Why do you think the author chose to set the story in two different centuries? And why these two in particular?
Created: 10/16/18
Replies: 8
Join Date: 10/15/10
Posts: 3442
Join Date: 04/21/11
Posts: 264
Both time periods were rife with seismic shifts in mainstream thinking and seemed to create two camps of citizens: those who were intrigued by and embraced the new ideologies and those who clung to the current world order, regardless of what science supports.
Join Date: 03/11/15
Posts: 120
I agree with Paulak. These were both periods when science was presenting ideas that undermine current thinking. In Treat's time, it was upsetting peoples ideas' about religion and God's hand in creation. In the present, science is upsetting peoples' ideas about humans' contributions to harming our planet and its inhabitants.
Join Date: 02/05/16
Posts: 381
The current issue of Poets & Writers magazine has a fascinating discussion between Kingsolver and Richard Powers (The Overstory, his new novel, also focuses on the environment, and is a great companion to Kingsolver's). Kingsolver says in this article that she was consciously looking for an historical period where there was a "paradigm shift" like the one that we are struggling with now -- and she had always wanted to write about Darwin. (She has a masters degree in evolutionary biology.) I'm amazed that she was able to bring in so much more than just the religious aspect of resistance to science, to capture the whole complexity of social resistance to change.
Join Date: 05/12/16
Posts: 27
Join Date: 01/12/16
Posts: 24
"MARY AND THATCHER HAD LIVED IN ENVIABLE TIMES, WHEN BIOLOGISTS WERE DISCOVERING NEW SPECIES RIGHT AND LEFT, NOT WATCHING THEM GO EXTINCT." When I read this line I thought how true, so many decision and policy makers who don't care about the consequences of not caring about our environment. The Industrial Revolution saw many environmental wounds inflicted on the world but in this day and age we still seem to think we have all the time in the world to figure out how to recover from the damage we inflict on Mother Earth.
Join Date: 03/30/14
Posts: 54
Change can be difficult but often, adapting to change means survival, mentally and physically. Both time periods in this novel reflect times where people either resist and deny the need to change or adapt and look to the future. Kingsolver delivers a powerful message to readers about being observant to our world and not stuck in a denial rut.
Join Date: 03/21/17
Posts: 68
The more things change - the more they stay the same. Two different time periods with charismatic leaders and people that wanted to believe what they said and followed them blindly. The issues with the news media and the slanted news. The science issues and people not believing the scientific evidence.
Join Date: 11/05/17
Posts: 72
Reply
Please login to post a response.