In Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, Leah has a reveals, “God doesn’t need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves”(327). This relates directly to Nathan’s life, as his life begins a long downward spiral to his own demise. The Poisonwood Bible shows how stress from war can affect human relations and cause deep emotional problems. The book begins with the Price family going to the Congo unprepared, and trying to convert the locals. The failed attempts of baptism, and the harsh African weather drives the Nathan to become even more distant from his family. Finding out that Nathan was the only survivor from his company, because he ran off. Leads him to be very guilty, and become an extremist in his religion.
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Nobody wanted to touch him, so they just left him there for the animals to drag off. (487)
Nathan died a horrific death, and one that could've been avoided in the start. But his love of religion was the only way he could live with the guilt of being the only survivor of his company. And his love lead him to losing his family and all of his sanity. And not being able to understand what he put his family through, and how his PTSD affected them in a negative way as well. But as Adah puts it, he got what he deserved by saying “He got The Verse”(487). In the Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver uses Nathan to show how traumatic life events can change someone's life forever. By showing how Nathan’s PTSD causes him to become irrational and sending his family to Africa. And how the ravages of war can broke Nathan. Turning him from the kind caring preacher that Orlanna describes before he went to war, to a dictator in his family only caring about his faith and making sure his family goes to heaven. Also how Nathan abused his wife and kids, causing them to have more stress in their lives. We can clearly see that “...God doesn’t need to punish us...” we can clearly “punish” ourselves quite well
Nobody wanted to touch him, so they just left him there for the animals to drag off. (487)
Nathan died a horrific death, and one that could've been avoided in the start. But his love of religion was the only way he could live with the guilt of being the only survivor of his company. And his love lead him to losing his family and all of his sanity. And not being able to understand what he put his family through, and how his PTSD affected them in a negative way as well. But as Adah puts it, he got what he deserved by saying “He got The Verse”(487). In the Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver uses Nathan to show how traumatic life events can change someone's life forever. By showing how Nathan’s PTSD causes him to become irrational and sending his family to Africa. And how the ravages of war can broke Nathan. Turning him from the kind caring preacher that Orlanna describes before he went to war, to a dictator in his family only caring about his faith and making sure his family goes to heaven. Also how Nathan abused his wife and kids, causing them to have more stress in their lives. We can clearly see that “...God doesn’t need to punish us...” we can clearly “punish” ourselves quite well