The Influence Of Price By Nathaniel Price

Nathaniel Price takes unrelenting control over every person in his household for the sake of his own personal advancement. This dominance stretched to the point where every voice was silenced. Throughout the novel “... Price claims supreme authority at home by tyrannizing his wife and daughters and appointing himself judge of their lives”(Salvatore 160). If Kingsolver did not express the voices of each woman as their own points of view, the women may have been hushed altogether. Price used these women as accomplices in his scheme to play God in a foreign country. Even Nathan’s most adoring daughter Leah who “... in the beginning of the novel, she full-heartedly believes in what her father is doing…”(Wind 1). Price takes advantage of Leah’s
Kingsolver builds this particular character in his image, rather than the image he sees himself to draw direct attention to Leopold. Price’s lust for power in conjunction with his monotheist ideals make him fit the mold Belgium created(Salvatore 159). Prices is unable to accept that “The laws of these people are part of what defines their culture, and by replacing their laws with Christian based laws, these people could lose what makes them who they are”(Wind 2). Price attempts to force the Congolese into his way of life, without fearing the cultural genocide he planned to complete. Price could not comprehend the truth; that the native Congolese saw no benefit in acquiring his help. The Native gods are strong and resolute, and the people keep full faith in them always(Shureteh, Al-Khalili 44). Priced forces himself and his opinions on the Congolese despite obvious signs that they are better left alone, which closely mirrors the purposeful blindness shown by the imperialist countries. Nathan Price’s refusal to to give up his God complex to preserve a unique culture proves that he is closely aligned to the powers that colonized
Once he latched onto his goal of converting the village of Kilanga, nothing else mattered to him. Like King Leopold running dangerous factories, “...Nathan risks lives in pursuit of his obsessive vision”(Ognibene, “Poisonwood” 17). Nathan Price represents the center of American arrogance. His stubbornness is symbolic of the American government’s refusal to see its own wrongdoings and withdraw from Africa. Price, even after being begged by his family, refused to leave Africa and turned his back on his family’s wishes(Wind 1). Price pulled the strings to make his family dance like puppets, much like America’s hand in African