Barbara Kingsolver s Stone Soup Essay - 1635 Words

In today’s society, family is often attempted to be organized within a social structure. Within this structure family typically is consisted of mom, dad, daughter, and son. However, many families do not fit into this configuration. These families may include same sex couples, separated or divorced families, extended families, or even blended families. Even though these families may be happy and healthy, to many they are not considered real families. Going along with the topic of imperfect families, both Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Rodriguez try to break down the traditional family structure through their writing. While Kingsolver’s â€Å"Stone Soup† and Rodriguez’s â€Å"Family Values† explore the ideas of different family structures and traditional American values, â€Å"Stone Soup† breaks down what an actual family is like while â€Å"Family Values† expresses the value of family in different cultures. In Barbara Kingsolver’ s story â€Å"Stone Soup,† Kingsolver explains that in modern society, there is no such thing as a true traditional family, but rather many different types of families that may be considered â€Å"broken† or â€Å"failed.† Kingsolver is trying to show the reader the idea that there are only a few perfect families. She feels that today that divorce is too common, there is often too little compassion, and also that there is too much contempt [for] the straw-broken home(Kingsolver 140). Reflecting on her past, Kingsolver often thought about the â€Å"family of dolls,† which is to her theShow MoreRelatedSummary Of Barbara Kingsolver s Stone Soup Essay1251 Words   |  6 Pageswidespread? Author Barbara Kingsolver tries to explain this in her essay: ‘Stone Soup’. She claims it’s because society is so traditional and primitive in the way we idealize what a family is supposed to be: two married parents and their children. But that’s not really the case anymore. The main idea of her essay is that the definition of family needs to be reimagined to define more of what a family means, rather than what its terminology implies. What is a family? As a young child, Kingsolver played inRead MoreAnalysis Of The Stone Soup By Barbara Kingsolver884 Words   |  4 PagesDivorce will lead to happiness. As odd as divorce leading to happiness may sound, it contains truth. Stone Soup, written by Barbara Kingsolver, contains her personal experience with divorce, and the effects divorce had on her family. Kingsolver uses personal experience, to demonstrate that divorce frees the families from bondage. The best way to teach others how divorce, in certain relationships, frees the families from bondage is by using personal experience because individuals who have experiencedRead MoreStone Soup an Essay Written by Barbara Kingsolver1753 Words   |  8 Pageschild? Delving into Barthes’s text in the hospital-like, fluorescent annex of Bobst, I pondered the causalities of this question. An excerpt from â€Å"Mythologies†, â€Å"Toys† follows Barthes’s social commentary on the French toy industry during the 1970’s. In his view, â€Å"French toys always mean something, and this something is always entirely socialized,†(89). These toys that exist as a representation are always given meanings which configure the child to social protocols. We can speculate from toys ofRead MoreStone Soup By Barbara Kingsolver1687 Words   |  7 PagesThe way we treat others Barbara Kingsolver wrote â€Å"Stone Soup† â€Å"which is taken from High Tide in Tucson: Essays for Now or Never, published in 1995†. Some views she conveys in her essay are these. Kingsolver explains that not all men are the prince that you fall in love with a â€Å"live happily ever after,† he may be very feminine and be more like a princess. On the other hand, you may have looked in your box of crayons. You pick out a color that your parents may not approve, even though you see