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Salinity In The Poisonwood Bible

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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. However, despite this warm welcome, Nathan becomes horrified by the nakedness and sins the villagers exhibit. This scene provokes him to proclaim that the “[n]akedness and darkness of the[ir] …show more content…

Nathan then goes on about how the “Lord [will] grant that the worthy among [them] shall rise above the wickedness into the wondrous light of [the] Holy Father,” (33). Aside from informing the Congolese that he will indirectly come to power in the name of the Lord from day one, Nathan moves to discredit the village’s beliefs in idols and multiple gods. He starts off by declaring that Tata Ndu’s “business concerns the governing of human relations, not the matters of the spirit,” since Tata Ndu does not have any concern with the Holy Father (160). Likewise, their “[h]ymns to their pagan gods and false idols” make Nathan determined to overpower the villagers’ lives in a religious sense since they have yet to experience the blessings a White man’s God can bring to those who are not civilized. This single-train of thought about the Congolese needing Nathan to acquire Christianity and civilization revolves around the

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