The Poor Christ of BombaIn the novel The Poor Christ of Bomba by Mongo Beti, several themes are present in the novel which have also been presented through the articles of which we have spoken in class. These themes include the colonial establishment of European rule, the role of women, and the cultural differences between white Europeans trying to convert the natives and the natives themselves. As part of this analysis, I will demonstrate how the characters address and manifest the issues and problems of the novel as well as how the themes reflect the particular ideas discussed in class. The first point of discussion is Bomba's Poor Christ storyline. The story revolves around the Reverend "Father" Drumont, but the story is told through a series of diary entries seen through the eyes of Denis, who is Drumont's fourteen-year-old houseboy. Denis records the events that occur during Drumont's missionary work tour as he and cook Zacharia travel through the villages surrounding the forest of the Tala region. At the beginning of the book, the Father sees Bomba, who survives mainly thanks to the income brought in by Sixa, which is a home for young committed women. These women stay at Sixa for several months and provide free work on the plantations, in the primary school and in the workshops. Unlike the Sixa women who follow the teachings, there are the Tala villagers in the forest. The villagers of Tala are as accepting of Christianity as possible, as they realize that the European faith has given them access to what the Talas see as the true power of colonialism: money. This becomes evident when the "converted" Talas leave their villages for communities like Bomba, which are scattered along the new...... middle of paper ...... under duress from the whips led by Drumont , African supervisors and catechists flee Bomba; Sixa women cite more and more of them in their “confessions”, parodying those of Catholic ritual. Worse still, Daniel, the “number one boy” from Drumont, introduced syphilis into the sixa; as a result, many Bomba men and their wives are afflicted with venereal disease. Drumont, demoralized by the fragility of Christian values ​​among the Talas, quickly completed his plan to return to France. He returns Denis to his father and sends the Sixa women back to their villages of origin, still infected with syphilis and gonorrhea. Denis has no news from Drumont. Soon Bomba is deserted and rumors say that the villagers are forced into hard labor by Vidal's soldiers. Denis decides to escape the countryside for a more civilized life by working for a Greek merchant..