In her novel, Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver aims to inform readers of the dangerous effects of climate change on our delicate planet, as well as the reasons why some people don’t believe in them despite clear scientific evidence presented to them. Kingsolver educates readers, almost without them realizing it--she skillfully weaves scientific information about the changing planet within a compelling narrative that explores the complicated lives of the working class poor. Her writing also reveals the differing perspectives of the members of a small, rural community and their ability to interpret and understand the beautiful signs of ecological disaster around them.
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"This time they revealed themselves in movement, as creatures in flight. That made the difference. The treetops and ravines all appeared in strange relief, exposed by the trick of air as a visible quantity. The air filled with visible butterfly light. The space between the trees glittered, more real and alive than the trees themselves. The scaly forest bore the same bulbous burden in its branches she'd seen before, even more of it, if possible. The drooping branches seemed bent to the breaking point under their weight. Of butterflies."
-Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior
-Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior
Certainly an appreciation for nature is an important feature of my work, and it arose in part because I grew up running wild in the woods with little adult supervision, studied biology as a college student, and then went to graduate school in biology. I am one of thousands of species that live in this place, and I don't ever forget the other ones are there. Species diversity is a biological fact. I think a lot about the world out there beyond the artifice that human beings have created. |
Kingsolver herself has an academic background in biology and a fascination with life on Earth. She aims to share her love of nature through her writing, and educate her readers on the aspects that are at risk in Flight Behavior. She achieves this through the thoughtful and generous imagery she incorporates in her descriptions of the natural world. In many instances in her novel, Kingsolver describes scenes of nature's beauty and intricacy with absolute clarity. Her use of descriptive and sensory language captures both the reader's imagination and interest, planting the seeds of appreciation of the natural world within them.
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"'For God's sake, man,' Ovid nearly shouted, 'the damn globe is catching fire, and the islands are drowning. The evidence is staring them in the face.' ... She spoke carefully to the room. 'I think people are scared to face up to a bad outcome. That's just human. Like not going to the doctor when you've found a lump. If fight or flight is the choice, it's way easier to fly.'"
-Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior
-Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior
Kingsolver has a unique interest in human diversity; especially the diversity of perspective. In Flight Behavior, she explores the power of one's point of view through the perspectives of her characters. After the arrival of unusual visitors to the small Tennessee town in which the novel is set, its various residents turn to many differing explanations. Many ascribe the event to God's hand, claiming "God works in mysterious ways", while others seek a more secular explanation. The differences between two of the most important characters, Ovid Byron and Dellarobia Turnbow, are stark--Dellarobia lives paycheck to paycheck, never being able to support herself with her sub-par education. Ovid is a professor and scientist who has spent years studying the world around him. Whereas Ovid seeks a scientific explanation for the strange phenomenon, Dellarobia and the rest of her community initially believe it to be the work of God. Kingsolver uses these differing backgrounds and the perspectives they shape in order to truly reflect and explore the many personal truths we humans create for ourselves and view our world through.
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As for human diversity, I'm very interested in the fact that everybody in the room has something different in mind right now... you're each seeing the world in a different way and all of tour are right... People invest themselves differently in the same set of truths. Because of my training as a scientist, I'm always looking at the dialect between the truth we believe exists outside ourselves and the truth we invent for ourselves. |
Devices in Flight Behavior
"Drawing on her Appalachian roots and her background in biology, Kingsolver delivers a passionate novel on the effects of global warming... Kingsolver, as always a fluent and eloquent writer, skillfully sets the hook of her fascinating story... Readers will be well and truly smitten with the fiesty, funny, red-haired Dellarobia and her determined quest to widen the confines of her world."
- Booklist (starred review)
- Booklist (starred review)