“Tata Jesus is bängala!” declares the Reverend every Sunday at the end of his
sermon. More and more, mistrusting his interpreters, he tries to speak in
Kikongo. He throws back his head and shouts these words to the sky, while his
lambs sit scratching themselves in wonder. Bangala means something precious and
dear. But the way he pronounces it, it means the poisonwood tree. Praise the
Lord, hallelujah my friends! for Jesus will make you itch like nobody’s
business. (276)
sermon. More and more, mistrusting his interpreters, he tries to speak in
Kikongo. He throws back his head and shouts these words to the sky, while his
lambs sit scratching themselves in wonder. Bangala means something precious and
dear. But the way he pronounces it, it means the poisonwood tree. Praise the
Lord, hallelujah my friends! for Jesus will make you itch like nobody’s
business. (276)
This quote portrays exactly why Nathaniel Price’s ill-fated mission to the Congo fails. Nathaniel was a wonderful, fiery preacher in America, where his profession was appreciated. That was his world. When he arrives in Kikongo, a completely different world, he is unable to assimilate. He is unwanted, unable to communicate to the people what he wants, and too stubborn to give up.
Nathaniel Price is unfit to preach to the people of Kikongo. To the villagers, he is preaching nonsense. After all, who would want to get baptized in a river full of crocodiles? To them, Nathaniel’s offer of baptism is a death-threat. When Nathaniel becomes paranoid and mistrusts his interpreters, the people are even more mystified. After all, who would worship a god that makes you “itch like nobody’s business”? The more Nathaniel preaches, the more his being an alien within the community antagonizes him.
This is a central theme in the novel, and is reinforced by his daughters. Nathaniel enjoyed his formative years in comfortable, understanding Georgia and cannot comprehend the Congo. Leah, who the most immersed in the African culture, is perfectly suited for the refugee life of the Congo, and feels uncomfortable upon returning to Georgia, where everything is easy and wasteful. Adah was formed in one instance: when her mother abandoned her to save Ruth May. This made her cynical and mistrusting in college. Rachel is perhaps the most entertaining of characters, and she too lives in a community suited to her: a hotel all about her beauty, an isolated island without thought of the world around her.
Nathaniel Price is unfit to preach to the people of Kikongo. To the villagers, he is preaching nonsense. After all, who would want to get baptized in a river full of crocodiles? To them, Nathaniel’s offer of baptism is a death-threat. When Nathaniel becomes paranoid and mistrusts his interpreters, the people are even more mystified. After all, who would worship a god that makes you “itch like nobody’s business”? The more Nathaniel preaches, the more his being an alien within the community antagonizes him.
This is a central theme in the novel, and is reinforced by his daughters. Nathaniel enjoyed his formative years in comfortable, understanding Georgia and cannot comprehend the Congo. Leah, who the most immersed in the African culture, is perfectly suited for the refugee life of the Congo, and feels uncomfortable upon returning to Georgia, where everything is easy and wasteful. Adah was formed in one instance: when her mother abandoned her to save Ruth May. This made her cynical and mistrusting in college. Rachel is perhaps the most entertaining of characters, and she too lives in a community suited to her: a hotel all about her beauty, an isolated island without thought of the world around her.
1 comment:
I hope that's the correct way to publish it. I couldn't get the block quote to separate from the main text, it ends at the citation.
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