Theme Analysis of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver

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Recommended: Christianity and African Traditional Religion

In the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver, she uses motifs and themes such as issues over the western control, religion, and the death and force of nature. In literature authors use themes as a message to create points that will help make the big picture complete. Kingsolver is using multiple themes to connect what she is portraying from her writing to the reader. These themes come in different variations, but help us understand the core of the novel and get the real meaning on what it is about. The entire book is practically based in the Congo of Africa. In the Congo there are the issues of western control and western arrogance throughout the different countries. Kingsolver uses the theme of western hegemony in both the political and local levels. At the local level we see what Kingsolver s trying to get at with religion among the people. Nathan who is the father of the Price family is bringing his family over to Africa with the solemn purpose of converting the native people of the Congo into Christianity. In reality the natives are basing their religion and their beliefs on what god is going to give them the most of. They want their beliefs to be based around how well the gods are going to give them what they need. For instance they are wanting more food and to be protected from diseases. Nathan Price through out the novel doesn’t understand why they natives are not listening to him. He doesn’t understand why they do not want their souls to be saved, but instead are more focused on that surviving is more important to their culture than being saved and having the chances of eternal life. One the other side of the western hegemony theme there is the arrogance factor that plays into role throughout the book. We meet... ... middle of paper ... ...outraged. The natives wanted to belief their own beliefs they wanted to believe on what was going to make them survive and that was not Nathan’s way. Nature is being represented with the fact that is wild and you cant change something that is unpredictable. Change happens all the time, and we have seen that through out history. Kingsolver makes it clear to show that these three themes all connect because is shows that Africa is a huge place where foreigners think they can just come in and make things go their way. Nothing ever stays the same for a long period of time because change happens periodically. In a weird way, the Congo actually destroyed the Price family. The white family thought that they could just come in and tell them that they needed change, but before they could do so, the Congo ended up changing them before they had the chance the make an impact.

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