Abandonment And Neglect In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

In The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, three characters in particular undergo a catharsis, each in their own way: Esperanza, Turtle, and Taylor. This paper will focus on the change on the development of the character Esperanza, showing the suffering and difficulties, she has undergone and how through a catharsis, this suffering was ameliorated.

Turtle is neglected at the beginning of the book through her relationships, choices and this tells me that turtle is an independent child. Turtle Wexler does not have a good relationship with her mother Grace because Grace pays much more attention to Turtle’s sister Angela. Grace does not love Turtle as much as Angela so she favors Angela over Turtle. In the book when the Wexlers moved into their new apartment in Sunset Towers, Grace said that she wanted Turtle to live in the closet. When Turtle was hit by fireworks Grace did nothing but, when Angela was in a bomb explosion Grace took Angela straight to the hospital to get plastic surgery. Furthermore, that is why I assume Turtle is neglected in the beginning of the book.

In a society of people all in the same situations how can someone feel so alone. When lives fall apart and people have nothing to hold on to people need each other most, yet are pushed so far from others. The novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, follows the storyline of two men who are displaced farm workers during the Great Depression; they travel around and stick by each other’s sides no matter the circumstance. After many jobs they end up on a farm,the farm they hope will be their last stop. The time spent on the farm is filled with blooming friendships and careless quarrels, yet with an abundance of characters and entertainment- many people on the farm feel alone and out of place. Characters such as Crooks and Curley’s wife often come to mind when the subject of loneliness is brought up. Throughout the book using characters such as Crooks and Curley's wife, John Steinbeck demonstrates that humans are immensely impacted by separation from society and it will change the way that people will act and show themselves to others.

In The Bean Trees, Taylor is consistently faced with a lack of choice. She decides to leave home, but on her way she stops at a bar and a woman puts a child in her car and leaves before Taylor can stop her. When she gets to a motel “[she] pulled off the pants and the diapers there were more bruises. Bruises and worse.” (31) The child abandoned had been sexually molested, making raising her a much harder burden since the child had experienced “a kind of misery [Taylor] could not imagine.” (31) Yet although the child, who Taylor names Turtle, is “just somebody [she] got stuck with” (70), she cares for her and she becomes like her own child. However, finding work and raising a child isn’t easy and “[she] was starting to go a little bit crazy. This is how it is when all the money you have can fit in one pocket, and you have no job, and no prospects.” (66) Taylor also realizes “that [her] whole life had been running along on dumb luck and [she] hadn’t even noticed.” She hadn’t been making any choices, just running with whatever life threw her way. Taylor finally realizes her luck has run out when she learns “[i]f a child has no legal guardian she becomes a ward of the state.” Turtle was not legally adopted by Taylor and therefore she could be taken away. Taylor now has the choice to either fight for Turtle or give up, but Taylor is convinced she doesn’t have a choice at all. Her friend Lou Ann calls her out on this, claiming “there’s got to be some way around them taking her, and

Kingsolver strongly disagrees with Socrates on the role of the mother in the family. While Socrates sees no need for a single maternal influence, Kingsolver entire writing centers on the importance of motherhood. When Taylor leaves Kentucky to head out into the world on her own, she leaves behind her mother, who has played a significant role in creating the strong woman that Taylor has become. Taylor frequently comments on the many things she learned from her mother, who urged her to talk to her teacher about the job at the hospital, and encouraged her that barefoot and pregnant was not [her] style (3). Taylor's mother wouldn't allow her daughter to become like all the other girls in their town, but rather, she hoped for her success in life. She was a positive role model, an idea that

The characters Taylor and Turtle are an example of a nontraditional family that is just as strong as a traditional one. They meet the bare minimum requirements for a healthy mother daughter relationship. Taylor takes Turtle to Doctor Pelinowski’s in order to check out the damage of Turtle’s prior injuries. With this action, Taylor proves how she takes time out of her day to ensure Turtle’s well being, just as a traditional mother does. This care is necessary for every kind of family to be strong. Next, Taylor worries about

Anaïs Nin dared to question the norm of society; she asked “how wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself?” The two main characters in the novel, The Bean Trees, written by Barbara Kingsolver, are two young women who share a common struggle, Taylor Greer and Lou Anne Ruiz. The book changes protagonist between Taylor and Lou Anne whom are complete opposites. However they both deal with their hardships together in Tucson, Arizona. Most women end up pregnant and dependent on their spouse just like Lou Anne. Both of these protagonists learn from each other to improve their lifestyles. Women are not dependent on men; life is what you decide to do not society’s trends.

