Pigs In Heaven: Stunning Similes

“This dawns on her with the unkindness of a heart attack and she sits up in bed to get a closer look at her thoughts, which have collected above her in the dark” (Pigs 3).

"Flapping to stay balanced, he makes the long branch bob and sway like a carnival ride” (Pigs 6).

“Aloneness is her inheritance, like the deep heartline that breaks into match sticks across her palm” (Pigs 23).

"Jax’s adoration is like the gift of a huge, scuffling white rabbit held up at arms length for her to take. Or a European vacation. Something you can never give back” (Pigs 31).

“The words ‘a more friendly meeting of minds’ are smacking like angry pent-up bees against the inside of her head” (Pigs 78).

“A stewardess is coming slowly down the aisle taking people’s plastic cups away, like a patient mother removing toys her babies might try to swallow” (Pigs 127).

“After the van had come to a respectable standstill, the dog simply got up and walked back to the rear of the van, making Taylor feel terrible, the way people do when you step on their toes and they sigh but don’t say a word” (Pigs 199).

“They look like birds trying to fly against a hurricane” (Pigs 250).

“She can feel sadness rising off him in waves, the way you feel heat from a child with a fever” (Pigs 254).

“I’ve seen babies carried off with no more thought than you’d give a bag of brown sugar you picked up at the market” (Pigs 284).

“She stares at the symmetrical rows of holes in the metal back of the telephone hutch. Her life feels exactly that meaningless” (Pigs 291).

“Alice hovers for a moment the way a female dragonfly will, before committing her future, laying her eggs on the water. Finally she plunges. Sits and takes off her shoes” (Pigs 311).

“Since her arrival in Oklahoma, she has felt her color as a kind of noticeable heat rising off her skin, something like a light bulb mistakenly left on and burning in a roomful of people who might disapprove” (Pigs 318).

~Father Nature, Editor

Pigs In Heaven: Meticulous Metaphors: Weather Watchers

Is there a difference in depth-possibility when it comes to rain and the weather in general?

I have discussed, in a previous post, Kingsolver's metaphor of rain. Storms, hail, snow, mist, drizzle, rain. However, in Pigs In Heaven, Kingsolver is much more of a Mother Nature than before. She takes on the entire weather scheme with this sky-covering metaphor. I've already stated (previous blog, once again) how Kingsolver uses rain metaphor: ambiance. The weather is the background to our lives, and as such, it is well-fitting for it to be a metaphor for the ambiance of situations. The environment is Kingsolver's playground as she though up this metaphor, and I will be the thoughtful mage to decipher every weather pattern. Here we go.

First off, and kind of a repeat, are storm clouds. You can see that when I discussed rain, I mentioned rain was sometimes used as a foreshadowing for troublesome events. After some thought, Kingsolver made this metaphor clearer. By that I allude to the fact that this book was written after Prodigal Summer. Here, she puts storms in dialogue very often, having one character look if "that storm is coming in" (Pigs 118). Storms are usually signs of bad weather, however the character that saw the storm coming mentioned that "[they] need some rain," that "[they] haven't had rain in a long time" (Pigs 119). Whether the rain they had a long time ago was beneficial or detrimental, we don't know, but we do know that the people of the Cherokee reservation were looking forward to this storm cloud's rain. They were looking forward to whatever the future brought them. This goes to show what kind of personalities they have: open-minded, optimistic, and wishful.

Now please bear with me as I struggle to separate a thunderstorm from a rainstorm. After looking back at my notes on the novel, Kingsolver only used rain and storms and thunder and lighting as real metaphors. While interestingly mentioning drought, hot desert weather, and the nourishing sun, she never dwells on these things. What she doesn't fail to mention is that "once a turtle bites you, it doesn't let go .... till it thunders" (Pigs 104). Thunder, with all of its might, can ruin even the prettiest picture. And even worse, it may come out of nowhere, at the slightest of an opportune moment.
When in the car, during a storm, "Taylor and Turtle flinch" when thunder strikes, rumbling as it inches towards passing the sound barrier (Pigs 105). Turtle, as you may remember, kept her nickname because of her attachment with Taylor. The steel grip the two have when holding on to each other is infrangible. The thunder, however, is the only thing that could pull them apart. Thunder comes in the form of heritage, in this novel. Indeed, weather has made a connection to the Cherokee reservation. No good came from the thunder, from the eyes of Taylor Greer, who wanted no less than to walk away from the situation with a daughter whom she raised. However, the benefit of the doubt lies with the law, and the law of the Cherokee reservation was clear. Joint custody was a blessing, was it not? Turtle wasn't ripped from Taylor's grasps, because she has partial custody, right?

