The Mosquito Coast and The Poisonwood Bible comparison

After watching a movie called, "The Mosquito Coast," we had to think up of similarities and differences between that and The Poisonwood Bible. Both were about a family that moved from home, because of the father's decision, to help an underdeveloped village, so there were many similarities. However, there were also many very distinct differences between the two of them.

One similarity between The Mosquito Coast and The Poisonwood Bible is that both fathers took their families away from their homes to an underdeveloped community and tried to better that community like how they saw fit. Another similarity is that both fathers were stubborn and unyielding so that they could achieve their goals, despite the pleas of their families to leave, and as a result both families endured a heavy loss; the Price Family lost their youngest daughter, Ruth May, and the Fox family lost their father. Another similarity, is the “verse battle” that occurred in both stories. Nathan Price engaged in a verse battle with a radical reverend that had preached in the village before he had, where they quoted verses from the bible and interpreted them, while Allie Fox and his rival, a preacher who took many of his villagers away from him, quoted verses from the bible to continue an argument. Another similarity is that both families had a very important local person that helped them out. For the Price family, it was Anatole, a schoolteacher who gives them gifts and helps them with the politics of the community, and for the Fox family, it was Hatty, a ferryman who brings important goods and helps the family any way he can. A very important similarity between these two stories is that both Nathan and Allie went to underdeveloped villages bringing with them something intended to help the village, which ended up destroying the village. For Nathan, it was Christianity; he intended to use God’s word to lead the people to spiritual salvation, while for Allie it was in the form of an ice maker; he intended to provide many benefits for the village, like food storage and air conditioning. However, Christianity ended up tearing apart the village, since Nathan’s personality and vision agitated the entire village, and the ice machine ended up attracting bandits, which eventually led to the destruction of the village when it exploded. This connects to the poisonwood in The Poisonwood Bible; Bangala could mean precious or poisonwood: something good or something bad. All of these things could be either good or bad depending on how it is used.

There are also some differences between The Mosquito Coast and The Poisonwood Bible. First of all, Nathan appeared to be totally absorbed in his own plans and didn’t really show affection to any member of his family, whereas Allie was constantly expressing his love for his family, despite being extremely devoted to his plans. Another difference was each father’s relationship with his respective villages. Nathan went to the village expecting that everyone had to see it his way and didn’t really care about the well being of the villagers, and because of that, he became distant from the village, preventing him from connecting with them, whereas Allie worked with the villagers and was constantly trying to make them happy, and as a result the villagers accepted him and it was much easier for Allie to achieve his goal of building a giant ice machine.