My writing's getting a little better.

George Ha
Per 4 English
9-22-03
Saying Grace

As Americans, we are entitled to this sense of freedom, this universal knowledge that we are inclined to some sort of liberty, but most of us never really understand. However as a country, our minds have been polluted with commercialism, and our true sense of freedom has been stripped from us. If our materialistic-oriented society is what constitutes as freedom, then shoot my family, and the families of everyone in my city, and keep shooting until our nation realizes that we’re not as safe as we think we are. Liberty seems to have transformed into power somewhere down the line.
Kingsolver makes several references to pride and selfishness, and links it to our nation as a whole. We, in essence, are the “Fat Brother” she speaks of, who discards leftover food and throws meager scraps that don’t matter to anyone at those who are not as privileged as he. He is selfish, and takes everything he can get because “God blessed him and told him he could be selfish”. Giving is generous because many people do not give, and since it’s no skin off our back, we can give all the meager bare-bone portions we can afford (which is a lot, mind you).
Kingsolver refers to other countries seeing us as the “rich, piggish brother” compared to the “rich, beloved” one. However, when shown as individuals, we are kind, generous, and loving. Our country seems to be the collective selfish efforts of everyone who resides here, and the most unkind ungenerous part of us seems to be reflected on a gargantuan projection which all the world can see. Although, no one can claim that we are never selfish as individuals, as our country is proof that as a nation, we are cruel. Maybe this is why Kingsolver refers to herself as “I” more than “we”. “We” are horrible, but “I” am trying to understand why. There is no “we” without one more or “I’s” in there.
Power. Kingsolver refers to us as a powerful nation with some sort of awful moral high ground. We invade other countries, not because life was lost (although political leaders tell us such), but because we need some sort of resource; a form of money. We have come to use the loss of life as a REASON to gain something which doesn’t matter?
The way Kingsolver writes is nice and subtle. She talks to the reader, as if we are all in this together, and that none of us are excused from being selfish pigs. However, she offers some sort of “way out” of this predicament, but never really says what. She alludes to everything we are supposed to be doing through word, but never says “go plant a tree” or “give money to poor people”, but rather “Our nation is stingy with foreign aid” and “I wish our national anthem were not the one about the bombs bursting in air, but the one about purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain.”. She tells us freedom and love needs to become a reason for our existence again.
Kingsolver asks several questions in her writing, all of them rhetorical and meaningful. They make us question our country and our lives as individuals living in a materialistic world. She presents them to us in an artistic autumn sort of tone, with the questions being very tranquil, but the meanings being higher than our tiny minds can handle. “How greedy can one person be, to want more than the Grand Canyon?”. Who knows?