The Poisonwood Bible, a novel by Barbara Kingsolver explores both the beauty and hardship of the Belgian Congo through the use of "books" which reflect the development of the bible. Told by the wife and four daughters of Baptist minister, Nathan Price, the book blends their preconceived racial ideas with their experiences in the Congo. Throughout The Poisonwood Bible Kingsolver uses the format of the bible to explore the importance and impact of faith, and contrast it to the religions which the women discover at the end, based on their own self awareness. .
Nathan Price believes in dominion. He believes that it is the duty of Christians to go forth into the world and teach the "heathens" of God. "And God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the foul of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." (Genesis 1:28) This is how the story begins. Nathan leading his family like a flock of placid sheep into the jungle which will destroy them in the end. However, he is seeking dominion. He is hell-bent on forcing the Congolese to realize everything that makes the western world superior. Nathan perversion of this idea reflects his defining characteristic: myopicism. This attribute is represented physically, in Nathan's partial blindness, but it is most expressive of the conflicts that are faced throughout the novel. Nathan sees things, in the sense of visually recognizing them however; he lacks the compassion to see things in a way which would make his mission tangible. Orleanna Price, Nathan's wife, is an honest woman, although she lacks the extreme religious beliefs of her husband. Orleanna constantly tries to make her husband the person he was before he decided ''to save more souls than had perished on the road from Bataan.'' Her husband, Nathan Price, had escaped those miseries simply by luck, and knowing it curled his heart ''like a piece of hard shoe leather.