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The Mine in Animal Dreams The mine in the novel Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver plays two roles. These two roles are in direct opposition to each other. In one sense the mines are a provider of fertility to the region. It provides jobs and money to the surrounding area. In another sense it is the destructor of fertility because it pollutes the local water, making it unsuitable to use. This is especially devastating because this is the only local supply of water, for both the residents and the orchards.
In this essay we will explore the effects of mining on a region, both positive and negative, which effect real towns near the mining industry, like the town in this book. We will also explore the effect that the mines have on Codi, how rallying around the cause of the mines gave her the opportunity to grow and change as a person. The positive economic effects of mining on a region cannot be ignored. Mining companies give jobs to local people, which in turn bring money and prosperity to the area.
This allows neighboring towns, towns that would beverly similar to Grace, which do not necessarily derive their income directly from the mines to thrive. The closing of a mine can have a devastating effect on the local regions economy. The possible economic benefit that mining can have on a region cannot be denied. An article from the Journal of Policy Reform shows us how mining can have a major effect on an economy. This particular example is set in Chili but the mining industries impact was actually able to change the value of the national currency. On a smaller scale the mining company is impacting its local area.
The mine brings in jobs and money to the area. It helps to keep the region economically viable. (Spilimbergo) A fate like this could befall a town like Grace. If the water supply is not rerouted, than the only other way for the EPA to effectively prevent the food and water from becoming contaminated is to close the mines. If the mines were to close it would devastate the local economy, and the towns around the mine would face potential economic fallout The possibility of a mine closing can have a devastating impact on the lives of local people. A mine in Cuba was closed in 2003.
The surrounding towns economies were thought to be independent of the mines. When the mine closed down the government stepped in to help the people regain their incomes and find new jobs. To this day most of the people who lost their jobs during the mine closing have not found new positions. The area is now facing serious economic problems, all because one mine closed. (Imprimir) The biggest threat that mine poses comes from the diverting of the local river, which endangers the local pecan orchard. If the water supply is cut off from the town then the plants which grow in the orchard will die. If the water is not diverted, than the plants in the town will be watered with polluted water, which will make the crops of the orchard a potential to those who might eat them.
This is especially interesting because the mines run off it poisoning the land, and because of the actions of the Environmental Protection Agency would rob the land of its fertility. Even the clean up of the local water will be a long and costly endeavor. (Smith et al. 280 - 289) The town of Grace is a place of fertility, and it is a very unlikely place to find fertility. In the dry, arid southwest these people are able to grow and sustain and orchard, which in turn has grown and sustained a town. Fertility is if anything the hallmark of Grace and the cornerstone on which that community is built. When these people are fighting to save their orchard they are not just fighting to save trees, or the money which those trees bring in, but they are fighting to save a way of life, a community which they all think of as home.
In an article published in 2003 in the Journal of American Popular Culture helps us to understand how the events of the book and specifically the events relating to the mines change Codi. It helps us to see this story not a romance with environmentally conscious slant, but as a story where Codi comes to find her self and to find the home that she has always wanted. It is almost ironic that the issue of the mines, a place where things are removed from their proper place is the issues that ultimately bring Codi home to her proper place. (Jacobs) When Codi first comes into town she is isolated. She intentionally keeps away from other people and doesnt want to get close. She gets detached from the world because of the events in her life so far. Possibly the burial of her miscarried pregnancy at the age of 15 made her want to disassociate, to be apart from the world so that she cold forget about her pain.
Her dissociation was a self-protection method. Through the events surrounding the mines she comes to care about the community and the people. She becomes involved and starts to take responsibility for the world around her. (Jacobs) If it were not for the events at the mines then Codi would have no reason to fight, no cause to rally around. She would have remained detached from the community and eventually would have left the town of Grace for good. Codi, a woman who is unabashedly different finds her way back to a town, which is in and of itself a unique place.
She then helps to save it and becomes a part of the town. A web page put out by the University of New Mexico's college of agriculture tells us why this is such a danger to the two orchards and the town of grace. This piece, on selecting a site for a pecan orchard, shows us how orchards require a heavy flow of water and it mentions that quality of water is of importance as well. It details how the supply of water and specific type of soil that will allow proper draining is rare, especially in the southwestern United States. (Herrera) As a biology teacher Codi would have been well aware of the uniqueness of that geological situation in a region like the southwestern United States.
She also would have been aware of the families that were going to be impacted by this issue, she saw the children of the town every day. Therefore, towns like Grace, which are dependent on the orchards for jobs are doubly at risk from the mines. Firstly from the poor water quality that mines induce and secondly by the possible blockage of the water that the orchard needs to survive. The orchard like the one in Grace could not simply be uprooted and moved to another spot.
Even if a new home could be found for the orchard it would not be the same to the people who lived and worked in town. Grace was a special place, unique in its resources, its history and its cultural heritage. She becomes part of a collective effort in the community and finds friendship. She finds the love and support she needs from the same man who fathered the child she buried and she found the love and support that she needed from the Stitch and Bitch club. These factors combined gave her the ability to open up and let people into her life. She gets involved by going out with the other women of the town to Tucson.
This trip, during which they use an item unique to their town to bring attention to their cause. This sense of community is what allows these women to band together in order to save their town, and when Codi joins them she begins to become a part of that community. The uniqueness of the towns item, the peacock feather pinatas, may also be emblematic of Codi, she may be strange in appearance when we first meet her, but she belongs in that town. A mine is, essentially, a man made cave.
We use machines to dig up the earth and make a deep hole. A cave is one of the first types of shelter that early man could find. A cave could offer you protection from the elements and some protection from predators who were trying to have you as a late supper. In that way the cave is a symbol of protection. In an unexpected way the mine in this story ends up giving Codi the shelter that she needs. It may not be the place that she calls home, but it helps to bring her home and give her the shelter and protection, which she needed, even if she did not want to admit it.
In this novel, Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver, the mine plays many roles. It is a giver of fertility, in the sense that it provides economic support to the region. It is also a destructor of fertility, because it is poisoning the local land, which would in the end cause the town to have to close its orchards and essentially disband. The mine is also more. It is a rallying point for the town of Grace. The mine is a symbol of the protection and of the home that Codi finds in the town.
The cause of saving the town united the people, even those who did not want to be united. It is, in a way a symbol of Codi's rebirth. The girls who buried a child on the ground is now reemerging as a woman of caring and compassion. These mines make Codi a kind of unlikely hero. References Herrera, Esteban. "Selecting Soil Site for a Pecan Orchard. " New Mexico State University, Department of Agriculture and Home Economics Web Page. 10 Nov 2005 < web >. Imprimir, Para. "Mine Closing Depresses Economy in Surrounding Area. " Cuba Net- Cuba News 01 July 2003. 10 Nov 2005 < web >.
Jacobs, Naomi. "Barbara Kingsolver's Anti-Western"Unraveling the Myths" in Animal Dreams. " The Journal of American popular Culture 2 (Fall, 2003). 10 Nov 2005 < web >. Smith, JA, and JJ Coles. "Groundwater Rebound in the Leicestershire coalfield. " Journal of The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management Aug 1996: 280 - 289. Spilimbergo, Antonio. "Copper and the Chilean Economy. " The Journal of Policy Reform 5 (). 10 Nov 2005 < web (pout 55 mlddxqek 4 gee 0 rp) /app / home /contributions. a sp>.
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Research essay sample on The Mine In Animal Dreams
