Analysis: Dellarobia And Cub Turnbow '

Dellarobia and Cub Turnbow, a bickering, low-class rural couple, showcased in “Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver, written in 2012, display front and center the emotional and financial hardship that their socioeconomic class face on a day-to-day basis. The balancing act between providing a valuable Christmas, while keeping a balanced budget provides a challenge to the Turnbows. Class difference, like in rural Feathertown, Tennessee maintains the commercialist ideals that solidify and exacerbate the never-ending battle of affordability versus value and a changing discussion on the actual true meaning of Christmas. Globalization introduces a cycle into the commercialist sphere that perpetuates the class difference between socioeconomic classes. Imported products, manufactured cheaply in East Asia due to …show more content…
Dellarobia greets Cub in the doorway, “’We’re celebrating the true meaning of Christmas’” (Kingsolver 179). An ironical comparison ensues between Cub’s definition of Christmas and the money on the tree. Dellarobia transfers the meaning of Christmas from financially based to one that is more experiential, memorable, and gleeful by decorating a tree with “ornaments” and throwing a Christmas party. The Christmas party provides Dellarobia as a way to close some of the class gaps in the Christmas experience. In rural Feathertown, Tennessee, Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” exposes the impact commercialism perpetuates on the class difference in Christmas purchasing power and its true meaning for low-class families. Kingsolver’s choice of setting and financial circumstances advances the character development of the Turnbows through the use of social commentary on the lucrative commercialist world. As a reader, one contemplates the value of commercial goods and the meaning of Christmas in their own family and socioeconomic