Analysis Of Pigs In Heaven By Barbara Kingsolver

In the novel Pigs In Heaven, the author uses the social injustice of poverty to focus on the opposing views of those in the American culture versus the Cherokee culture using the topic of poverty; moreover, she further presents the different effects that people in poverty experience as a result to the cultures they live in. The characters of Taylor and Turtle act as a means in which Kingsolver is able to reveal the negative attitudes the American society have on those in poverty. Through the two characters and their experiences in poverty, the author is able to illustrate how many people in the American hold judgmental views or blatantly dismiss those who are poor. Moreover, their attitudes help expand on why the America’s society have a lack …show more content…
By contrasting the two views, Kingsolver is able to argue that the attitudes of those in the Cherokee community, in regards to poverty, should be the social norm on how poverty is addressed in a community.
Kingsolver effectively reveals how unjustifiable the negative views of those in the American culture by using Taylor and Turtle’s experiences in poverty to reveal the real struggles of the poor in opposition to society’s view on the poor. In the eyes of people in the American society, the poor are perceived in a negative and almost criminal-like way and many people see that those who are poor bring it upon themselves, as they believe that the poor are uneducated on finances or unmotivated. For instance, when Taylor encounters groups of poor and homeless on her date with Kevin, he condescendingly comments, “with all the opportunities that are available, and somebody’s still sitting around staring at his navel on a park bench, you’ve got to admit they must be that way partly out of personal choice” (Kingsolver 209). Kevin’s comments about the poor completely encompasses the typical American view on poverty, as he …show more content…
The tolerant attitude the Cherokee Nation have towards the poor facilitate in improving the strong sense of community on the reservation that contrasts with the alienation of the poor in American society, which help portray the importance of community present throughout the novel. During Taylor’s date with Kevin, Kingsolver illustrates a major separation between the homeless and poor with the wealthy through the distinguishable difference on how Kevin describes the projects versus the lakefront neighborhood in which Kevin comments that it “is the place to live” (208). This geographic separation between the poor and the rich reveals the hostile treatment the poor receive in how they are alienated from the rest of the community. However, in the Cherokee community the poor are not alienated in the community as the Cherokee community supports each other in their struggles as Annawake reveals that to them “it’s the most natural thing in the world to ask for help if we need it” (230). The Cherokee’s willingness to depend on each other for support in a community highlights the major difference between the two cultures as in the American culture the poor struggle by themselves or even in secret in order to get by. Moreover, when talking about Boma and her tree Annawake that