place near the time of Kingsolver’s novel. Women in Mexico and the United States are treated as workers under the man, but like what was mentioned, women in the U.S. were treated better. When Alfonsa saves Grady and Rawlins, she does it so Grady and Alejandra do not get close to each other. Alfonsa is later saying something about reputation in Mexico, and how it is the only thing the women have there. Grady and Rawlins do not understand because they come from a country where love is love; it isn’t a game for profit. Both instances in both novels prove that cultures do not mix together well.
In conclusion, both novels have attempts to diffuse a culture in another culture, but fail because it is to difficult to achieve. This is proven by conflicting religious beliefs, differentiating nationalism, and strict status guidelines and reputation. Both novels tend to get close to their goals, but are later put down due to the conclusion that mixing cultures is a difficult task to do because of differentiating aspects.