Four Africas, Four Americas

The four sisters represent vastly different American perspectives in relation to race and Africa. This helps to create a book with balanced representations of ideas, aiding in Kingsolver's fulfillment of her purpose.

Rachel is the American stereotype, condensed into one person. She is materialistic, selfish, racist, and flighty, with few moments of empathy or real emotion and pain. The rawness of Africa's climate and culture, and the way that everyone suffers without realizing how little they have, forces Rachel into a state of even more severe self-absorption. Having to go without so many comforts makes her retreat into herself, craving the American culture that she knows and isolating herself from her family and her surroundings. When she leaves Kilanga, her eventual development leads to further isolation, in a hotel where she has complete control and where she doesn't have to leave the safety of her constructed home.

Adah transitions from the cynical and bitter critic to a fairly unbiased and judicial observer. She is furious with her lot in the world and critical of all around her, especially people. Like Rachel, she feels an interest only in herself (a prime American value), and she expresses it in her refusal to communicate with anyone. However, throughout the entire book she has a passion for knowledge, especially scientific and anthropological knowledge. She is the unprejudiced view of Africa and the United States, comparing and contrasting them as little more than biological battlegrounds for life.
She sees people, both African and American, as the same as animals and plants; all just trying to survive in the most effective way.

Leah is the anger of the story; she shows the larger social context within which the plot operates. First this is the perspective of religion and missionary work. She questions her faith and the authority of the religion that she has absorbed into her, and she struggles against ideas of what she can and cannot do based on gender and race. Leah is the American protester, furious at the world for its injustice and unable to effectively change anything. She challenges what she learned as a child: marrying Anatole's, having children but staying politically active, not having a stationary home, going against the government and her religion. Leah feels that she can never leave Africa, both because it has become a second home and because, no matter how out of place she may feel in the Congo, she feels that America will never welcome her again because of her rebellions.

Ruth May represents the innocent humanity which connects people of different cultures and hold families together. She has an easier time than any of the other sisters at making friends with the people of Kilanga, and she holds no true discrimination. She has been fed racist ideologies by her parents and American society, but her actions betray no racism, only curiosity and innocence. In this way, she shows the honesty and simplicity of the mind which has not been touched by western racist and religious influence, but which expresses the human excitement at family and at connection with new people. When she dies, her family loses the ties that they have to each other to a certain extent, and all except Leah lose their closeness to Africa and their passion for change.

Same End, Different Means

    Often, the same result can be achieved through different methods. This is the case with Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart and Nathan from The Poisonwood Bible. These two leader/father figures share many traits: drive, individualism, a need for control and dominance. They also share a hatred of women. These traits can be traced to different experiences and circumstances, but shame links them together.
    Okonkwo's incredible drive stems from the shame he feels because of his father. Growing up under man that his society considered weak, breaking free from that familial association and proving himself strong and worthy is probably the largest motivator for Okonkwo. It drives his individualism as well. Okonkwo's need to impress his society is partly responsible for his misogyny as well. He lives in a culture where a man is expected to have complete control over his wives, and if he does not he is deemed weak. It's possible that Okonkwo's drive to be seen as strong contributes to his horrid treatment of his wives. In the end, it all comes back to shame of his father and fear of being weak.
    Nathan Price has quite a bit of shame as well. His, however, is not familial. He feels shame that his comrades were killed in a battle that he should have been in. He funnels this frustration into his religion. Nathan's hatred of women likely stems partially from the Bible and American culture. There may be an association of feminine attributes with weakness as well, however, and this could fuel that hatred as well. Fear of weakness is ever present in Nathan's life, and this seems to manifest in his belief that God is constantly judging. Nathan is truly a God-fearing man.
    In my opinion, the similarities in the overall personalities of Nathan and Okonkwo are numerous. They both treat the women around them terribly, and they justify their actions through external mediums. They're both incredibly motivated through negative emotions and seek control. Though the impetuses behind their actions are somewhat different, the results are essentially the same.

Crappy Patriarchs

     The Poisonwood Bible and Things Fall Apart both include male characters who behave very sexist ways.  Patriarchs Nathan and Okonkwo share many similarities in their views on and treatment of women. The two men have very different backgrounds, cultural, and religious views, but their misogynistic views of women could unite them. 
     Okonkwo is the protagonist of his story. The narrative primarily follows him and his thoughts, which gives the audience a chance to get a pretty good idea of his misogynistic views, and makes it seem like Achebe at least partially agrees with Okonkwo. He has three wives and several daughters, all of whom he mistreats. He views his daughters as pawns for his getting ahead, and beats and abuses his wives. He believes that women should not be educated and firmly holds the belief that women are weak and inferior.
      Nathan Price would certainly look down upon Okonkwo as a savage heathen, but it would probably surprise him to learn that he has more in common with him than he might realize. Nathan didn't want his daughters to be educated and compared the education of women to pouring water into shoes. He didn't know which was worse, wasting the water or wrecking the shoes. However, since the story is told from the perspective of Nathan's wife and daughter's, it is clear that they disagree with their father's sexist views. The bible itself is fairly misogynistic, so it isn't surprising that Nathan views women as inferior. 
      Nathan and Okonkwo would likely despise each other if they were to meet. Okonkwo loathes white missionaries, and Nathan is disgusted by those who have many wives and refuse to conform to his religion. However, their mutual hatred of women and all things feminine make them eerily similar.

