The Poisonwood Bible is a realistic fiction story written by Brenda Kingsolver in which a family from Georgia travels to the Congo for African missionary work. The Price family, made up of Nathan, Orleanna, and their four children, are not accustomed to the Congolese ways of life, for they come from completely opposite conditions. When they witness the culture of these African people, they are all in disbelief at how a village could live in that way. Therefore, The Price family, mainly the preacher Nathan, see it as their duty to “civilize” the people of the Congo. They are in Africa to solely to teach the people about morals and Christianity, and throughout the book, the girls seem to be more connected to the African people. Orleanna and her daughters better understand their differences with the Congo people. Nathan, however, sees their practices as wrong, and believes they must be humanized. Early in the story, Kingsolver shows …show more content…
The family, whether they realized it or not, were contributing to the ignorant ideals of the white man 's burden. They had originally came to the Congo to Christianize the African villagers, which overall was a political and social tactic to control the continent through imperialism. In this book, the author includes many different perspectives of this concept, including points of view from the common villagers, Nathan, the daughters, and even figures such as the Kilanga chief, Tata Ndu. Although Kingsolver doesn 't write chapters from these people 's points of view, their opinions and attitudes towards the Price family and the notion of the “white man’s burden” are presented clear enough for the reader to understand the effects of imperialism. All of family members have different opinions on what they see in the Congo, therefore they are all contributing to the White Man’s Burden in differing