A gap between one's home, or one's family and them can create revelations for the better or it can turn out for the worse. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Leah Price experiences a shift when she reaches Congo, Africa with the rest of the Price family. The shift includes the culture shock from being away from the United States and Nathan Price changes from slightly mad to insane as he begins to be cut off farther and farther from his family.
Nathan Price believes he is doing good work, pure of heart but he is so blinded by his almost near death experience he doesn't realize he forces his beliefs on everyone including his daughters. He goes as far as disregarding the well being of the family to keep them there in the Congo after the incidents such as the ants, all for the salvation of his own soul. This shows his lack of compassion as he further drifts away from the relationships he's had with the family to begin with. When his wife and child, Ruth May became ill he had no interest, but interest on his soul's security. Leah stops idolizing her father since he's had no success in changing the natives' faith and for Nathan's lack of sympathy to the ill Oreleanna and Ruth May. Oreleanna realizes long before that Nathan's only desire was to stay in the Congo, so she is left with guilt of not being able to save her daughters. Nathan's "good" deed of trying to save the African children's souls ends up backfiring and he sends them onto the point of no return. Later on in the story, the family has moved on with their lives without a father in the picture, he becomes so distant the only time they hear of him is when he was put to death.
Leah's separation is between her and the United States. In the Congo, customs are based on what gender you are, not the skill you have. Leah wishes to partake in the hunting, but since she is a female it is decided she isn't allowed to be apart of a man's sport. While in the States the only separation was between skin color, while in the Congo it's on sex and now she is separated for her skin color. In the United States she was use to being "normal" for her skin color since where she lived was predominately white skinned, now the role shifts while she is in Africa.
The Price family undergoes separation from family and from their home. Their cut off leaves a major impact on the character Leah letting her view someone's position on life and how it is to be treated differently and live with customs of another place. Nathan Price consistently creates a gap between him and his family to selfishly "save his soul" while putting his family in danger.
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