The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

848 Words2 Pages

What Is The True Religion?

The realities of Congo rescued her from the mental enslavement of her father, Nathan Price. Nathan, a Baptist evangelist journeyed with his four daughters and wife to the Belgian Congo with his mission to save the unenlightened souls of the Congolese people. His aim was to accomplish this through his strict biblical sanctions and his firm belief in his Christian faith. As a child who respects their parents' religion and belief, Leah was compassionate and genuine about her father's faith and his outlook on life. For this reason, she and her other sisters were slaves to his doctrine. They believed that his words were always true and his idea of saving the Congolese people would be a success. However, as time passed by Leah is confronted with racism, injustice and other issues that caused her to question the Christian faith. As these issues arise, Leah began to loose her faith and trust in her father and her religion. Although she lost the element her father continues to use as the tool the save the souls of the Congolese people she did not loose her idealism. Leah's outlook on life and the way in which she judges people of different beliefs and cultures have changed greatly. She then realized that she was no longer naïve since she had free herself from her father narrow-minded doctrine that had no room for the opinions and beliefs of others.

Nathan was a soldier in World War II and was able to escape from his almost death. Viewing himself as a coward, an element he believes God hates. He then decided that he will never be a coward again and he will not fail his God by being a coward. For this reason he vowed that he will never be a coward again and he would not run away from any situation that t...

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...re true and any other region was false, Brother Folwes was the opposite. Leah was moved by Brother Folwes love for people, both the young and the old and the way in which he cared about this. Leah's love and respect for Brother Folwes grew even more because her father did not care about his family or anyone but himself.

As Leah moved from her faith and became friends with Anatole, the man who later became her husband she became more intelligent and considerate about issues concerning the people of the Congo. Anatole a very intelligent and idealistic young man was able to educate Leah and teach her more about the Congolese culture. As they both fight for Africa's independence she struggled with issues such as racism. This she did not fear because she understood why

the people of Congo blamed the whites for their current political and economical situation.

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