The thunder strikes and BOOOOM Turtle is in the hands of another man, Cash Stillwater. The thunder strikes and BOOOOM Taylor is fighting for custody over Turtle. The thunder strikes a third time and BOOOOM Turtle likes it when she isn't clasping onto Taylor.

Thunder can be shocking, thunder can be moving. In this case, the thunder was splitting, piercing, and heart-breaking.

~Father Nature, Editor

Pigs In Heaven: Particularly Philosophical

Kingsolver should be given an award or a degree in philosophy, and fast!

Her work in this novel regarding underlying philosophy is extraordinary! She definitely surpassed the high bar of standard set by her previous novels, philosophically, with Pigs In Heaven. The events, characters, and emotions she has written for us ties in and leads to an inferred final philosophy. That philosophy will be revealed at the end of this post.

To start, Turtle is a little girl with a lot of mystery stuffed into her. Her "luminous" black eyes portray so much depth as the novel continues that they mesmerize me when I imagine them (Pigs 15). Her serious face, I guess you could call it, should never be taken for granted, nor misunderstood. Her somber eyes are black holes which lead to places all but pleasant. Her way of reacting to troubling situations is to return to this dour disposition. At one point, when Taylor was observing Turtle's eyes, "she [knew] Turtle [was] in there but the blank, dark windows [were] glossed over like loveless eyes, revealing nothing" (Pigs 292). They say that eyes are windows to the heart. Well, if Turtle's eyes were blank and dark, I'm sure you can deduce the rest of Kingsolver's imagery....

However, Turtle isn't a completely gloomy girl! In fact, it's Taylor whose "heart is an empty canyon," even at the end of the novel (Pigs 341). It's Taylor who calls herself "loveless, hopeless, [and] blind" (Pigs 320). Turtle is the one who can find joy after the most glum situations. What could be the cause of this role switch?

The answer is Turtle. Turtle, who has "been marked in life by a great many things" leaves her mark on Taylor (Pigs 12). Not in a negative way, either. No, Taylor loves Turtle, and Turtle "hasn't deliberately let go of Taylor since they met" (Pigs 14). So when Taylor was stripped of this enigmatic little girl, she became exactly what she was missing.

The next character, whom I feel I must discuss, is one who's impact on the other characters isn't set in stone. This is because her character is as slippery and deceiving as a snake. The sad part is that if what she represents, rather if what her namesake represents, has any snake-like qualities, our country is in grave danger.

Barbie.

Indeed, the controversial, teeter-tottering child's toy has found her way into both Kingsolver's novel and my post on how her novel is philosophical. Barbie is a character who unsuspectedly slips into the life of Turtle and Taylor Greer. Her intentions and thoughts silent, Taylor allows her to tag along with them. The way she dresses and speaks follows her idol's mannerisms, and her manager at the Vegas restaurant she worked at just couldn't take it anymore. He just so happened to fire her at the time when Taylor and Turtle visited the restaurant.

However, I don't fear for the "model representation" of American women because of how unstable her personality is, complete with her "relationsihp with the bathroom ... every time she eats something" (Pigs 161). Yes, she has the eating disorder known as bulimia. Barbie is a character to fear because Taylor found "silver dollars. Hundreds of them, in the silk-lined cave of Barbie's black purse" (Pigs 167). The purse that she kept with her at all times was so valuable because of exactly that: it's high value. Barbie, the representation of the ideal American girl, was a thief.