Men and Wrongness

Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible both have strong father figures that often misunderstand the world around them.  Nathaniel and Okonkwo want what is best for those around them, and both think what they see as right are the only correct views.  While Okonkwo will take matters into his own hands physically, Nathan will often fail to understand why someone is not doing what he tells them to do.  Okonkwo will kill when he feels threatened; for example, he killed Ikemefuna in cold blood to prove his worth, and killed the guard to protect what he thought was the right way of the tribe.  In contrast, Nathan will stand by, watching, wondering why things did not go as he planned.  With the baptisms, when no one would tell him what was holding everyone back, Nathaniel became frustrated with everyone, as he could only see that no one was cooperating.  This infuriated him, but he did not act physically violent to the general population; instead, he internalized his anger and struck out within his own family.  This shows a difference in character between Nathan and Okonkwo: one is brash and unassuming, while the other iswilling to keep a facade at the expense of his family.  Both men are deeply troubled in populations that try to understand their misguided good intentions.

Like Okonkwo, Nathan feels that "womanly" actions and thoughts are shallow and incorrect.  The two agree that feminine deeds should be reprimanded and discounted.  However, Nathan takes this distaste a step further, punishing his wife and children routinely to drive home how wrong they are just for being alive and acting of their own accord.  Being slow, overemotional, or simply disagreeing with his point of view evokes Nathaniel's wrath, which he inflicts without remorse or thought to their mental or physical wellbeing.   Possibly as a result of previous trauma, Nathan feels that it is his duty to teach his family that they are innately wrong and will need to repent forever for what they were born as.  If Leah were a boy, her affections would probably not have gone unnoticed or ignored by Nathan.  Rather, he would probably rejoice in the enormity of her devotion.  Alas, he writes her off as a foolish girl who should not be given any thought, which drives her away.  This aversion may also stem from his cowardice during his service in Vietnam.  Some other men most likely called this move something a lowly woman would do, and he took this joking insult to heart.  Forever and ever, he would punish his women, whether physically or with The Verse, for simply being born the way that they were.  This failure of character on his part, not seeing the value in femininity, greatly diminishes his relationships with those closest to him.  His strong feelings against all things womanly stem from his own insecurities, causing him to not appreciate all the beauty and power around him.

Similar Ideas, Different Influences

Often characters from separate novels can be similar because they are both shaped around the same characteristics found in people. Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart and Nathan from The Poisonwood Bible are both based on the idea of a strong male figure that puts work and status above personal life. However, some of their motivations and priorities are different. Okonkwo and Nathan are similar in their idea of their own importance and and in their beliefs of gender roles, but differ in their reasonings and sense of community or family.

Both Okonkwo and Nathan have a sense that they are supposed to lead others and hold similar beliefs in the roles of men and women. For Okonkwo, he felt he had to prove himself in wrestling and in providing a large harvest to show his village that he could keep them safe, and later become revered for this status. For Nathan, he felt that he needed to convert the entire village to both save their souls, but also prove to God, and those who doubted him, his capabilities. In both men, these actions are in their eyes for the benefit of the village, but they also stem from a need for personal accomplishment and reward. Both characters also hold insecurities on how men or women are supposed to act. Okonkwo is very strict with his son in shaping him to fit his ideals of what a man is supposed to be. Nathan is disapproving of his daughters showing in his view masculine qualities such as attending college or Leah’s wanting to hunt, even though that is the only way to feed their family. I think Nathan’s staunch misogyny in a way stems from his insecurities from having been wounded and quickly removed from battle. He already held the idea that men are supposed to go to war, and his so quickly leaving and seeing other men die while he lived could make him feel as if he was not fulfilling his obligation, and other people may have subtly shown disapproval as the war was ongoing and he was not helping.  So, to hide his own embarrassment he takes it out by trying to both hide feminine values and restrict his daughters from displaying masculine attributes.

Though similar in some of their actions and beliefs, Okonkwo and Nathan also have differences in their characters. Okonkwo has a much higher value on family as evident by him becoming extremely worried when Ezinma was taken for the night or how he returns to his mother's village when exiled. Nathan holds no such connection, having little concern for his family's struggles when he relocated them to the Congo and completely disappearing from their lives after Ruth May’s death. Okonkwo was often motivated by his need to keep his neighbors and friends safe, such as when he begins to confront the missionaries, while Nathan’s motivations were more selfish. Nathan seems to have no sense of community or belonging outside of his connection to the church, having seemingly traveled spreading his religion for the most of his young-adult years, the novel never presents Nathan as someone who needed the companionship of anyone besides God. Okonkwo differs from this as he puts a high value on the people of his village and become close with them.

Though ideally similar, Okonkwo and Nathan still hold some differences. Both feel a need to play a role in shaping their villages, and hope for recognition for these actions. However, Nathan’s character is much more self-driven and focussed while Okonkwo puts more effort into staying connected to a group of people. Both characters continue to hold expectations based on gender throughout both of their novels.

