Following a Different Path

To change a lifestyle involves incredible motivation and very strong ideals. There are barriers that need to be overcome and temptations that must be resisted. However, in order for a person to succeed in an alteration, he or she must outline the changes needed, or there will be mass confusion on what is needed to actually change. In Barbara Kingsolver’s case, it is apparent that she put a lot of thought and outlined her decision to drastically reform her and her family’s eating habits. Not only has she transformed her own life, but strives to show the world how effective it can be, while defining the importance of a diet change through the novel, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Barbara Kingsolver writes the narrative, where she describes what it is like and the basic fundamentals on how to start eating only homegrown or area made food without incorporating processed or imported food. She subtly argues that the readers of this novel, as well as everyone that is capable, should follow her example. Examples of this include her statistics in which people in this generation have a shorter life expectancy then the previous generation, due to bad eating habits. What makes this book so effective is her informative, enticing writing, as well as the different narratives throughout Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

Barbara Kingsolver lures her audience in through the use of information creatively spun in order to relate to the masses. While some people may describe her style of writing as preachy, Kingsolver is mainly attempting to make her readers understand the dangers of processed and imported foods and the pros of growing and buying from local spots. She also uses humor, which lightens some of the darker points she makes, and allows the reader to laugh about either an anecdote, or even a witty or sarcastic line. For instance, one of the first excerpts begins with a checkout girl upset it has begun to rain on her day off, when there has been no recent rainfall in her town. It shows how people are beginning to care less and less about the earth and helping it grow, and more about personal endeavors. Another example of her witty syntax is, “Every dog has its day, and even the lowly squash finally gets its month. We may revile zucchini in July, but in October we crown its portly orange cousin the King Cucurbit and Doorstop Supreme”. Using references or phrases that the reader may already know and then tying it together with her writing about growing vegetables allows a more basic understanding of her points. Furthermore, Kingsolver’s writing has a friendly undertone, which makes it seem as if anything if possible.

Moreover, the change of narration makes the novel the most effective. Kingsolver uses the help of her family to add different dynamics to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Her husband Steven L. Hopp and daughter, Camille Kingsolver had different inputs in the novel that also help connect the readers much better. Hopp mostly writes about different facts, and startling information about processed and imported foods. One of these facts includes, “Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We’re consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen – about 17% of our nation’s energy use – for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use”. As shown from this excerpt, his writing does not try and ease the audience, but astonish them with gruesome realities. On the other hand, Camille Kingsolver is much more relatable, especially to the younger audience. She puts in different recipes and stories on how she’s been able to adapt to the change. Although she has been more accustomed to this lifestyle then the average reader, since she is a teenager its easy to see the difference of her opinion then her mothers. The entire family supports the decision to change their diets to better their health, and prove its possible to relay on mainly themselves.

Yet, there are some criticisms about Kingsolver’s writing techniques. Not everything is possible. Although she writes as if this process is not as difficult as people may initially think, people did not grow up in the same environment as she did. People are not natural cooks, planters, or farmers. Most people do not have vegetables growing readily to begin at any time. If a city or suburban family tries to live the same way she does, they will have years of preparation before they could finally start. Giving things time to grow and blossom take a lot more effort than Kingsolver makes it appear. Since she starts with produce ready, it makes the entire change look more feasible. In addition, Kingsolver forgets how expensive it is to start a garden and the time needed to make the garden bloom, raise and kill livestock, and learn how to do all of the above.

After reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle it is easier to understand how to make a substantial change. Whether the change involves a completely different diet, or even if it involves something as simple as giving up cheese, or watching so much television, Kingsolver is a good person to model after, she truly is an inspiration. She put in a lot of thought to make her family’s lives better and outlined how it could be done incase other families decide to follow after her example. A pure dedication to something as substantial as growing, taking care of, cooking, and eating food shows that anything is possible, given the right knowledge of a subject and the motivation to follow through.