Cosima Nolina, By Barbara Kingsolver: An Analysis

Agnes’s spiritual ‘atonement’, helping to ‘guide her home’ is regularly influenced by the state of the weather and natural occurrences on the landscape. Agnes is offered two experiences of redemption in the novel. One being predominately religious, aided by reverend Toti and the other being sense of belonging and acceptance to a family. In this heavily Christian society, Agnes is given a ‘spiritual advisor,’ who takes on the responsibility to ‘save her.’ As Agnes’ begins to confide in Toti and learn to rely on him the weather gradually becomes increasingly ‘miserable’ rendering it difficult for the two to meet. At the climax of the novel, ‘travelling to Kornsa in this unfit weather’ has resulted in Toti’s ‘fever’ leaving Agnes ‘scared’ and deprived of her confidant. Despite Toti representing her divine redemption, the two form an alliance stemming from predominately companionship, demonstrated when Toti ‘forgot’ his New Testament at home when going to meet Agnes. Additionally, Agnes is emotionally redeemed when experiencing a sense of belonging at Korsna. Amidst the natural process of childbirth occurring in the landscape Agnes aids the ‘newborn’ by recognizing it is in ‘breach.’ This

She also talks about how she meant to be unimportant to the families so that she can to be treated as guest. Eventually when the author and her team get used to within the families they were studying, they have literally got the real life scenarios and

She moves on and presses forward, all the while going to God and learning how to live for herself (Hurston,

Our Life is a matter of choices. Live well and have faith and it will never go wrong. Our lives can be full of crazy ups and downs that shape our views on how life should be lived. With a similar ideology, author Flannery O’Connor’s depicts her own life struggles using different aspects and details throughout her novels and short stories. O’Connor lived by the basis that life must go on no matter the hardships. In her novels she represented various characters who made wrong choices and due to those choices suffered extreme negative consequences. Despite her struggles, O’Connor made the choice to continue on in her life yet many of her novels contradicted that same idea by having characters in her novels and short stories suffer consequences for making the wrong choices. Because the

 She agrees to go back to her homeland, but in the end, abandons Kumalo and her

she heads out to endeavor to get the arrangement for her own particular self. At the point when Tom finds her dead,

She leaves the audition rushing home where her mother Erica is there to comfort her. She said that her mom told her to go talk to Thomas to see if he’ll give her another chance, so she does. While meeting with him, he explains to her that he has already given the role to someone else. Hurt, she tries to leave, but he won’t allow her, he wants her to stop being weak and fight for what she wants. Then he kisses her, she stops speaking and leaves.

They find out that Lina gets moved to another place, and

After the children were petrified of the grandmother, they tried to do all that she requested and obey all her rules. Until one day Cathy was admiring her body and Christopher who was drawn by Cathy’s complexion came up to her and told her she was

As a result of this upbringing, they have been taught that anything their father disapproves of is wrong and off limits to them, and so have led an extremely sheltered life monitored by their father every moment. However, this lifestyle is completely contradicted by Aunty Ifeoma and her family. Aunt Ifeoma’s lifestyle is completely alien to Kambili; through this relationship Ifeoma constantly encourages Kambili to think for herself, to question and contest ideas, and to form her own opinions – she is the catalyst for the change Kambili experiences. She teaches Kambili to be free from her father’s oppression, that she does not need him to think for her because she has her own brain to do that herself. Ifeoma cares more for the personal well being of Kambili, Jaja, and Mama alike, rather than just how well they abide by Eugene’s perception of what it is to live the perfect Catholic life. Towards the end of the novel, Aunty Ifeoma is the first one to notice the change of Kambili’s character. She had paid the most attention to, and put the most effort into helping Kambili’s character transform in this way, and understands it as a gift from God. “’Kambili is right,’ she [Ifeoma] said. ‘Something from God was happening there.’”

begins to realize her self that she does not have to continue living her life in

It is inevitable that death is all around us. By understanding this, one has the ultimate choice to continue on with their lives or remain in a state of bereavement. An inability to escape this grieving state inhibits one to move on and consequently these feelings dictate and govern our whole lives. This philosophy, existentialism, advocates that as humans we have the power to direct our own lives and pave our own paths. Author Banana Yoshimoto recognizes this ideal and illustrates the journey of how several young adults finally realize their place and meaning in the world despite their struggles. They all face a similar tragedy where their loved ones perished from their lives, and are ultimately challenged to overcome their

Towards the end of the novel, she gains a new perspective from her partner Shug Avery. She reimagines the god in the sky as someone who is in all of

We all have one goal in life—to live. As I was growing up, that was not always the case for me. Looking back to my teenage years, I struggled. I struggled to live because I felt that life was not fair—I was forced to be at home, while all my friends were out enjoying their teenage years. I did not begin to find a purpose in life until I met my husband. But now, as a wife and mother of three, I have discovered my purpose and I could see where my parents have been coming from. Though my views may not be as strict as theirs, I see what their purpose was—to keep me safe from the dangers of the world. The few stories that I have read so far in the anthology, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2014, edited by Daniel Handler,

On page 110, she says “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out.”The ending was open ended, but we do know one strong fact that she is going to come back.