This website serves as a critique of the literary devices implemented in the book Flight Behavior and the impact of the stylistic choices of author Barbara Kingsolver.
Need to refresh yourself on the plot of Flight Behavior? Click here to view a summary and some background information.
Barbara Kingsolver, with a background in biology, is no stranger to climate change. Her book Flight Behavior addresses the issue of climate change, the controversy surrounding it, and the attitude of humanity towards it. Climate change is a prominent issue today, and it affects everyone. Unfortunately, knowledge about it is severely lacking for most people. It's not so much that people aren't aware of it; it just isn't their priority. Climate change is not based on their everyday life, so the issue is set aside, even though it will affect everyone long-term. Most people live in ignorance of their changing, deteriorating world.
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Nobody was asking why the butterflies were here; the big news was just that they were. |
When the monarchs touched the lives of a small town in Appalachia, its residents ignored the serious environmental implications of it and instead took it as a miracle or a blessing from God. Kingsolver calls for a drastic change in education about the negative impact of climate change, so we can start working towards a solution to eliminate it.
Many people feel strongly that delving deep into environmental issues belongs in nonfiction only. Even other authors such as Ian McEwan agree that “the best way to tell people about climate change is through nonfiction” (Charles). Lacing a novel so heavily with climate change was a risky move on Barbara Kingsolver's part. The decision to present the attitudes towards climate change and its impact though the fictional migration of monarch butterflies to the wrong winter spot - an event that spells catastrophe for the beautiful insects and tests the surrounding community - engages readers and motivates them to reevaluate their own knowledge of the effects of climate change. An environmental report describing the hypothetical impact of such an event would hardly generate the same response. |
Kingsolver utilizes a variety of literary devices to further reiterate her message to her readers, with similes being one of the most recurrent. The redundant use of similes amplifies Kingsolver's message by drawing connections between environmental and societal issues to those more visible in everyday life. By forming links between climate change and common experiences, Kingsolver establishes that climate change is not a negligible, isolated issue, but rather one that will soon cause irreversible damage to our world.
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Dellarobia Turnbow, the main character of Flight Behavior, goes through a dramatic transformation at the hands of knowledge. By making the main character of her book a poor, minimally educated, small-town housewife and mother who helps save the butterflies from a disastrous effect of climate change and find her own salvation, Kingsolver emphasizes her own message that simply being educated about the drastic impacts of climate change can have a miraculous effect on the world.
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Title image borrowed from sciencemag.com
Other Resources and Reviews
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