"STONE SOUP' BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER

 
 
 
 
"STONE SOUP' BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER

While this essay was written some ten years ago, the insistence by the political right on "family values" makes "Stone Soup" as valid and contemporary as if it were written yesterday. Surely there will be some who see this as a middle-aged woman's rant against those who cannot understand that sometimes the best-planned marriages end in divorce. One needs to read between the lines as well as re-read the lines and thoughts themselves. For Kingsolver, writing is a form of political engagement" (Anon 1).

This so-called "engagement" in this essay deals with trying to dispense with the narrow view of morality. "àwe aren't a family of Dollsà.And if not, even though you are statistically no oddity, it's probably been suggested to you in a hundred ways that yours isn't exactly a real family, but an imposter family, a harbinger of cultural ruin" (Kingsolver 1).

The idea is that there are truly very few "perfect" families. There is too much divorce, too little compassion, and also too much "contempt (for) the straw-broken home"(Kingsolver 2). Kingsolver goes after those who come up with what to them might seem a generic and even innocuous term when a family breaks up. She attacks the term "irreconcilable differences." She will have none of that: "I resent the phrase 'irreconcilable differences,' which suggests a stubborn refusal to accept a spouse's little quirks. This is specious. Every happily married couple I know has load


     
 
 
 
    

 

Related Essays

Art: Theories, Function, and Affects .... from the canons of the Impressionists and transferred to canvas and stone and architecture a .... Andy Warhol's can of tomato soup is just that, a larger than life .... (1619 6 )

Nuclear Testing in Asia .... Chicago politics in the same manner that Al Capone established soup kitchens for the .... Powell's chief appeal, according to Andrea Stone, a USA Today reporter, is .... (2693 11 )

Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene .... the early replicating molecules, floating chaotically free in the primeval soup, rather than .... may be genetic mutations that were helpful in the Stone Age but .... (3450 14 )

The New Deal Lawyers .... Among the many alphabet soup agencies created by Congress during the first .... on the Court --Frankfurter, Brandeis and Harlan Fiske Stone--disenchanted with the .... (2584 10 )

Service Learning .... to perform community service such as volunteering at a local soup kitchen, service .... Learning Bookshelf should be viewed solely as a stepping stone for students .... (1620 6 )



Category: Philosophy - "
 
 
 
Common Topics
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Click Here to Get Instant Access to over 32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
 
 
 
Join Now  
 
 
 
 
 
Saved Papers  
 
 
Save your essays here so you can locate them quickly!
 
 
 
Testimonials  
 
"Thank you for making such a high quality site! Your papers are the best I have seen around"
Debbie B.
 
"Your site was very helpful and gave me the details I needed in order to complete my essay!!!"
Mike F.
 
"This site is an excellent vehicle for quick referrences. Thanks a bunch!"
Carla T.
 
"Great site, I got a lot of new ideas I would have never thought of before."
Nate A.
 
"I love this site!!!"
Marie H.
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2007 - 2012 Lots of Essays. All Rights Reserved. DMCA