Kingsolver uses flashbacks extensively in this novel to accomplish her purposes. It
foreshadows the lives of the girls. In their early years, there is not a time when the
sisters are not together. As adults, they live together in Tucson even though Codi is
living with a boyfriend. Ultimately, this story is about the impact on the narrator of their ultimate separation and the death of the younger one. The incident of the baby coyotes foreshadows the motif of death that will run through the story.
Animal Dreams