In The Posionwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver examines the interactions between differing mindsets of the Price Family. Nathan, the abusive patriarch of the Price family, purposely sacrifices his family for his own salvation.
Nathan Price beleaguered and demeaned his family especially his wife, Orleanna, because of his own guilt over his failures during WW2. Nathan feels like in God’s eyes he is despised and labels himself as a coward, to counteract his faults by devoting his life to missionary work. As his first act of sacrificing his family, Nathan forces his family to move to the dangerous jungles of the Congo for his own mission to save the souls of the Congolese and rid himself of his own cowardice. However his devotion to God is not to save others but to feed his own ego and …show more content…
Nathan’s selfish disregard for his family results in Ruth May’s death and begins the spiral of destruction within the Price family that ultimately leads to Nathan’s death. Nathan continues to pressure the Congolese into baptism and the Christian faith while also beleaguering his family. After the Price Women finally run away from Nathan’s abusiveness, Nathan increases his dogmatic craze. Finally as the last act of sacrificing his family for his own ego, Nathan pressures the Congolese into baptizing children into a river full of crocodiles. This leads to one of the children being eaten and Nathan being burned alive for the death. Nathan’s unending desire for an eternal future for himself leads to his own damnation without his family’s knowledge. Throughout the entire novel, Nathan showcases his obvious disregard for his family for his own personal gains for salvation through the displacement of his family, the constant truculence, the death of his youngest child, and the dissolution of his family. The entire novel focuses on dealing with levels of guilt, for Nathan particularly he deals with the guilt of his cowardice from WW2. He