Essay Abandonment in The Bean Trees

“Mama always knew barefoot and pregnant was not my style. She knew” (3). Prediction 3. This story could be about Taylor keeping her values or breaking them. The normality of Kentuckians during this time was to become pregnant at 16 and drop out of school.

In the book The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, the main character, Taylor Greer, leaves her hometown of Pittman, Kentucky to start a new life with her new “daughter”, Turtle. Taylor first follows the American Dream by changing her name from Marietta to Taylor. Her new identity was a pivotal moment in moving forward from her old life when she passed the town, Taylorville and believed “there was enough destiny in it to satisfy me”(16). Taylor soon starts her life by meeting Lou Ann, a single mother to Dwayne Ray, and decides to live with her. This symbolizes Taylor settling down and officially staying in Tucson, Arizona (101). Other characters who define the American Dream are Esperanza and Estevan. They had to flee from Guatemala because they were apart of the Teachers Union and many people were after them trying to kill them. Esperanza’s brother and friends were killed and her daughter, Ismene, was taken from her and Estevan on

In the beginning of the story we see that Taylor is an average teenage girl living with a single mother. She says, “But I stayed in school. I was not the smartest or even particularly outstanding but I was there and staying out of trouble” (3). She was called “Missy” for a lot of her childhood

Sally Thomas family is given an opportunity to make a name for herself by being given social and business opportunities. While the southernmost states have a different outtake on slavery, Sally and her family are treated with much more respect. Sally is able to own her own business as a laundress and comes to be popular in the town for her kindness and fairness.

To demonstrate, Taylor Greer’s various geographical locations are one of the main attributes that changes her moral traits during the course of the novel. Taylor was raised in Pittman County, Kentucky. Here, it was not uncommon for teenagers to get pregnant and not finish their education. Greer decided when she was young that being “…barefoot and pregnant was not my style,” (p.3). She knew that she wanted more in life than to be a stay-at-home wife, and was fixed on this. This affected her morals by her want to become successful. Greer was determined not to become like those girls by choosing to stay “…in school. I [Taylor] was not the smartest or even particularly outstanding but I was there and staying out of trouble and I intended to finish,” (p.3). She sees her diploma as a way of leaving her hometown and going elsewhere for a better life. Even if she did not stand

In the famous poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, America is deemed a land of “world wide welcome” for those who seek a new place to call home. The Statue of Liberty is established early on in the piece as a symbol of freedom and protection, a statue symbolic of the spirit of America. In the piece, Lazarus refers to immigrants as the “poor, huddled masses” to whom the United States offers a pair of open “golden doors.” However, many immigrants today feel far removed from the land of freedom referenced in The New Colossus. The promise of a blue sky with endless possibilities is far from reality for the Americans that the poem calls the huddled masses. It is clear that America’s promise of freedom and opportunity, characterized by the

Taylor is raised in a non-traditional setting; her mother, Alice Greer, is a single mother takes care of Taylor by herself. Alice had been married before, but her husband told her not to get pregnant and so when she did he left, and she tells Taylor that this was the best deal she ever made. She is extremely supportive of Taylor, in all that she does, but also expects the very best from her. Taylor knows this saying “then no matter what I did, whatever I came home with, she acted like it was the moon I had just hung up in the sky and plugged in all the stars. Like I was that good” (Kingsolver 10). Alice takes on both the

Author use many symbolism in the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. She uses symbolism because it makes it easier for readers to understand the deeper meaning or feeling of the character or the events that are happening. For example, author uses the symbolism of bean trees as transformation and Ismene as the abandoned children to show the deeper meaning of them.

Let’s say that someone handed you something unexpected. It could be anything: a computer, book, even a guitar! However, what if it was something of great value? What if it was a baby that was handed to you? Odds are, you’d probably freak out and hand the baby over to the authorities or something similar to that. But not Taylor Greer in the novel The Bean Trees! The words that Barbara Kingsolver chooses to use show a tone of informality and humor.

Starting right now, you’ve only got one Ma in the whole world,” (Kingsolver 302). Taylor made a comeback to Turtle calling Esperanza by “Ma” by telling Turtle that she only has one “ma” in the world and that’s is Taylor. Taylor was a character that was acting as a mother figure only to Turtle. Even though she had a child, Taylor was still a child inside that tried to avoid pregnancy.

The plantation, small farm, and city. Each place they went to they were owned by different people, and although some owners were better than others both girls hated their lives, until Isabel ran away at the end. When the girls lived at the small farm, they had the best experience. They had lived with their favorite owner of the three, Ms. Mary Finch. Ms. Mary Finch treated the

Eventually Taylor ends up finding a new home with another single mother named Lou Ann. Lou Ann is a very shy individual. She overthinks everything and plans for the worst at all times, but Lou Ann and Taylor make a great team together. They helped each other with the kids and even gave each other advice that changed one-another lives forever. This is also around the same time Taylor realized Turtle was suffering PTSD.

Eckley describes Gertie’s home in Kentucky as living in “a rented piece of poor land and, like many others around them, [having] to struggle constantly just to exist” (85). Although here Gertie’s talents are not recognized as of any worth other than for practical use, she is able to exert her strength of character as she works on the farm and raises her children, teaching each of them to read and write. She is smart enough to save up the money to buy the Tipton place, saving wherever she could; however, she “keeps her plans for the Tipton Place secret, fearing that if Clovis knew of her savings, he would use the money for a truck” (Walsh 93). Her husband, Clovis, is the worst to over-look her talents, only seeing them as what profit he can gain from them. When Gertie is waiting with her son Amos in the doctor’s office,

An example of abandonment is in the realistic fiction novel The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. In the Novel there are many themes. One of the themes I chose to look at is abandonment.The main character is a recently abandoned 14 year old boy named Ponyboy Curtis. This is the outcome of an auto wreck that terminated the lives of Ponyboy's parents resulted in Ponyboy living with his 2 brothers Darry (20) and Sodapop Curtis(16). The theme of abandonment pervades this novel, and it is deeply connected to people and their desire to fit in a social group so they can have support during hard times of their lives.

This is the tale of a young farmer boy named Beandip Jownsin. Beandip enjoyed living on his own in Savanna, GA. He was only 19, but had a full and well thought-out life ahead of him. He had short, dark brown hair, grey eyes, and deeply tanned skin. He commonly wore overalls, straw hats, and usually wore no shoes. He was never raised as a country boy but his love for animals sparked his interest. He had the choice of going to school to become veterinarian but decided to become a farmer instead. He was a vegan and vegetarian because he hated and form on disturbance or brutality towards animals. He can tame hungry coyotes only using love, care, and pain absorption. His animal love really shows in his attitude and actions. He lived a very low-cost lifestyle even though he makes high profit. Nothing seemed like it could go wrong. He was