The Human Condition

Barbara Kingsolver is an inspirational American author who has written numerous novels, short stories, poems and essays. Amongst her works she is highly recognizable for her books: "The Bean Trees", "Pigs in Heaven", "High Tide in Tucson", "The Poisonwood Bible", and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" who have all been on the New York Times Best Seller list. Her amazing ability to write novels paralleling relevant issues in society makes her worthy of a fan page. Kingsolver brings issues to light such as community, economic injustice and cultural differences. Her books are very relevant to issues occurring in the Southwest, more closely in the Hispanic culture. Immigration and poverty are also prevalent in her works, which also makes me admire her more as an author because of her understanding of issues related so close to home and the border. In addition to Kingsolver’s great talent as a writer, she also gives back to fellow authors giving them chances to succeed in publishing their own novels. Barbara Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize for literature of social change. This award is given to previously unpublished works of fiction, which address issues of social justice written by a US citizen. Winning authors receive a $25,000 award and a publishing contract, from which they receive royalties. A panel of authors whose works show themes of social change judges submissions. This award was not only created by her but is funded by her as well. The great commitment she shows toward fellow writers is inspiring and motivating. Kingsolver is appreciative of her success and wants other writers to have the same opportunities to succeed. This amazing writer and selfless women is more than worthy of a fan page due to her inspiring novels and activism in the world of struggling authors. A novel of Barbara Kingsolver that particularly stood out to me is "The Bean Trees." "Bean Trees" is an amazing story about a girl searching for her own identity and in the process finds family in the most unexpected way. While moving across the country the main character of this novel, Missy Greer, finds an abandoned child and takes him under her wing. While on their journey they are taken in by a family of immigrants from Guatemala who are struggling to stay in the US. They all eventually become a tight knit family, supporting and loving one another. The themes of this book include motherhood; not motherhood in the usual sense, but loving, caring and being there for people that you aren’t related to is the sense of motherhood in this novel. This reminded me of "The Bluest Eye" in that Pecola was taken in and cared for by someone that was not her own mother. Another theme is one of everyday miracles. In this novel, empty places can be surprising resources for life’s beauty in this novel. The final theme I will mention is identity, which is prevalent in the ability of women to use their power of community to manage the struggles in their own lives and the lives of others. This also reminded me of Audre Lorde's " The Man Child" given that the caregiver in this story struggled with her community to create a better place for her children and future generations. Louise Erdrich's "Where I ought to be" was also related to this portion of the novel because Erdrich writes about her community while Kingsolver does as well in "The Bean Trees." The themes represent Barbara Kingsolver's culture in her writings and as a novelist. Kingsolver represents passionate moral commitment and sense of community. She is affecting her culture and reading by showing other nothing is impossible with love and the sense of family. He books often show miracles and positive outcomes in the most unlikely places.

Lost and Found

“High Tide in Tucson” is an essay from a book of essays in Barbara Kingsolver’s Now or Never. The particular essay that I focused on reflects on the identity of Barbara Kingsolver, which is a common theme in our course. In the essay Kingsolver vacations in the Bahamas while missing her daughter back home. As a gift for her daughter, Kingsolver collects colorful seashells to take back to Tucson. Without realizing it, she brings back a hermit crab, who changes her life forever.

The crab plays an important role with identity, as this is exactly what the crab symbolizes. The mother and her daughter do not have a male figure in the home so they seem to associate the crab with the father/husband role and name the crab “Buster.” The crab now has a new home he must become accustomed to with the help of his new owners. Kingsolver then begins to compare her life to that of the crab.

“I had no earthly notion that I was bringing on myself a calamity of the magnitude of the one that befell poor buster,” illustrates how the mother compares her unfulfilled life to the life of the crab (Kingsolver 14). In Barbara Kingsolver’s essay, the crab seems to have lost his true identity because he remained in his shell, hidden from the world around him as if he had lost himself in another world. In order to try and help him find his identity Kingsolver gave him a variety of shells to help him choose the one that best fits him. While doing so the mother realized that she had lost a sense of her own identity in the transition from Kentucky to Tucson.

In interpreting this essay I realized that Kingsolver might have never realized she lost her a part of her identity when she left her hometown, Kentucky. Although the identity of the crab is never revealed it is obvious how the crab lost his/her sense of identity. Without her/his natural habitat the crab was forced to become accustomed to his/her new environment and retain her/his sense of identity somehow. As Kingsolver constantly kept her focus on her future: she never liked to look back at what she had lost. With the help of the crab, Kingsolver was finally able to realize what she had left behind. Once she began to obtain a relationship with the crab Kingsolver was finally able to accept what she has done with her life.

