Summary Of Animal Dreams By Barbara Kingsolver

Drawing on experience for inspiration, Barbara Kingsolver writes books that are influenced by her life. The psychological school of criticism analyzes an author’s life and finds the underlying patterns within their works. Knowing Kingsolver’s background is necessary in order to see the parallels between her life and work. In Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams, the main character has aspirations, a paternal relationship and personal beliefs similar to Kingsolver’s experiences. The psychological school of criticism is the best approach to use when analyzing Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams because it shows the underlying similarities between Kingsolver’s book and life. The psychological approach highlights that Barbara Kingsolver’s life aligns with

Kingsolver have a strong correlation to each other, further highlighting that the psychological criticism is most informative. Firstly, both fathers were well known and respected doctors. They were humanitarians, striving to do what was best for the clients. Dr. Homer had a jumbled mind but still deeply cared about his clients such as a pregnant teenager. He tells Codi of her concern, “I wrote down a prescribed diet for her, which she wadded up and threw in the wastepaper basket before she left my office,” (Kingsolver 153). He enforced correct dieting and supplements, letting his paternal instincts in and proving that he truly cared. Kingsolver treated each patient with care, and refused to embarrass them when they were unable to pay him. He allowed them to pay through crops and did not treat them any differently (Snodgrass). Furthermore, Wendell Kingsolver was a very conservative man, who refused to rely on the materialistic way of life. This rejection caused Barbara Kingsolver to be insecure of her appearance since she never had the best clothing. Her lack of fashionable attire, caused her to fall under a pecking order of the lowest caste (Snodgrass 10). Kingsolver says, “Fashion nearly wrecked my life” (Kingsolver High tide in Tuscon 54). She was given hand me downs, and always behind on fashion trends. In addition, her parents forced her to wear orthopedic shoes and refused to invest in highest fashion.

Kingsolver was a humanitarian who saw the importance of effective farming and the causes of job losses. She wrote “Growing Trust” to educated people on how farms can successfully exist. Likewise, Hallie Noline represents this strong idea. She went to Nicaragua to educate on farming finding it an important issue. In addition, Kingsolver is an environmentalist which is presented in Animal Dreams. She wrote an article on the San Pedro river, noting that it holds a vast amount of species. Kingsolver also warns, “If it continues to drop, eventually even the grandfather cottonwoods that constitute the backbone of this ecosystem won't find moisture to sustain themselves” (Kingsolver “The Patience of a Saint”). She is against the wells nearby that are sucking up the water source, arguing that the river needs it. If the river dries up, the ecosystem is deeply injured and no longer a beautiful place. However, the land is under a conservation act which protects it. In Animal Dreams Codi gives the city of Grace a similar lecture, “The pH, which we tested, from some areas came in just a hair higher than battery acid,” (Kingsolver 110). Their nearby river is being contaminated with poison by the mine and the EPA’s solution is to build a dam. In the end, Grace is underway towards being preserved. Lastly, Kingsolver writes politically in her stories by the way she sees it (Arnold). For