Summary Of Kingsolver's Essay 'High Tide In Tucson'

In the essay “High Tide in Tucson”, Barbara illustrates the beauty of human nature and how she finds happiness in her life through the importance of her loses and gifts, the adaptation of a new home, and the realization of her wants vs her needs. In her lifetime, Kingsolver has endured many many painful losses and has discovered many heartwarming gifts that nature had to offer. Kingsolver said, “ I fought off the knife, mourned the loss of an unborn child, bore witness to the rainforest; claimed the blue butterflies as Holy Spirit in my private pantheon; got out of the burning car; survived the divorce by putting one foot in front of another and taking good care of my child.” (1072-1073) Kingsolver erased her suicidal thoughts that her painful losses brought on, and she realized how important her survival is in nature because of the gifts that the Holy spirit had to offer her. She could have ended her life with the devastation and tears that she was drowning in, but Kingsolver discovered the happiness that life has in store for her. Through the beauty in nature, Kingsolver learns how to adapt to the new home that she

Kingsolver recalls a memory in her past about her backpacking trip in Eagle Tail Mountains, and she compares the trip to her wants vs her needs. Kingsolver said, “Her, exactly, and not one valley over, or two, or twelve, because this place has all a person needs: shelter, food, and permanent water.” (1075) One valley abundant with plant and animal biodiversity, and and water is all a person really needs to cherish in life. She also said, “ want is a thing that unfurls unbidden like fungus, opening large upon itself, stopless, filling the sky, but needs, from one day to the next.” (1076) To find her happiness, Kingsolver took away the wants that prevent her from doing the things that she needs to enjoy