Although the novels The Poisonwood Bible, Heart of Darkness, and Things Fall Apart, written by Barbara Kingsolver, Joseph Conrad, and Chinua Achebe, respectively, have related themes, settings, and historical contexts, differing approaches to narration and description render each book highly distinct. It should be noted that some elements of setting are not shared, Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart take place during the early waves of colonialism, around the year 1900, while The Poisonwood Bible is set more than half a century later. Additionally, Things Fall Apart is set in what is now Nigeria, while both other novels occur in the Congo. However, these differences are insignificant compared to the effects of the vastly different attitudes of the narrators. Conrad’s Marlow presents a European perspective of Africa, which while …show more content…
At the opening of the book, Orleanna Price, the mother of the four Price girls, describes their expectations of the Congo in remarkably similar terms to Conrad. She recounts their view of Africa as “a place we believed unformed, where only darkness moved on the face of the waters”, possibly a viewpoint intentionally close to Marlow’s; Heart of Darkness is so widely read that Kingsolver may have inserted this description as a purposeful nod to the novella. This sense of enigma is expanded in Adah’s narration with her assertion that “The Congo is only a long path that takes you from one hidden place to another.” However, despite their initial impressions, the Prices’ opinions of Africa become dramatically more humanizing as the novel progresses. Adah, true to her intellectual passions, makes an effort to understand the Congolese customs, and describes her own to an African man, Nelson, while Adah’s sister, Leah begins to romantically pursue an English speaking