Oh Man

An overbearing, aggressive, offensive, misogynistic male character is not new in literature.  However, the dominant male characters in The Poisonwood Bible and Things Fall Apart are uniquely fascinating and really out do themselves as far as brutal misogyny goes.  Both Nathan of The Poisonwood Bible and Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart are intensely misogynistic and brutal in regards to the women that surround them, but each have defining characteristics that set them apart from each other.

Okonkwo is a man who is motivated by success and power.  He believes that women in general and anything that is related to women is inferior and weak.  This in many ways reflects the feelings of Mr. Nathan Price.  Okonkwo feels the need to prove his immense power as a man through physical displays from wrestling to threatening to shoot his wife to actually shooting his adopted son. Okonkwo is motivated to prove his manliness by being violent and aggressive.  He does not let anything go easily and becomes frustrated when events do not play out as he wishes they would. Additionally, Okonkwo has three wives.  By having three wives, he is able to display his raw manliness again because of course only a real man has three females he can control on the daily. When all three of his wives are not being perfect he gets mad and is verbally and physically abusive. This too, although in a different way, reflects the nature of Nathan price.

Unlike Okonkwo who seems to be motivated by this internal duty, Nathan Price is motivated by the idea that it his is job as a good Christian man to spread his 'knowledge' and gifts.  Nathan believes that he can literally say whatever he wants because he is holier than thou and has the most sophisticated opinion and ideas in the room.  Like Okonwko, Nathan is abusive to his wife Orleanna and does not like to have her speak out against him in any way at all.  Unlike Okonkwo, Nathan only has one wife to treat horribly (yay?).  Also in contrast to Okonwko, Nathan likes to display his manly strength with his words and threats instead of extreme physical violence.  Being the father of daughters, Nathan does not have a son to shape into a man like himself so that probably frustrates him to the max.

In regards to why Nathan Price feels so strongly about feminine attributes being "wrong" there are several explanations.  One possibility is that he loves these feminine attributes so strongly so he uses the defense mechanism of reaction formation to hide his feelings.  He is honestly probably jealous of how bomb women are and is mad that he cannot posses some of the qualities.  Another possibility is related to his strong religious beliefs.  I do not know a ton about religion and religious traditions and no I am not pretending to, but I do know that in many Christian religious services men play the leadership roles.  Due to the fact that Nathan is such a supposed devout Christian he may feel that feminine traits are wrong because they should be silent as they are in church.

Pinpointing Sources of Misogyny

As our previous blog posts made very clear, Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible share a lot of similarities, as well as a lot of differences. One of the most striking similarities is the fact that both novels feature a man who is revered and respected by his community but is extremely misogynistic. In Things Fall Apart, that man is Okonkwo, and in The Poisonwood Bible, that man is Nathan Price. Although they have all of the previously listed things in common, though, they are as different as the two books are from each other. Still, a similarity of sorts can be found in their deep-seated feelings of misogyny.

First and foremost, Nathan and Okonkwo are very similar. They are both prominent figureheads in their towns, and their opinions are trusted by the people in those towns, but at some point, they are both exiled. They both have a large quantity of women in their immediate family: Okonkwo with his three wives, Nathan with his four daughters. They both go into battle when the opportunity arises, and they both emerge with honor and distinction. However, when they come into contact with another race and culture, they both face extreme downfalls.

As for their differences, one can begin to find them just by looking at the similarities. They are both exiled, but Okonkwo was exiled by law, while Nathan was exiled by choice. They both have multiple women at their sides, but through their violent rages and downfalls, Okonkwo’s wives stay with him and remain loyal and loving to him, while Nathan’s daughters leave him behind and regard him with bitterness and hate. They both go to war, but Okonkwo emerges a hero, while Nathan emerges with an injury and an incurable self-loathing. Finally, the largest difference of all: Okonkwo and his people were disturbed by an incoming race and culture, while Nathan was a member of that incoming group of people.

Then, there is the source of their misogyny. Neither of them were born with such disdain for women; they can both be traced back to a specific source. For Okonkwo, it is a desperate desire to avoid being anything like his father, a lazy and artistically-minded man. For Nathan, it is an equally desperate desire to do right in the eyes of God and avoiding any sinful action. Unfortunately, both of these desires require looking down upon stereotypically feminine qualities. The laziness and musicality of Okonkwo’s father, the wastefulness and desire for material goods that Nathan gets so enraged about in his daughters: these are all seen as aspects of the woman that so many TV husbands go to bars and strip clubs to avoid. Nathan and Okonkwo did not set out to hate women; they simply want to follow their own strict moral codes. However, in doing so, they would have no trouble with joining those husbands.

So Nathan and Okonkwo do have a lot in common. They also have a lot of differences: after all, one is a racist, and one has a lot of bitterness towards white people. Differences are inevitable and easy to spot. However, things are not so black and white, literally and figuratively, in their personalities. They have both been through similar experiences, if not always on the same sides. They are both striving constantly to do what is right. And, in doing so, they both possess extreme and unhealthy levels of misogyny.