The Theme Of Cultural Ignorance In The Poisonwood Bible By Barbara Kingsolver

he Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, details the tale of a missionary family into Africa with the aim of converting natives in the context of the time between the widespread colonization of Africa by Western powers and the beginning of the Cold War. Kingsolver explores the deleterious effects of the cultural ignorance of the west on two main levels -- the micro level, which was through the Price family's interactions with the Congolese and each other, and the macro level, which was through the greater political and historical events occurring during the missionary family's trip to Africa. To illustrate the ramifications of the cultural ignorance of the West, Barbara Kingsolver employs figurative language, the literary device conflict,

Kingsolver alludes to past political and historical events in the Congo to provide concrete examples of the influence Western cultural ignorance has on other nations. On the micro level, this is accomplished by alluding to (and detailing) one of several missionary trips (while the concept of missionary trips in the mid 20th century is nonfiction, this family is fictional) -- that of the Price family's. Upon arriving to the Congo, Leah remarks that her "...father needs permission only from the Saviour, who obviously is all in favor of subduing the untamed wilderness for a garden." (Kingsolver 36). This portrays the cultural ignorance of the West on several levels. Firstly, Leah describes the Congo as "untamed wilderness" and contrasts this to what she implies is a superior form of organization -- Western religion (the "garden"). Secondly, she asserts that her father only needs permission from a Western idea (the Christian God) to "tame the east", which illustrates her lack of awareness of the

On the macro-level, Kingsolver portrays this through the West-Congo conflict -- namely, the conflict between the U.S.' strategic interests and the Congo's. Rachel explains, "...this Devil One person was going to get one million dollars from the United States to pay soldiers to do that, go against the very person they all elected..." because "...in their locked room, these men [Western politicians] put their heads together and proclaimed Patrice Lumumba a danger to the safety of the world." (Kingsolver 294, 319) The West didn't want an independent leader, they wanted a puppet government -- hence the CIA-sponsored coup that replaced the democratic leader with a despotic puppet dictator. This sense of self-entitlement -- that the West had the God-given right to meddle with local politics at their fancy -- is derived from cultural arrogance, and the belief that their institutions surpass all