The toxic climate of the Dust Bowl challenged millions of Americans to adapt to a merciless habitat; setting the stage for Louise Erdrich’s 1986 novel, The Beet Queen. The Dust Bowl plays a galvanizing role in the novel, testing the children’s ability to evolve and survive in an environment characterized by the survival of the fittest. Erdrich depicts the children’s struggle from a naturalist perspective through the lens of a third person omniscient narrator. Karl and Mary’s journey sets the stage for the underlying conflict of the novel; the children’s respective standoffs versus their environment. Throughout the introduction, Erdrich describes the environment as impacting Karl and Mary in distinct ways. In doing so, she suggests to the reader