Tender Mercies:
Breakdown and Reconstruction of Characters' Faith in the Poisonwood Bible
In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver uses Biblical references in part to delineate the differences in her characters' relationship to religious faith as they deal with their father's participation in the Western assault on the Congolese. These differences in levels of faith that her characters experience are Kingsolver's primary method of characterization in the novel. Although all of the characters acquire much of their individuality through Kingsolver's depiction of their differing degrees of faith in God, the Bible and Nathan Price, the voices of Leah and Orleanna Price are particularly marked by their use of Biblical allusions. In the first book "Genesis," Leah believes aggressively in her preacher father's overbearing attempt to bring Christianity to the Congolese. As the narrative progresses, however, her quotes become increasingly ironic, and when she loses her connection to her father, the quotes disappear almost completely.
Orleanna Price's voice at the start is more passively accepting of her husband's religious authority, but grows increasingly and actively angry. Like her daughter, Orleanna's use of Biblical allusions demonstrates her sense of her role within the Price family and in the Congo.
The epigraph of the first book, taken from Genesis ironically foreshadows the spiritual breakdown of the characters that marks the rest of the narrative events. It says, "And God said unto them/Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion." The attitude expressed in these words sets up the moral superiority and racial preconceptions that most of the Price daughters feel toward both nature and the Congolese as they arrive in the Congo. At the end of the first book, Mama Tataba leaves and Nathan Price sets the African parrot, Methuselah, free. These two events mark the turning point at which Orleanna Price first wonders "Are we lost right now without knowing it?" Although all of the female characters ultimately experience the reference to Genesis as ironic, Leah experiences the strongest change in religious position of the four daughters.
In 1959, Leah's relationship to her zealous father is that of the unquestioning believer: innocence marked by complete devotion. She says of her father that he stood as "tall as Goliath and pure of heart as David" when Mama Tataba correctly informs him that he isn't properly cultivating the land. (Kingsolver, pg. 40) The reader can infer that the father's words that he has been tending soil "ever since...[he] could walk behind... [his] father" are misplaced and condescending. But Leah admiringly comments, "When he says anything at all... It tends to come out like this -- in terms that can be interpreted as sacred." She also notes that she has never seen someone speak contemptuously to her father as Mama Tataba does.
By comparing him to heroic characters from The Old Testament and admiring his linguistic abilities, Leah conveys both her devotion toward him and her faith in the Bible. Her casual allusion to David and Goliath implies that she believes Biblical stories are relevant to her experience of her father.
In "The Revelation," Leah experiences her first "stirring of anger" against her father, but is still basically faithful to her image of her father and the Bible. She earnestly remarks that "The Lord is our Shepherd and the very least we sheep can do is keep up with the flock." (p.145).
By likening herself to one of the sheep, she describes herself as a noncritical believer and literal follower of her father's teachings. She also suggests the similarity she experiences between her father and Jesus. More broadly, her remark shows that she continues to analogize aspects of her life to Biblical sayings and events.
Although Leah's attitude toward her mother is somewhat condescending in "Genesis," Leah's first real diminishment of faith occurs when her mother first flouts Nathan's authority. Leah's faith drops steadily from that moment...
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