In the book The Poisonwood Bible by Barbra Kingsolver, she uses motifs and themes such as issues of Western control, religion, death, and the force of nature. In literature, authors use themes as a message to create points that help complete the big picture. Kingsolver uses multiple themes to connect to the reader what he portrays from his writing. These themes come in different variations, but they help us understand the core of the novel and grasp the true meaning of what it is about. The entire book is basically set in the African Congo. In Congo there are problems of Western control and Western arrogance in different countries. Kingsolver uses the theme of Western hegemony on both a political and local level. Locally we see what Kingsolver is trying to achieve with religion among the people. Nathan, the father of the Price family, is taking his family to Africa with the solemn purpose of converting the natives of the Congo to Christianity. In reality the natives base their religion and beliefs on what God will give them the most. They want their beliefs to be based on how well the gods will give them what they need. For example, they want more food and are protected from disease. Nathan Price throughout the novel does not understand why the natives do not listen to him. He doesn't understand why they don't want their souls saved, but instead are more focused on the fact that surviving is more important to their culture than being saved and having the chance to live eternally. On the other side of the theme of Western hegemony is the arrogance factor which plays a role throughout the book. We meet... in the middle of the paper... indignant. The natives wanted to believe in their own beliefs about what would make them survive and that was not Nathan's way. Nature is represented with the fact that it is wild and you cannot change something that is unpredictable. Change happens all the time and we have seen it throughout history. Kingsolver clarifies to show that these three themes are all connected because it shows that Africa is a huge place where foreigners think they can just walk in and have things go their way. Nothing ever stays the same for a long period of time because change happens periodically. In a strange way, Congo actually destroyed the Price family. The white family thought they could just walk in and tell them they needed a change, but before they could do that, Congo ended up changing them before they had a chance to make an impact..