Kingsolver introduces the two major characters in the novel by writing Chapters 1 through 4 in alternating points of view. chapters 1 and 3 (and the rest of the novel) are written in the first person. Taylor Greer, the spirited protagonist of the novel, tells the story from her perspective as she experiences and understands it. chapters 2 and 4 are written in limited third person point of view — we see the character through the author's eyes rather than through the character's. in these two chapters, Kingsolver provides information as seen and understood by Lou Ann Ruiz, a major character in the novel.
In Chapter 1, we meet Taylor Greer (whose real name is Marietta). She was brought up, as was Kingsolver, in rural Kentucky among struggling tobacco farmers. She speaks a southern dialect that realistically imitates the dialect spoken by people who live in that part of rural Kentucky. Her dialect is full of colorful expressions — such as "I'll swan" and "ugly as a mud stick fence" — and imagery that compares unlikely things. For example, in the first paragraph of the novel, Taylor tells about her fear of putting air in tires. She describes a schoolmate's father who blew up a tractor tire by putting too much air in it. He got thrown over a Standard Oil sign and, according to Taylor, looked like "old overalls slung over a fence."
Taylor comes from a nontraditional family. She was raised by her mother, who worked long hours as a housekeeper to support Taylor and herself. Her father, Foster Greer, left her mother when he found out that her mother was pregnant. Her mother doesn't mind that Foster left; in fact, she often tells Taylor that "trading Foster for [you] was the best deal this side of the Jackson Purchase." As Taylor matures and is exposed to horrible things that fathers can say and do to children, she feels quite lucky to have grown up without a father. The resiliency of Taylor's mother and her commitment to Taylor, as well as her indifferent attitude toward men, represent Kingsolver's feminist views.
