Much like the Biblical language used throughout the novel, the political language that characters employ demonstrates the Price and the United Kingsolver’s family’s States’ dogmatism and arrogance. Though many characters—such as Anatole, Brother Fowles, and Tata Ndu—speak politically throughout the novel, this section specifically examines the sort of political language that functions as an agent for colonial and neo-colonial frameworks; the other more subversive political language will be considered in a later section. The characters’ following examples demonstrate how political language constructs the Congo as an ailing, undeveloped nation reliant on Western aid and as a backwards nation vulnerable to Soviet influence and therefore to association with a dangerous enemy. As in the Biblical register, Nathan Price is the character that makes the most abundant use of arrogant political language. Strehle the distorted evolutionary logic of writes, “In imperialism, Nathan considers Africa as inadequately evolved, backward, primitive—a childish culture dwarfed by its grown-up Western colonizers—and thus in need of help from the analysis neatly sums up superiority complex, though advanced West” (418). Strehle’s Nathan’s she unfortunately chooses to attribute his evolutionary to “distorted logic” “nineteenth-century failing to note that similar attitudes continue to influence political decision-making imperialism,” in the contemporary moment. If we overlook this not-so-minor flaw, however, claim Strehle’s suggests that an infantilizing rhetoric similar to that in the Biblical register exists in the political register as well. Indeed, when Nathan discusses Western involvement in the Congo with a doctor in Stanleyville, he passionately proclaims, Belgians and American business brought “The civilization to the Congo! American aid will be the Congo’s salvation. You’ll see!” (Kingsolver, 121). Glossing over the of exploitation and slave Poisonwood doctor’s descriptions labor, Nathan has bought into a Western-manufactured rhetoric that establishes the Congo as a
Much like the Biblical language used throughout the novel, the political language that Kingsolver’s characters employ demonstrates the Price family’s and the United States’ dogmatism and arrogance. Though many characters—such as Anatole, Brother Fowles, and Tata Ndu—speak politically throughout the novel, this section specifically examines the sort of political language that functions as an agent for colonial and neo-colonial frameworks; the other characters’ more subversive political language will be considered in a later section. The following examples demonstrate how political language constructs the Congo as an ailing, undeveloped nation reliant on Western aid and as a backwards nation vulnerable to Soviet influence and therefore to association with a dangerous enemy. As in the Biblical register, Nathan Price is the character that makes the most abundant use of arrogant political language. Strehle writes, “In the distorted evolutionary logic of imperialism, Nathan considers Africa as inadequately evolved, backward, primitive—a childish culture dwarfed by its grown-up Western colonizers—and thus in need of help from the advanced West” (418). Strehle’s analysis neatly sums up Nathan’s superiority complex, though she unfortunately chooses to attribute his “distorted evolutionary logic” to “nineteenth-century imperialism,” failing to note that similar attitudes continue to influence political decision-making in the contemporary moment. If we overlook this not-so-minor flaw, however, Strehle’s claim suggests that an infantilizing rhetoric similar to that in the Biblical register exists in the political register as well. Indeed, when Nathan discusses Western involvement in the Congo with a doctor in Stanleyville, he passionately proclaims, “The Belgians and American business brought civilization to the Congo! American aid will be the Congo’s salvation. You’ll see!” (Kingsolver, Poisonwood 121). Glossing over the doctor’s descriptions of exploitation and slave labor, Nathan has bought into a Western-manufactured rhetoric that establishes the Congo as a
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