The conversation Marietta has with Jolene probably illustrates it best. When Marietta asks her why she married Newt Harbine, Jolene says "Why not?" suggesting that Pittman County is a place where girls like Jolene are trapped in the cycle of poverty and the circumstances of life that go with it. Kingsolver suggests that it takes an independent-minded girl to break out of the trap. Jolene's daddy called her a slut and "Newt was just who it happened to be," she tells Marietta. "You know how it is." But Marietta doesn't know because she doesn't have a daddy. As a result she is strong enough to break out of the trap rising above the circumstances of life that surround her.