The Poison Wood Bible

Although Nathan Price, an abusive, fanatical Baptist minister with rigid morals, does not have a voice of his own,in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible his voice is projected throughout the storytelling of his wife and daughters. The novel reveals tragic shortcomings of Nathan Price and his Western morality.

During World War II as a soldier, Nathan Price managed to escape certain death at the Bataan Death March by sheer chance. His view of himself is cowardly because he escape’s the fate of his fellow soldiers and therefore feels he is despised by God.In order to prove himself as not cowardly he devotes his life to saving the souls of the native people of Kilango through his missionary work.In Reality Nathan Price is still a coward because it is fear of his own damnation that drives him to believe in his own moral code . His attempt to save helpless souls is revealed to be only to save himself. When Nathan Price brings his family to Africa the is confident that he is bringing with them a superior way of life.

When he served during World War II he was left with poor vision. He not only has poor vision physically but he is also blind to anyone outside of himself and his morals. For example, Mama Tataba warns Nathan that the plant he is holding is a poisonwood plant that “bites” Nathan’s arrogance causes him to ignore Mama Tataba’s warning about the poisonwood tree. He goes on preaching saying “ Tata Jesus is Tangala “ when he means Jesus is beloved but he mistranslates it to “Jesus is poisonwood. He refuses to learn their culture then goes on preaching on how Jesus is “poisonwood” which to the natives causes intense pain and even death.

Nathan’s arrogance of the culture around him causes him to preach “Jesus is poisonwood” “You can't learn anything when you’re trying to look like the smartest person in the room” he thinks he knows so much and refuses to see