Prodigal Summer (Barbara Kingsolver) Chapters 15-19

There is a lot of practical wisdom as well as specialized knowledge packed into these chapters.  It’s hard to decide whether we’re seeing the result of extensive research that has gone into this book, or the author is just sharing from a vast wealth of facts picked up over the years.  Probably some of each.  But however much she has studied natural history and biology, her insights into human relationships and conversational dynamics are impressive as well.  Lusa’s ordeal of having to fit into her dead husband’s family is such a lucid study of adaptability that we almost feel we’re witnessing a true case history in great detail.  The personalities involved are as convincingly intricate as they are varied.

The three threads indicated by the three alternating chapter titles deal with three different kinds of human personality conflict.  Lusa’s struggle with her new family, as mentioned above, is contrasted with the sharp differences of opinion between Garnett and Nannie over insect control and other farming practices, as well as the locking of horns between the lovers Deanna and Eddie over the fate of the local coyote population.  Each conflict is outlined by the characters themselves in their conversations, allowing them to present their positions in a more or less even-handed manner.

The occasional mention of people or events in one thread by characters in another thread is intriguing, such as Deanna’s mentioning of the close relationship between her father, when he was alive, with Nannie.  These feel like a kind of foreshadowing, hinting that we’ll be seeing a convergence of the threads at or near the end of the story.  This, in turn, sets up an anticipation that is almost as enticing as the eventual solution to a crime in a mystery.

The arguments between the two elderly characters, Garnett and Nannie, are gems of characterization.  They speak exactly as we feel two adversaries from their generation would, not beating around the bush the way a couple of middle-agers might, or carelessly spewing poorly-thought-out barbs to be regretted later, as we might expect younger folks to do.  We can almost hear the gruffness in Garnett’s voice (I’m thinking Harrison Ford as he sounds at his current age) and the somewhat edgy grate of Nannie’s replies:  ‘He shook his head.  “How many times do I have to listen to that nonsense?”  She leaned forward, her eyes growing wide.  “Until you’ve heard it!”’  She is a better arguer than he, as we might imagine:  ‘Garnett felt hoodwinked.  How could she do this every time?  In another day and age they’d have burned her for a witch.  “I didn’t find the fault in your thinking,” he admitted.  “Because it’s not there!” she cried.  “Because I’m right!”  The little woman was practically crowing.’

Their argument over evolution is superb:  ‘”Well, then,” he said, crossing his arms, “how does random chance create complex life forms?”  “This just seems ridiculous, a man who does what you do claiming not to believe in the very thing he’s doing.”  “What I do has nothing to do with apes’ turning helter-skelter into thinking men.”  “Evolution isn’t helter-skelter!  It’s a business of choosing things out, just like how you do with your chestnuts … What you’re doing is artificial selection,” she replied calmly.  “Nature does the same thing, only slower.  This ‘evolution’ business is just a name scientists put on the most obvious truth in the world, that every kind of living thing adjusts to changes in the place where it lives.  Not during its own life, but you know, down through the generations.  Whether you believe in it or not, it’s going on right under your nose over there in your chestnuts.” … “That’s just a godless darkness, to think there’s no divine goal.  Mankind can’t be expected to function in a world like that.  The Lord God is good and just.”’  Alas, the argument of the ages continues.  May we see an end to it in our lifetimes!






Next Week:  Conclusion - Chapters 20-31