Barbara Kingsolver's Growing A Greener World

It has been argued that organic are worthwhile because of nutrition. In paragraph 21, David Lazarus, stated, “What you’re paying for, presumably, is a more healthful diet. That means produce that hasn’t been drenched in pesticides, chicken and beef that hasn’t been pumped full of antibiotics, milk with even more nutritional value.” However, organic food is not worthwhile because of nutrition. “A 2012 study found no real difference between organic and conventional food in terms of nutrition. Its findings appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine”(Cernansky 6). This quote shows that there is no difference between organic and conventional food. If there is no difference between the food then why change the

What exactly does organic means? "Simply stated, organic produce and other ingredients are grown without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, genetically modified organisms, or ionizing radiation. Animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products do not take antibiotics or growth hormones." (Forstel) Do we know where exactly the chicken nugget from McDonald’s come from? All they have to do is just throw the whole chicken in a blender, toss it onto an assembly line and let some giant mechanical cutter chop it up into bite-sized nuggets for company. It is also amazing how long it takes a healthy product to gain customers compared to a greasy or boxed product. This most likely has to do with the culture.

Traits of organic food can also be misconstrued in the sense of the ingredients and how it is different from the way processed food is produced. “In reality, certified organics have lower levels of chemical residue, Roethal argues, which is positive for consumers, farm workers and the land itself, but organic growing practices have no impact on how many nutrients, calories or grams of fat are in anyone's favorite foods”(SFGate). As mentioned previously in the quote, often times organic food can benefits one’s health because of the little amount in which chemicals and calories are in the substance. The concern about organic food is that it is substantially more expensive than non-organic food. However,“Organic food sales are increasing by double digits annually, and more than 80 percent of parents reported buying organic food for their families last year”, according to Batch. With the high-price of organic food, this could also be a reason on why people tend to lean more towards the less healthier items, all because of the low cost. Even though there are different and confusing standards on what organic really is, the ideal description would typically be foods that do not have the same producing process as non-organic food.

Families are different today than they were fifty years ago. Not just regarding the social changes with gay couples, divorced couples, and single parents, but other changes around us have caused the family to evolve. The invention of the television, the internet, and even freezers and microwaves have changed how the family functions. Compounding changes in the world around us, the treatment of women as equals has also adjusted the dynamic in households. In the novel Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, the author pins the changing of our family culture, with regards specifically to mealtime, on the women’s liberation movement from the sixties. (126) Family mealtime has changed over the years, but there are multiple reasons for its perceived demise. The women’s liberation movement gave women the chance to leave the kitchen and enter the workforce, but changes to the family meal began before women started taking up careers alongside men. Food processing, personal electronics, and the way our society raises children, have all changed how we eat together.

In the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, the wisteria vine functions as a symbol of Turtle’s growth throughout her journey, as well as the people that have helped her along the way. When Turtle is first given to Taylor, she is agonized and timid, without a clue of whom she can look to as a motherly figure. Taylor remarks how “the most amazing thing was the way the child held on... to [her]… it’s little hands like roots sucking on dry dirt.” (22) Turtle’s horrible past has mentally scarred her. She views Taylor as safety and is relying on her for care. Turtle’s need for Taylor is similar to a plant’s need for water. Neither can survive without the other. As time progresses the duo bonds more closely, and Turtle begins to open up. One

The Courage to Change Ultimately the book, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, is about having courage and strength to better your life. Throughout the book, Taylor has taken many steps of courage to hopefully change her life for the better. Taylor left Pittman County to start a new beginning, she had the courage to take in a child like it was her own almost immediately after leaving Pittman County, and she risked her life to take Estevan and Esperanza with her to Oklahoma. “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.”

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, is her first novel, published in 1988. It is a novel that tells the story of a young girl who leaves her hometown to create a new life for herself. Along her journey, she finds a group of friends who offer endless love and support, allowing her to fulfill a happy life. Although she is presented with many obstacles, she is determined to continue her journey, in which she is faced with a lift-changing decision. Taylor Greer, the protagonist in the novel, must take on the challenges of motherhood and accept her newfound responsibilities. In the novel, The Bean Trees, the author uses the key literary elements of setting, character development, and theme to create interest in a young woman’s journey through life.

According to the book Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia, When Barbara Kingsolver had insomnia and was pregnant with her first child she spent her nights writing her first book. Many of the New York Times book reviews rated The Bean Trees as being a great book.

"There's more pressure on women today to be beautiful, thin, hot, sexy, and young." (English). Since the 20th century we have started relying on media and technology and this has influenced people to create new inventions but we have also started creating images of humans. When it comes to the ideal women the people in society have created her to be fit in the right areas. Women struggle with the insecurities of never being able to achieve the ideal body shape because the pictures are processed through Photoshop. This is also influenced on younger girls as they make every effort for a certain figure. In the novel, The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver criticizes over-sexualization, by using elements of fiction to show that many men are blind

Generations of families have attempted the journey from their home to a new life in the United States. Families have made the journey from their home to a new foreign land for a new life, and while some succeed in the journey others do not. The journey to the United States is very dangerous, but when the families arrive their journey is not over. Families face immigration and border services which are the last barrier to their new life. In The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver addresses the different views on immigration through her many characters. Taylor is young and moved away from her home in Pittman County, she left to start a new life as a new person and was given a child on her journey to find a new home in the

The novel, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, is the story of Taylor who just finished high school. She never had the easiest life, but she was determined not to end up like her other classmates, barefoot and pregnant. “Mama always said barefoot and pregnant was not my style. She knew. It was in this frame of mind that I made it to my last year of high school without event,” (Kingsolver, 3). Thinking like this she thought she would never end up with a baby, then Turtle came. An abused three year old girl was left with her at a bar without an explanation. Instead of leaving her behind, Taylor took her in and was raising her on her own without help. This was only one of the many hardships she went through, but her mother taught her well.

The Bean Tree novel gives the readers an inside look at the early 1980s with the upcoming serious topics of dislocation and forced removal of immigrants. The novel's setting in time is set when the United States contributed military and financial support to organizations and troops establishing brutality in Central American countries. While the acts of violence occur, the Cherokee Trail of Tears and the Sanctuary movement were big events of time period impacting Americans and immigrants intensity. Both significant events dealt with an alien race not American about migration and relocation. The book exposes us to the immigrant's daily lifestyle with the threat of deportation constantly surfacing their mind. The author, Barbara Kingsolver, intends

While shopping through a mass-produced grocery market and passing through the fruits and vegetables section, I observe that all the apples look the same type of polished red or green or yellow. They seem fake, unnatural and almost too perfect. Masking the imperfections of a food product is the art of factory farms and countless corporations who use artificials.

When it is time to go to the grocery store, I have to make decisions. I am always one to be picking out fresh fruits and vegetables. Since I prefer to treat my body well, I will sometimes buy organic fruits but usually I chose non-organic to save some money. I do believe it would be more ethical to stick to buying organic foods because the workers will not be exposed to the huge amounts of toxic pesticides that are always being sprayed on non-organic fruits growing. The workers working on non-organic fruit farms are not only paid less than the state’s required minimum wage, but they are harming their bodies everyday just to get a small paycheck. The pesticides may not be too harmful to the human body in small amounts, which comes in a normal

First off, organic foods are defined as being grown without the use of pesticides, fertilizers or heavy metals, which are thought to influence the interaction of bioactive chemicals and metabolites present during the growth process (Bernacchia, Preti, & Vinci 2016). Consequently, produce that is grown under normal, unaltered conditions is assumed to cultivate additional substances that benefit our health as compared to inorganic produce (Bernacchia et al.,