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Analysis Of The Poisonwood Bible By Nathan Price

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In the Poisonwood Bible, a southern Baptist Minister named Nathan Price traveled to the South African Congo dragging his wife and four daughters along with him even though they didn’t want to go. Although most of the book is set in the heart of the African Congo, it starts out in Atlanta, Georgia. The book starts out in 1959 and it is concluded in 1998. Poisonwood Bible has a series of four narrators which are the four daughters, Rachel Price, Leah Price, Adah Price, and Ruth May Price. Rachel is the one of the most important characters. She narrates some of the most important parts of the book. She is described as a stupid fifteen year old girl with a bad attitude that hasten changed from when she was a little girl. As she ages, there …show more content…

They faced great death and famine because of the sudden outbreaks of war. In 1960, the Congo becomes independent from Belgium and things get better (BBC News “Democratic Republic of Congo profile – Timeline”). In the time leading to the independence of the Congolese people elected a president, prime minister, a Senate, and an assembly (U.S. Department of State “MILESTONES: 1961–1968”). During this time, President Eisenhower and his entire administration hoped that the Republic of Congo would become a stable pro- Western central government (U.S. Department of State “MILESTONES: 1961–1968”) and be more like the United States of America. Not long after they became independent, everything fell apart. In July of 1960, the Congolese military rebelled their white Belgian commanders at the Thysville military base (U.S. Department of State “MILESTONES: 1961–1968”). They were looking for higher pay and more responsibility all because they were a free state. Soon after these attacks, the Republic of the Congo requests that the United Nations remove all Belgium troops from the Congo. In September of 1960 President Kasavubu dismissed Prime Minster Lumumba. Three months later Lumumba gets arrested for trying to get support from the Soviet …show more content…

This is not the start of the Christian movement in the region, but when it was hardest for missionaries to stay for long periods of time in the Congo because of civil war. Though this time frame was one of the largest Christian movements in the Congo, it was one of the times with the least amount of missionaries in the region. The few missionaries that were in the Congo at the time had many struggles not only between themselves, but also between them and the Congolese people. This book explains what challenges that were faced by the Congolese people there and the great destruction there in the Congo. The book also shares the stories faced by the missionaries that were there to spread the Christian religion. The Congolese people faced problems that others have faced during times of civil warn such as getting needed supplies, going from one place to another, and there greatest problem was the destruction of the government. Congolese people who farmed lost all of their land and their money to the

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Imagine being fourteen years old and living in a small town in Georgia, packing up as much as you can, or what could fit under your clothes and into a bag, and moving to the Congo of Africa. That’s exactly what the Price family did under their father’s will. Throughout Barbara Kingsolver 's Poisonwood Bible, Leah price experiences the Congo to its’ full potential. Both her psychological and moral traits were formed by cultural, physical, and geographical surroundings. The congolese people influence her decisions and thoughts throughout the book.

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Thousands killed in the Leopold outbreak. King Leopold should be condemned for his brutal actions, and for making the population more then half in population, like in Lukolela “The population in the villages of Lukolela in January 1891 must have been not less than 6,000 people, but when I counted the whole population in Lukolela at the end of December 1896. I found it to be only 719… but judge of my heartache when on counting them all again on Friday and Saturday last, to find only a population of 352 people.” (Document 5) In 1800-1900’s, King Leopold wanted to and planned to take control of the Congo people.

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Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, follows the story of the four Price daughters and their mother in the Congo. The Prices are originally from the southern United States, a much different place than where they now find themselves. Throughout the novel, Kingsolver uses the differences between these two countries and what they represent to enhance the meaning of the work. The Congo and the United States have many physical and cultural differences that appear throughout the entirety of the novel.

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With the passing of decades, most Europeans mistakenly believed that King Leopold spent his considerable fortune funding public works in the Congo and stopping slavery in East Africa. He was the unintimidating King of Belgium; but it was all a sham. Underneath the veneer of generosity and graciousness laid a cunning and self-engrossed scoundrel, a duplicitous fraud to rival the evil charm of Iago or Richard III. Under the guise of an international charitable foundation, he personally owned the colony of the Congo, and he ran it as a brutal business investment. His “charity” resulted in the death of ten million people, approximately 50% of the population in the Congo.

