In Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver reinvents the Western genre, riffing on a couple of common clichés and stock characters while creating a female-centric story that rejects violence and disjointed heroes stereotypical westerns. As in many Western tales, a small town is threatened by a villain, but in this case it's a type of villain that makes more sense in a modern context: instead of a "bad guy" with a gun, we have a faceless society . intent on pursuing their own financial interests at the expense of the environment. Instead of a faithful and infallible protagonist, we have an irresolute heroine whose detachment from her emotions is not an advantage, but a major source of weakness. Although he plays a role in saving Grace's town, his most important task is to overcome her resistance to intimacy. Naomi Jacobs calls this novel an anti-Western, a critique of the myths underlying popular Westerns that "exposes the Western's conventional approach to heroism, violence, death, and community." Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The first trope Kingsolver uses is that of a lonely stranger who arrives in a rough town. Codi Nolene arrives at Grace on a bus rather than a horse, but otherwise her arrival resembles the entrance of many Western protagonists. Wearing jeans and cowboy boots, she stands on the deserted Main Street, taking stock of her surroundings. But she is not a true outsider: in just a few pages she tells us that she is not a "guardian of morality" and that she "has no favors to return" (15). Her sister Hallie is the selfless heroine, the woman fighting for a cause. Codi resembles a typical Western hero in his independence, self-confidence, and his avoidance of close ties. But in Animal Dreams these attributes are not presented as admirable. Codi feels like a stranger everywhere she goes and is clearly in pain, even though she states that "the pain seemed to have anesthetized me" (91). She's not heroic: she admits that when she reads about disasters, her instinct is to run away. He wanders through life unable to make any real commitments, be they work, professional or relational. He sees love as a trap to be avoided because "nothing you love will remain" (240). Like a virile cowboy hero, he has a healthy sexual appetite and suffers no qualms about having a casual fling with the handsome Native American, Loyd. In a reversal of the usual roles, Loyd is the one who models what the connection to home and family should be like, thus bringing Codi's emotional disconnection into sharp relief. In a typical Western, the male protagonist must put aside his personal feelings and pursue justice at all costs. In The Virginian, for example, the hero hangs an old friend-turned-cattle rustler because it's the "right" thing to do. Codi is the opposite. She buried her feelings for so long that it left her emotionally paralyzed. His mission is to get in touch with his feelings and stop suppressing his memories. She must overcome the fear of intimacy that keeps her isolated and reveal her bond with the community. Interestingly, Codi is also a teacher, if only temporarily, and thus combines two familiar Western characters into one. However, unlike the Virginian's schoolteacher, Molly, and others of her ilk, Codi does not provide a love interest and softening influence for an uncouth hero. Instead it is she who needs to be softened and civilised; her male lover, Loyd, provides the wisdom and kind of selfless love more typically associated with women. Every Western has to have its villain, preferably one dressed in black. The antagonist of Animal. 2010