Barbara Kingsolver Character Analysis

Animals use camouflage to hide themselves from a predator. Some butterflies have giant spots on their wings that look like eyes, to mislead the predator into thinking it is a different animal. Similarly, this quality is seen in humans. Teachers for example, can create a test to seem so difficult that everyone is most likely to fail. They mislead the students into thinking that unless they studied all night, they will fail. Teachers aren’t the only beings to exaggerate, everyone does. This includes ministers, evangelists, and priests, people who are thought to be “perfect”. They make make it seem like there is only one sure way to go to heaven and if someone don’t follow their instructions, they’re going straight to hell. This is how Nathan

When in fact, he is only trying to compensate for what he didn’t do in the war. Barbara Kingsolver reveals, “Everything you’re sure is right can be wrong in another place.” She explains that Nathan Price wants to “save” the people of the Congo in a way that he thinks is just. Which, would not be so bad if he did it the correct way according to the Congolese. He is forcing them to convert into christianity. Which was counteractive, and is only driving them farther away. Not only did it drive the Congolese away, it drove his family away. Which he either didn’t care, or he was to concerned with converting the Congolese, that he didn’t see that his family left him. His family, one by one started to migrate away from him. Kingsolver highlights; “There is a strange moment in time, after something horrible happens, when you know it's true, but you haven't told anyone yet.” Nathan was so fixated on winning the hearts of the Congolese, that he did not notice that his family was becoming more and more distant from him. If he did notice, he did not care that he was losing his loved

This is how Nathan Price’s family saw him, before his true colors showed through. He was their role model, the one that they could look to in times of need. the one who they could always count on to guide them in the right direction. Once his true colors started showing, they realized that maybe the “right” path that they were headed on, wasn’t so right after all. In his family’s eyes, Nathan was a wunderkind. Kingsolver confirms this by writing, “I’ve seen how you can’t learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room.” Nathan Price was trying so hard to look good in the eyes of the people, he did not learn anything from his experience in the Congo. His family however, learned many new things and they saw the world in the point of view of the Congolese. One, of the things that the price family realized, was that Nathan Price was not a very loving person. This is reflected in the quote, “A first child is your own best foot forward, and how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out. you examine every turn of flesh for precocity, and crow it to the world. But the last one;the baby who trails her scent like a flag of surrender through your life when there will be no more coming after-- oh that’s a love by a different name.” He never realized how precious his family was and even when he lost them, he never knew what he had.He demonstrated the