Common Themes

In the novel ‘Poisonwood Bible’ and the history of Congo, there are two common themes that they share. The first theme is captivity & freedom, and the other is love & betrayal. They are in different examples but they exist in both of them.

In the Poisonwood bible, Nathan has the duty to protect his family wherever they are. However Nathan does not do this. He thinks about himself and does anything he wants to do. He loves God and as much he loves him, he does not respect his family. Orleanna loved her children unconditionally which is the reason she stayed with their father. She loved him too but hated his way of thinking. Also, Adah believed her only side was her mother and she followed as she went. However in the last part of book 3, Orealanna leaves Adah behind while they were escaping from the ants, and Leah also does this several times while collecting water. Leah had a similar experience too. Leah respected and believed as her father believed and wanted to be inside his heart, but as time went by, she realizes there is something wrong with Nathan’s beliefs. In Leah’s perspective, she was betrayed by her father.

In the Congo history, Lumumba had a good relationship with Kasa-Vubu. After they succeded gaining independence of Congo, Kasa-Vubu became the president and Lumumba became the first prime minister. However Kasa-Vubu plotted an assassination of Lumumba with the CIA and finally kills him. Lumumba gave love and friendship to Kasa-Vubu, but the one that came back was betrayal and assassination.

The other theme, captivity & freedom are also in both terms. In the Poisonwood bible, Nathan captives his family in a dangerous place (Congo) without giving them freedom to go somewhere else or the freedom to chose what they are going to do. They had to obey him; they had to listen to what he says, do as he does and move as he moves. Also, Nathan thinks that spreading Christianity and making people believe it was giving