The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions

     
        Father Price shoulders much of the blame for the failures experienced in Barbara Kingsolver's novel, The Poisonwood Bible, and not without good reason. He is ignorant, arrogant, stubborn, and aggressive, but those are only the most predominant of his traits. Just as it is impossible to name most anything as entirely "good" or "bad", so neither can it be sufficient to superficially decide that Father Price is an entirely bad character- overwhelmingly detestable, yes, but entirely, no. A reader must examine this man through the lens of history in order to look past the easiest of conclusions and gain a deeper understanding of his intentions and motivations.
        One interpretation is that Father Price's spectacular failures in actions stemmed from a desire to do good. We are all well aware that even the best of intentions can lead straight to hell, and Father Price was certainly not void of those. For a brief interjection of historical context, it is important to consider how little other cultures knew of each other at this point in history. Different cultures simply did not have enough interactions for them to fathom that there are valid ways of experiencing life other than their own; Europeans were particularly guilty of this, brutally imposing their own beliefs on entire cultures around the world. Christians, too, tried to force their religion on people perfectly content with their own, but with intentions more pure, attempting to "save" the people. Father Price's view that the Congolese people should be brought the gift of Christianity was not so different from that of most Christians at the time, and not as malicious as his actions would seem to suggest: he wanted to give them the salvation which he held above anything else.
        Another way to read Father Price's actions is as motivated by guilt. Orleanna Price recounts her husband's history with war, when he was injured in battle and evacuated from the Philippines where he was fighting, right before his entire unit was killed. This has scarred him with an overwhelming guilt that could contribute to his overzealous attitude about mission work; as is speculated in the novel, he could be out to save as many as were killed in his absence. It is possible that Kingsolver included this tangent to show the reader a different side to Father Price than had been previously detectable, and cause the reader to question the singularity of his character. A more cynical view of human nature could make his guilt out to be a more selfish impetus, but that is something I certainly do not have. I interpret his search for redemption to be more pitiful and less evil. Still, though, that is only referring to his motivations and not his actual actions- those make him a man very easily despised.
        Father Price does some very terrible things, at least according to today's standards. Probably in the mid 20th century, the act of subjugating, even hitting one's wife, something so abhorrent today, was seen as only recently out of style. Men at this time were still afforded plenty of leniency in their actions. Again with his family life, not only with mission work, historical context is necessary. No, his actions are not excusable or defensible, but a more complete picture of them is provided when viewed through a historically-minded perspective.
        Without a doubt, Father Price is a character to be detested, but still one who requires analysis and consideration. No good character has only one side; their actions, motivations, past, struggles, and more combine to create a whole, complete character. it would be easy to write Father Price off as solely villainous, but he is more complex than that.