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

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