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In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver creates a character Orleanna Price who was semi-voluntarily exiled to the Congo. She was exiled from a happy life due to her marriage to Nathan Price, she was exiled from both America and Americans when she moved to the Congo, and she was exiled from her family when her youngest daughter died. With each exile, Orleanna’s personality is enriched by the things she learns during that exile, and Orleanna finds herself alienated from the people and lifestyle she used to have before each exile. In the first exile, Orleanna’s personality is enriched from the general life lessons she learns with the experience of age. During that exile, she is alienated from everyone she meets if they meet, have met, or even

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In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, a missionary family travel to the African Congo during the 1960’s, in hopes of bringing enlightenment to the Congolese in terms of religion. The father, Nathan, believes wholeheartedly in his commitment, and this is ultimately his downfall when he fails to realize the damage that he is placing upon his family and onto the people living in Kilanga, and refuses to change the way he sees things. However, his wife, Orleanna, and her daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May, take the Congo in, and make the necessary changes in their lives, and they do this in order to survive with their new darkness that they are living in. Curiosity and acceptance help the ones with curious minds,

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The RUF were fighting for their belief that the Sierra Leone government was corrupt and they fought to change the balance of power and killed so many civilians in the

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Thesis Critique of King Leopold’s Ghost Adam Hochschild's King Leopold’s Ghost is a story recalling the effects of European imperialism in Africa. Hochschild writes about the Belgian King Leopold’s exploitation over the Congo. Leopold’s rule over an African territory becomes a devastatingly lucrative monopoly over rubber. Leopold’s brutal tactics and use of forced labor ultimately leads to millions of deaths of the Congolese natives.

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This article will be useful because it provides insight about the assassination of Patrice Lumumba and how Mobutu changes Congo. Patrice Lumumba became the prime minister of the Congo in 1960. Patrice Lumumba asked for the help of the United States, but instead of aiding Congo, they sided with the United Nations and tried to keep the Congo intact with Belgium. After, President Eisenhower, sent the CIA into the Congo to help maintain peace. The CIA plotted to assassinate Patrice Lumumba because they thought of him as a radical dictator and they did not agree with his views.

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The U.S. also supported the Congolese army chief, Joseph Mobutu, who eventually overthrew Lumumba's government in September 1960. After Lumumba's removal from power, the U.S. and its allies in the Congo continued to undermine his authority. The CIA and other U.S. agencies provided

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In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver illustrates Nathan Price’s desire for power over the people of Kilanga and the women of his family through his religious beliefs to depict the materialization and effect the “White Man’s Burden” and misogyny can have on an individual. As the white man enters the heart of Africa to perform “God’s will”, he feels immense pleasure from overpowering the African natives. That white man is Nathan Price, a Southern Baptist Preacher. As Nathan and his family first arrive to the village of Kilanga, the villagers and their leader, Tata Ndu, welcome them with a freshly-killed goat.

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No one will ever know the precise figures, but, from all these causes, demographers estimate that between 1880 and 1920 the population of the Congo may have been slashed by up to 50 percent, from perhaps 20 million people at the beginning of that period to an estimated 10 million at the

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666 Words | 3 Pages

Many soldiers of the congo were killed during these invasions, and even after the invasions, the violence ceased to decline. Those who would oppose to collect rubber would have their hands and ankles removed, leaving most to bleed out if not left alive completely immobile. It became so violent that once King Leopold was discovered of his brutality, other countries stepped in and the government of Belgium itself wanted Leopold to cease his control of the Congo. Eventually he would give the congo back in 1908, after he was given a hefty compensation, and then died a year later. Imperialism was a race to see who would become a world power.

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913 Words | 4 Pages

When King Leopold established the Congo Free State, he destroyed the link between the Congolese people and their homeland (Kenneth). King Leopold made one single country between Belgium and Congo. He combined the ethnicities of both of these cultures, taking away the Congolese people’s heritage and culture. In addition to this, the Roman Catholic Church forced their religion and values on the Congolese people, taking away their beliefs, and using violence if necessary. The Belgians forced their values upon the Congolese people in order to assimilate their religion and gain more power.

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848 Words | 4 Pages

This made large divides between the two cultures and later many civil conflicts between the groups. In 1994 when the president 's plane was shot down the government and Hutu militants blamed the Tutsis, radio broadcasts across the country encourages Hutus to take revenge and kill the Tutsis, in the end an estimated 800000 to 1 million people died. The globalization of Belgians colony and the scramble for africa through that part of the world into a blood conflict of cultures and terrorist/militant groups that still rages on

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