Impact Kingsolver’s writing reinforces the idea
that there is a storyteller in every person. She is able
to create rich characters and experiences from both
her imagination and her varied experiences. Be-
cause many of her main characters are female, she
underscores the struggles of being a woman set
against a backdrop of social issues and change.
Further Reading
A Reader’s Guide to the Fiction of Barbara Kingsolver. New
York: HarperCollins, 2004.
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen.Barbara Kingsolver: A Literar y
Companion. McFarland Literary Companion 2.
Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2004.
Wagner-Martin, Linda.Barbara Kingsolver. New York:
Chelsea House, 2004.
Dolores A. D’Angelo
See also Literature in the United States.
Klaas kidnapping and murder
case
The Event Kidnapping and murder of a twelve-
year-old girl by a habitual violent offender
Date October 1, 1993
Place Petaluma, California
The kidnapping and murder of Polly Klaas by Richard Al-
len Davis sparked intense discussion about appropriate
sentencing for repeat offenders and measures to ensure the
safety of young people.
A lifelong criminal, Richard Allen Davis was first ar-
rested at the age of twelve. By 1993, he had been ar-
rested for forgery, burglary, automobile theft,
armed robbery, multiple kidnappings, and sexual
assaults. He had served the better part of twenty-six
years in prison. In late June, 1993, after serving only
half of a sixteen-year sentence for assaulting, kidnap-
ping, and robbing a woman, Davis was paroled from
prison, still at war with the world. By October 1 of
that year, he was wandering through Petaluma when
he noticed a house with windows open. In the house,
a group of twelve-year-old girls were having a slum-
ber party. Davis decided to break into the house.
Threatening the girls with a knife, he tied them up,
put pillowcases over their heads, and abducted Polly
Klaas. Davis drove through Petaluma aimlessly, try-
ing to decide how best to dispose of the terrified
young girl.
Klaas’s disappearance set off a nationwide, two-
month search for the girl. Despite encounters with
various police officers, Davis brutalized Klaas and
murdered her. He was eventually arrested for parole
violation and, after confessing to the crime, led in-
vestigators to the body. His trial was short, although
not uneventful. During his trial, Davis demonstrated
callous disregard for his victim as well as for her fam-
ily and society in general. In June, 1996, he was
found guilty of kidnapping and murder. He was sen-
tenced to death in September.Impact In the short term, the abduction of Polly
Klaas terrorized families throughout California,
complicating the ordinary tasks of daily living. Ulti-
mately, however, the murder of Klaas spotlighted the
shortcomings of the American criminal justice sys-
tem in appropriately separating habitual violent
criminals from potential victims. Several critics at
the time and since have questioned how a career488 Klaas kidnapping and murder case The Nineties in America
Barbara Kingsolver.(©Seth Kanter/Courtesy, Harper-
Perennial)