Pride In The Poisonwood Bible

In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver expresses the theme of cultural arrogance many times throughout the book. Cultural arrogance is when you think your cultural background is better than others, and that everyone should follow your ways. You think that your lifestyle is the correct way to live and that you are better and superior than others. So, you don't feel the need to listen or do anything they say. In The Poisonwood Bible, the theme, cultural arrogance makes you controlling and self-absorbed. This is displayed when Nathan, the Reverend, scolds the Congolese that nakedness is the wrong way to go out in public, and then when Nathan doesn't listen to Mama Tataba when she was trying to teach him the right way to plant the Poisonwood tree, and

lastly when Nathan wanted to have the whole Congo community get baptized in the river.
First, when Nathan and his family arrived to the Congo, he witnessed how the women were naked with their bare chest out walking around in public without any care. He gives a speech scolding the Congolese about their dress code, saying, "Nakedness, and darkness of the soul! For we shall destory this place where the loud clammer of the sinners is waxen great before the face of the Lord." (B.K. 27) This shows that he is deeply comparing the dress code from America with Africa. Back in America he is used to seeing women in dresses and skirts and men in pants and a t-shirt. Seeing women naked was very foreign to him which makes him think that the way they are "dressed" is the incorrect way. This example proves that cultural arrogance turns you into a controlling and self-absorbed person because Nathan discriminates and judges the Congolese's way of dressing without giving the thought of the cultural differences from America and Africa and getting to know the reason why they are dressed the way they are. He focuses only on trying to turn them into the people they are not because he thinks his life back in America is the right way to live. Another example is when Nathan and Leah, one of the four daughters, were out in the garden attempting to plant their Poisonwood tree. While Mama Tataba was observing Nathan as he was cultivating the soil, she saw that he was doing it wrong. She tries to teach him the correct way to plant the tree but he says, "I've been tending the soil ever since I could walk behind my father." (B.K.

40) The act of conceit and snobbiness makes one arrogant. Nathan thinks that because he is a white man and a Reverend, he doesn't have to listen to his African servant, Mama Tataba. But, being the arrogant person Nathan is, he has low respect for Mama Tataba because, as mentioned before, she is an African servant who's poor, meaning if she was giving him legitimate advice on farming, she would have been rich in food and crops on her own and wouldn't have needed his support. This all leads to self-absorbent and control because Nathan thinks that all Africans are uneducated and ignorant people, so he doesn't trust or care for any of their judgement. Lastly, Nathan expresses cultural arrogance by trying to get the whole Congo community to get baptized in the river. During Easter Sunday, Nathan wanted to get people baptized because that's what his family and everyone back in America did on Easter Sunday. But, nobody wanted to step foot in the river because of an incident that happened a year ago. A little girl from the village got eaten by crocodiles and from then and now nobody lets their children step foot in

the river, ever. This lead to Mama Tataba quitting her job as the Price's servant because she couldn't bare with Nathan's ignorance and his dedication to getting everyone of the Congo baptized. "Tata Ndu, was loudly warning people away from the church on the grounds that Nathan wanted to feed their children to the crocodiles." (B.K. 97) This quote shows that Nathan doesn't listen or care for the dangers of the river and how much risk he would be putting people in, he listens to nobody but himself because that's the only person he thinks is correct. This clearly shows the arrogance in Nathan because he wouldn't listen to what Mama Tataba and or anyone of that matter. He's too caught up on the fact that the Congo people aren't Christian or baptized and so he is focused on one thing only and that is to convert the people into Christians and have them baptized. No matter what the Congolese had to say about getting baptized, he was determined to get them baptized anyway whether they like it or not. In final analysis, the cultural arrogance that was expressed by Barbara Kingsolver throughout the novel The Poisonwood Bible, was that being culturally arrogant can turn one to being self-absorbed and controlling.