In relation to another text in a previous unit in this course, I found that “Refuge” by Terry Tempest Williams was similar to this literary piece by Kingsolver being that both authors discuss identity in their works of writing. In “Refuge,” Williams found her home destroyed after seeing the bird’s nests were shattered, as she had associated her home with the home of the birds. In a way, this example compares to the life of Kingsolver and the crab because they were left their homes and were placed in a new one far away from their original home that required adaption and change.

After reading this story I am also reminded of "Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros. The way Cleofilas goes through much change in order to find herself, I feel that Kingsolver does the same. They are both dealing with their identity; though in different paths, both Cleofilas and Kingsolver come to an understanding of themselves after learning from others. In Kingsolver's case, the crab helped her come out of her shell while Felice inspired Cleofilas. Another story I was reminded of was Gwendolyn Brook's poem, "The Bronzeville Mother." Though, in this poem the mother/wife/woman that young Emmett Till died for was covering up her identity in fear that she was not worth the murderous act her husband committed while Kingsolver was discovering her identity in this short story.

At some point in our lives, we all struggle with who we are and what we have become. Kingsolver adds to our understanding of identity by including the fact that animals also lose their sense of identity. Because Barbara Kingsolver is able to share her stories in creative and inspiring ways, I feel she is well worthy of a fan page.

Works Cited

Kingsolver, B. (1996). Google Books. Retrieved April 18, 2010, from http://books.google.com

Speaking Out

“Remember How the Moon Survives” is a beautiful, heartfelt poem that illustrates the struggles of childhood sexual abuse as well as the strength that is needed in overcoming such misfortune. Kingsolver makes it a point to demonstrate the hardship of being a victim of sexual abuse by using her talent in writing. In doing so, Kingsolver acts as a voice of those who remain silent of their abuse.

In a special way Kingsolver is very much like the women we have studied in previous units given that she is speaking out about an issue that must be addressed. For instance, Adrienne Rich put forth her voice in discovering what motherhood is really like for some mothers, with weight on patriarchy, identity, and culture. Others poured their hearts into novels, like Toni Morrison, who unravels the dark side of beauty perceptions such as Dick and Jane, putting great emphasis on identity. Some women have spoken about issues through art, like Alma Lopez for instance. She courageously pieced together art that symbolized gender, class and culture making her work bold and powerful. Moreover, Barbara Kingsolver does a phenomenal job in capturing the emotion of one experiencing abuse and folds the story of one’s childhood into a symbolic poem.

The poem begins,
"draws herself out crescent-thin, a curved woman. Untouchable, she bends around the shadow that pushes itself against her," (Kingsolver). This line reveals the child experiencing abuse, "untouchable" as she "bends" about, revealing the victim's way of dealing with the forced misery.

“How you learned to draw your life out like the moon,…the little hopeful flowers of your knees pressed against the wall and its mockery of paint, always the little-girl colors,”(Kingsolver).

Kingsolver uses the moon as a model for the child experiencing abuse because the moon survives the changes that it endures and it seems that Kingsolver wants the child to know this.“The little hopeful flowers of your knees” reveals the growth the child has yet to do as well as the minute hope of life that the victim of the abuse has. Kingsolver indicates that she is writing about a child who is robbed of being an adolescent by acknowledging the walls painted with ridicule for a child that is a victim of sexual abuse, “mockery of paint, always the little-girl colors,”(Kingsolver).

"Remember How the Moon Survives" is a poem that concerns the struggles of identity, a reoccurring theme in our course of study. Kingsolver illustrates the child’s loss and discovery of identity as the child experiences and survives the abuse throughout the poem. In particular, I am able to relate this poem to Toni Morrison's novel, "The Bluest Eye." In this particular literary piece Morrison demonstrates the troubles of sexual abuse and does so to reveal to her audience about the courage and strength that must be held among those that are victims of sexual abuse in order to survive and inform those who are unaware of the difficulties sexual abuse creates. Kingsolver targets this audience as well, fueling the discussion on sexual abuse. Also, the child that Kingsolver describes in her poem reminded me of Virginia Woolf's, "Mrs. Dalloway" in that Clarissa Dalloway felt lost and confused at a time in her life just as the child had in this poem, reflecting a sense of identity. Social Construction can also be related to this poem in that the environment surrounding the child was overwhelmingly abusive, which may affect her for the rest of her life. She has already learned how to disregard the sexual abuse; therefore, it is not out of the question to say that she may disregard any sort of feelings that may come from regarding her intimacy because of the association she may have with her abuse. The child in the poem may be constructed by her society to feel and know that intimacy is shared among those that love and care for another, but may instead attribute intimacy with disgust. Moreover, Kingsolver's ability and interest in issues that concern others help make her a great writer and incredibly worthy of a fan page.

Works Cited

Kingsolver, Barbara."Remember how the Moon Survives." Feminist Resources for Women and Girls. 2008 http://womensstudies.homestead.com/index.html