Nathan Price Character Analysis

From Georgia to the Belgian Congo, a white southern missionary family during the late 1950’s moved to Africa with the hopes of exposing the native people to the Christian way of life. Throughout the novel, the Price family is met with many obstacles while trying to learn this new culture in which they were surrounded. Many of the obstacles were directly due to their ignorance of the country. A character in the novel, Leah Price, was faced with the challenge of following her father’s will but also assimilating to the people of Congo. Leah was the older twin, and a young, free-spirited, passionate girl who once worshipped her father and believed in his philosophy. However, throughout the novel because of her growing interest in discovering more

She wanted to learn everything he had to say whether it was about God or gardening and wanted to follow in his footsteps. However, Nathan Price did not care about his daughters and only focused on his mission to preach the Word of God. This showcased the type of father Nathan Price was: a stubborn, rude man who was unavailable emotionally, physically, and mentally. So, a father figure with this type of demeanor was not a lasting strong force in her life. Her father had dictated her childhood; a man who forbids women to do anything but then would become angry when the women in his life did not want to follow or obey him. His presence in her life, although it was not compassionate and loving, still impacted Leah’s life

In many ways the Congo changes the young fourteen-year-old girl into a strong independent woman. There are many encounters in the novel where she starts to question her faith in God as well as in her father. For example, hearing stories about rubber plantation workers getting their hands chopped off because they were not able to get the desired about of rubber startles Leah and makes her question race relations. Race becomes a dominant issue at this point and her experiences in Kilanga have invalidated all she had been taught about race in America. At this point, Leah starts to go on her own and figure out whom she is. She befriends Anatole, a black schoolteacher, who taught her how to hunt. Hunting as a young woman became a huge dilemma because she was both defying gender roles and opposing her father. This choice for a woman to hunt was in opposition to not only her father but also even the