Summary

In the title essay of the collection, "Small Wonder," Barbara Kingsolver explores the ethics of American politics after 9/11 and describes how she copes with anger and despair by contemplating small wonders in the face of a new national uncertainty. She begins the essay with a parable, based on a news article about a baby who goes missing in the hills of the Lorestan Province in Iran. The baby is discovered inside of a cave with the bear in her den and she speculates that the bear must have nursed the baby in order for the baby to survive the ordeal. Although is it not detailed in the news article, Kingsolver fantasizes that the bear is left unharmed. She calls the survival of the baby a small wonder. Kingsolver moves on to describe a bombing campaign in Afghanistan. She writes that...