Taylor expresses some worries to the doctor about being “concerned about some stuff that happened to her a while ago…” (128). Turtle has a had a traumatic life she met Taylor. She is worried and curious about what happened to Turtle “a while ago”. Kingsolver evidently stated “a while ago” to reference how it much Turtle has changed over the past time spent with Taylor. She is interested in learning more about Turtle and her struggles that are clear through her physical behaviors. Taylor notices how Turtle grabs on to things and feels like she needs to attach herself to things to stay safe. This is all an effect of her past abuse or mistreatment. Taylor also wants to know how this could potentially shape Turtle for the future. Taylor clearly states that she is “concerned” about Turtle because she is beginning to connect with her. Because Taylor is concerned about Turtles well being, she is curious about what may have happened to Turtle causing her to be affected emotionally and physically. As Taylor and Turtle become closer Taylor, being a good mom, begins to become curious about Turtle, her past life and how this could affect her

‘I cannot believe you’re just ready to roll over and play dead about this, Taylor. I thought I knew you. I thought we were best friends, but now I don’t hardly know who in the heck you are.’ (184)” Lou Ann uses her newfound boldness and confidence in herself as a person and a mother to help push Taylor to make the right

Turtles needs to have a sense of comfort to feel safe and that is all Taylor wants to give her by growing close

Taylor left willingly and by her own choice and could not wait to leave her home. Turtle, Estevan, and Esperanza on the other hand did not want to leave their homelands. Taylor left her home willingly, which is different than the other three characters. Taylor saves up her money from her job at the hospital and uses it to purchase a car and “in this car [she] intended to drive out of Pittman County one day and never look back, except maybe for Mama,” (14). Taylor does everything in her power to make sure that she will eventually get out of Pittman County one day. Even Taylor’s mom knew that “the day [Taylor] brought it home, she knew [Taylor] was going to get away,” from the place she has called home for so many years (14). Taylor is sick of living in her hometown and she feels trapped. She is itching to get away and leave and start a new life unlike Turtle, Estevan, and Esperanza. No one cares about Turtle or where she ends up (until Taylor) and she has no choice when it came to leaving her home on the Cherokee Nation. Turtle is just given away without a thought put into it and Taylor has to explain to Turtle’s aunt that“even if you wanted to, you can’t just give somebody a kid,” but that does not seem to stop her (24). Turtle’s aunt just gives Turtle away without any explanation and tells Taylor to “take this baby,”(23). Turtle is so little she has no clue what is going on. She does not know that this is the last time that she will probably ever see her homeland. Estevan and his wife Esperanza had to leave their homeland because if they did not they would of been killed because of the teacher’s union that they belonged to. The couple are “more useful alive than dead,” because they are so involved within the Union (184). They knew so much that it would be bad if they were killed and in order to not be killed they had to flee the place they loved. Estevan and

At some point, Taylor took Turtle to a doctor and found out she has a condition called “failure to thrive.” Lou Ann also finds out that her husband is leaving to join a rodeo. During a dispute over Angel, Taylor found out that Turtle’s real name is April after using it so many times in the

In the opening of her novel, Kingsolver introduces many families and touches on the topics of financial struggles, strong mother-daughter bonds, and the hardships that many families encounter. To begin with, the narrator, Taylor, mentions that her family, “ were any better than Hardbines or had a dime to our name… And for all I ever knew of my own daddy, I can’t say we weren’t, except for Mama swearing up and down that he was nobody I knew...” (2). The author makes it obvious that the narrator’s family consists of Taylor and her single mother, Alice Greer; although the narrator is raised in a non-traditional, financially challenged family, her mother embeds great confidence in her:...

Linda Pastan made this poem include various forms of figurative language to hide the literal message that it's trying to portray. Figurative language is using figures of speech to make the text be more powerful, persuasive, and meaningful. Figures of speech such as, similes and metaphors, go beyond the literal meanings to give the readers a new way of looking at the text. It can come in multiple ways with different literacy and rhetorical devices such as: alliteration, imageries, onomatopoeias, and etc. With the usage of the literary devices Pastan has used, it introduced the relationship between the mother and the daughter. It shows the memories of how the mother helped her daughter grow from a little girl to a young adult getting ready to go her own way in life.

The mother-daughter relationship is often scrutinized, publicized, and capitalized on. Whether from tell-all biographies, to humorous sit-coms, or private therapy sessions, this particular relationship dynamic gives some of the most emotion-activating memories. When female authors reflect and write about their relationships with their mothers, they have a tendency to taint their reflections with the opinions they have as an adult, reviewing the actions of their mother when they were young. These opinions set the tone of the story independently and in conjunction with the relationship itself and manifest in creative literary styles that weave an even more intricate story. Case in point, when reviewing the two literary works “I Stand Here