Before tying it all together, I'd like to introduce one more event. Alice, Taylor's mom, is lured into the Cherokee reservation by a love interest named Cash Stillwater. Of course, Annawake Fourkiller, the lawyer trying to find Turtle, played Cupid for this relationship. Alice goes to the reservation with low hopes, but soon, "for the first time she can remember, Alice feels completely included" (Pigs 271). She actually has family there, real family, because her "Grandmother Stamper was full-blooded" (Pigs 267). She finds a connection with the Cherokee, her long-lost people of sorts, and is changed 'for the better' while spending time there. However, she must sign a paper in order to reinstate herself as a member of that Cherokee reservation. Nevertheless, Alice shows us that stubbornness can disappear, and that old assumptions can be dissuaded.

So what's the grand philosophy that I have inferred Kingsolver had in mind while writing the novel, that is exemplified by these things? It's the idea that people have the power to change both themselves and others, and that no assumption can ever be set in stone.

~Father Nature, Editor

Pigs In Heaven: A Whole New World

Being the sequel of The Bean Trees, Kingsolver's Pigs In Heaven features the same principal characters in the same world. The crisis is the same, however with different characters putting the stress on the equilibrium of Taylor and Turtle Greer. As Taylor "grips her daughter's arm ... protectively," she can't help but recall that "this child is the miracle [she] wouldn't have let in the door if it had knocked" (Pigs 10).

Turtle is an example of things that come into our lives, intrude into our worlds, when we are in no position to deny entry. It doesn't matter if the intruder is a benefit or a deficit to the world, it must be welcomed with open arms, simply to encourage that possibility of it being beneficial.
In this case, Turtle's "snap-jawed grip is a principle of [her] relationship" with Taylor; "she hasn't deliberately let go of Taylor since they met" (Pigs 14). Love is the obvious word, necessity being the subtler, more accurate one.

However, Taylor is being hunted. Annawake Fourkiller, a lawyer of the Cherokee Nation, is convinced that Taylor "was trying to take a Cherokee kid out of the Nation" (Pigs 57). Living in a time when "people like [her]" need to "watch out for the kids" in the tribe because of the social-service standards (Pigs 57). Turtle's earlier line of "legacy" is supposed to ensure her safety, her place in the tribe (Pigs 89). Annawake's determination to 'rescue' Turtle clashes and clangs with the strength of Taylor's bond with Turtle in this custody triangle.

So who's right? With the both of the protagonists of the novel being "heroes" of their own kind, who is the audience supposed to side with (Pigs 160)? Taylor is an example of those mommies who would "throw themselves in front of traffic or gunfire to save their offspring," who puts themselves "second, every time, no questions asked" (Pigs 155). However Annawake is abiding by the law of her reservation, and trying to ensure others are, too. They are both striving to make a significantly positive influence on someone else's life. Yet they are acting in opposition to one another.

While Kingsolver could have easily made this feud last the entire book, "it's peacefulness that is hard to come by on purpose" (Pigs 224). If Taylor and Annawake met and discussed their differences to come to a conclusion, it would be that inimitable, paramount, and anti-climactic ending that author's strive to achieve.



Taylor's travels take her and Turtle to the Indian Reservation, ready to confront Annawake Fourkiller and settle what needs to be settled. There, she enters a world usually unbeknown to the rest of civilization, a world where "you don't have to bother much with pretending you're not poor" (Pigs 229). A world that's "not like some country club or something. It's just family. It's kindly like joining the church. If you get around to deciding you're Cherokee ... then that's what you are" (Pigs 271). A world that needed the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act just to insure guarantee the protection of their children from the American government. Kingsolver depicts the world of the Cherokee after the "Trail of Tears" that "happened in 1838" (Pigs 281). In this world of newly made rules, overprotection, and dynamic culture, Taylor is pushed to extend her family such that she must "[share] Turtle with strangers" (Pigs 339). She finds it difficult, as any new mother would, but it's a struggle that she must endure for the sake of her bond with Turtle.

This world depicts the ideal life perfectly.

Without spoiling what happens to Turtle and Taylor and Annawake, I hope that I've stressed the message depicted by the setting of this novel: the world we live in is crucial to the results of the events that we partake in.

~Father Nature, Editor