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Adrian Martinez

Professor Ludwig

Honors English 101

27 November 2017

Queen Kingsolver

During the year of 2007, Barbara Kingsolver and her family (Steven Hopp, Camille

Kingsolver, and Lily Hopp Kingsolver) decided to live one year raising their own crops and

livestock. As a locavore, Kingsolver felt that she needed to separate herself from the norms of

society. She shares her experience by writing a book known as Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A

Year of Food Life. Her book does not only record her time spent in the Appalachian region, but it

also includes social criticism and her philosophy. Kingsolver is effective in some ways of

persuading her audience but does not have a great organization and tone.

The story takes place in the Appalachian region where she commits to eating locally-

grown food and raises organic crops. The family decides to leave Arizona to their farm that they

used for vacationing. After arriving, the family plants many different types of crops and they

order hens, roosters, and turkeys. The family spent much of their time harvesting the food and

pulling out weeds. However, each member of the family had a role; Steven made the bread,

Camille made experimental recipes, Lily took care of the livestock, and Barbara stored food and

made cheese. As each harvest season came around, Kingsolver would write about personal

experiences and would glorify the in-season crops. She uses the crops and experiences to argue

for eating locally grown food which often included organic farming methods. Often times, her

argument would show how factory farming methods are dangerous and inefficient. She would
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also recommend solutions to the problems of industrialized farming methods that would meet

halfway with the audience.

Kingsolvers language and structure were effective in persuading the readers. The type of

language she uses is basic vocabulary. For example, when stating her thesis, We wanted to live

in a place that could feed us (Kingsolver 3), she uses informal language that the average

American would use. Then, she reasons with her audience saying that, This might seem an

abstract reason for leaving beloved friends But it was real to us (Kingsolver 3). With this type

of acknowledgement, she establishes credibility with her audience. This also shows how she uses

emotional appeal as it includes language and structure that causes readers to empathize with her

purpose. Her writing style is effective and consistent throughout the book and makes her

persuasive methods stronger. However, the organization of her story can be rather confusing.

Sometimes, the chapter will explain what is happening during June, but she would then recall

past memory without giving much context. For example, Chapter 13, Life In A Red State

happens during August, but she recalls the memory of her school system in which she says, I

grew up among farmers. In my school system we were all born to our rank (Kingsolver 205).

The chapter was initially talking about tomatoes, but she reroutes the chapter into her school

experience. This timeline of going from present to past makes her organization choppy. By

starting from past to present, the reader would not have to guess the importance of her crops

growing during August.

On the other hand, her tone causes readers to visualize the surroundings of farm life and

food. The tone is not always consistent at points because she would talk about things with a bias.

To some readers, this bias can be efficient, whereas other readers become disengaged from her

argument. When she talks about normal days on the farm, she has a motherly tone, but when she
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talks about issues of farming methods, she has a despising tone. For example, Kingsolver writes

about dinner and says, For many regional farmers its a living, and for everybody else its a

place to eat (Kingsolver 151), but the first half of the sentence clearly sides with farmers

whereas everybody else is automatically on the other side. This can be effective in that it

shows the contrast of normal perception and farmer perception. However, it becomes stiff

minded saying that thinking this way is the only way.

Kingsolver is a great and credible writer within the book but often neglects the purpose of

convincing the other side. Steven Hopps sidebars helps her in giving logical appeal and

addressing the counter argument. As a whole, the book is greatly supported, but with

Kingsolvers writing alone, it can be tough to agree with her reasoning sometimes.
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Works Cited

Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. HarperCollins

Publishers, 2007, pp. 1-352.