Analyse how a conflict was used to explore a theme in the text
In the novel ‘Pigs in Heaven’ the conflict over Turtle throughout the story assisted in exploring the theme what’s of more importance, mother/daughter bond or cultural relationship? The author Barbara Kingsolver uses metaphors and similes in the novel to help the readers understand this conflict and how it relates to the theme. Once the conflict subsides near the end of the novel the reader’s perception of this theme can be drastically changed due to the results in the custody battle over Turtle.
In this novel, Taylor Greer, the adoptive mother of a Cherokee Indian girl Turtle finds herself faced with many difficult decisions and hard choices to make. Her main priority is to do what she feels is best for her daughter and give Turtle a safe and nurturing environment. Annawake Fourkiller is recently out of law school and is on a war path to fight against the injustice towards the Cherokee nation. When Turtle’s case of an illegal adoption without the tribes consent is brought to Annawake’s attention and the circumstances seem all too familiar to her, she decides to investigate further into the situation. This action causes a major chain reaction throughout Taylor Greer’s tightknit family (consisting of her mother Alice and boyfriend Jax) and Annawake’s bustling community.
The first major representative of conflict was shown through a metaphor in which Jax witnesses a coyote devour the eggs from a dove to feed her own. In this we see Annawake as the coyote, taking what she feels is in hers and the tribes’ best interest and not considering the effect on others. Like the coyote Annawake is acting upon first instinct which is to benefit her tribe. The dove in the metaphor represents Taylor who like the dove is struggling to hold onto her ‘nestling’ which in her case is Turtle. This observation from Jax in which he says “The predator seems to be