The Poisonwood Bible Literary Analysis
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Pauline Hopkins once said that “our surroundings influence ours lives and characters as just as much as fate, destiny, or any supernatural agency does.” In most cases, Hopkins would be correct. One can absolutely see this concept in the case of Leah Price from The Poisonwood Bible. Early in this novel, Leah Price is the daughter that tried to follow in her father 's footsteps. Almost everything that Leah does is to gain the respect from her father, Nathan, that she so craves. Leah’s fight for Nathan’s attention and love has gone on for years, since she was born basically. Things quickly change for Leah, however when she meets Anatole. Being with and around Anatole shows Leah exactly how bad life in the Belgian Congo really is for the Congolese people. When Nathan plans to fly to Leopoldville to watch Patrice Lumumba, the first president of the Congo, give his acceptance speech, Leah begs to go. Upon arriving to Leopoldville, Leah takes notice of how much better the people there are, rather than how the people of Kilanga are forced to live. Leah begins to lose faith in her father, and God. This is when she realizes that her father isn’t doing what he needs to be doing in order to truly help the people of the Congo. When they get back to Kilanga, Leah decides that she will take it upon herself to try and help gain independence for the Congolese, starting with the village of Kilanga. During the rest of her family’s visit to the Belgian Congo, Leah goes through several