Barbara Kingsolvers Animal Dreams Alice Essay - 613 Words

Barbara Kingsolvers Animal Dreams: Alice She is dead. She does not appear physically but haunts mentally. She is Codi and Hallies mother Alice, the late wife of Homero Noline. Throughout the novel Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver, Alice impacted the characters, action, and theme(s). When Alice passed away she took part of Homer with her. What she left was a misfit of time and circumstance; an emotionally distraught and distant man who attempted to resemble a father but veered more towards the tin man. Homero existed beyond his wife as only a page out of an instruction manual, the one with the caution statement. Homeros delicate heart decided that the only way to endure Alices death was to flush any remembrance or†¦show more content†¦One aspect of life and time in which Codi was bred to be distanced from is the past. As Codi grew older she began wondering about her familys past. Homer basically told her they had no past. So with no past and no identity, Codi lived, searching for security and stability through a mother figure. Everywhere Codi went she managed to find a mother f igure. Whether it be a man or a woman friend or even Hallie, Codi hid herself in others security. This search for stability is catalyzed by the lack of a mother in Codis childhood. The lack of maternal instinct in Codi left her with no sense of direction, therefore; she searched aimlessly for years, for herself. When Codi returns to her childhood home in Grace, Arizona she discovers she does have a past, both in her lifetime and prior to it. Contrary to what Homero told her, her original family was from Grace, her roots were there. The absence of Alice lays down a theme for the novel: you must return to your roots to find your identity. This is feasible because Codi had to come back to her familys origin and her mothers resting place to finally find her self. Throughout the novel Animal Dreams there is an invisible presence which effects the characters, action, and theme. The reason why this presence is so dramatic and forceful is the fact that it is a spiritual presence, one which we will never