The “jabberwocky” (originally, a poem of nonsense words from Lewis Carroll’s children’s novel Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice in Wonderland) in this essay refers to the vague but ominous threats that American citizens become conditioned to fear because of pressure from the military and government.

A man flips Kingsolver off for protesting the Gulf War. She wonders what, exactly, the man who does this knows about the situation in the Persian Gulf. He reflexively supports the government of Kuwait, because the US government and media have told him to do so, even though a few years earlier the US military was heavily invested in helping Iraq, which is now Kuwait’s enemy. Kingsolver cannot comprehend why disagreeing with the government is viewed as anti-American by so many in a country that so values free speech.

To escape her growing disillusionment, Kingsolver leaves the US to live in the Canary Islands. While living in the Spanish enclave, she realizes that the rest of the world learns a much more complex history of American politics than Americans do themselves. This is partly due to public pressure. For example, an exhibition at the Smithsonian Museum about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings was closed early due to accusations of being anti-American.