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.

In this story “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingslover we meet Taylor Greer, an average teenager from Pittman, Kentucky. Even though Taylor has never been through anything truly horrific in her life how can she truly understand how unpleasant the world can be? Taylor’s personal growth in the “The Bean Trees” is a part of an uncertain journey because Taylor is thrown into motherhood and forced to see the bad experiences people go through in life.

Throughout the novel, the author, Barbara Kingsolver, uses various stylistic devices to create complex, symbolic, and significant literature that is also rich in meaning. In the assigned passage, Kingsolver incorporates several literary devices to capture the audience’s attention and leave them with something to think about post reading.

Esperanza and Estevan had a rough past, including losing a child and having to run from their tyrannical government that they eventually told Taylor about. Taylor became overwhelmed when she learned their story that she thought “All of Esperanza’s hurts flamed up in my mind, a huge pile of burning things that the world just kept throwing more onto. Somewhere on that pile was a child that looked just like Turtle.” (Kingsolver, 147).

Barbara Kingsolver uses irony and ____ in order to show differences in the roles of parents. Missy leaves her hometown and stops in a town to eat food. While there, a woman tries to give her a baby.

The first social issue that Barbara Kingsolver wants to bring awareness to in The Bean Trees are refugees. Kingsolver sympathizes for the tall hurdles that refugees must overcome. She wants to prove that people who are not from America have the same value as those who are. In order to express this, Kingsolver uses Turtle as a symbol of the refugees as she was also separated from her parents and taken to a foreign land. By the end of the novel, Turtle finds a home within Taylor which is symbolic for Kingsolver's opinion that all refugees deserve a loving, accessible home. Virgie Parson is also a symbol for all Americans who have conservative political ideals and the nation’s haste towards allowing refugees and immigrants into our country. Although Virgie is not portrayed as evil, she is portrayed as having no sympathy for the consequences that alienating these aliens from our country will have and not thinking about the moral implications. By providing a happy ending for almost all the character, Kingsolver demonstrates how Refugees and American can both live peacefully as one.

Birds are a personal symbol for Turtle’s development. Throughout the novel, birds are tied to Turtle and major events in her life. Turtle makes her first sound when the car stops suddenly to avoid a family of quail. “I slammed on the brakes and we all pitched forward… ‘I think that sound was a laugh’...In the road up ahead there was a quail, the type that has one big feather spronging out the front of its head like a forties-model ladies' hat. We could just make out that she was dithering back and forth in the road, and then we gradually could see that there were a couple dozen babies running around her every which way” (Kingsolver 106-107). Turtle and Taylor have become comfortable as a family and Turtle has recovered from her previous trauma to the point that she makes audible noises and expresses herself. Just as the family of Taylor and Turtle has brought joy to the lives of Lou Ann, Mattie, Esperanza and Estevan, this disruptive family of birds bring joy and laughter to Taylor and Turtle. When Taylor takes Turtle to the doctor and learns the extent of Turtle’s abuse, she sees a bird that has made its nest inside a cactus. “I looked through the bones to the garden on the other side. There was a cactus with bushy arms and a coat of yellow spines as thick as fur. A bird had built her nest in it. In and out she flew among the horrible spiny branches, never once hesitating. You just couldn't imagine how she'd made a home in there” (Kingsolver 137-138). Just as the bird has

Within the novel Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, the reader is introduced to a young women named Marietta, Missy, and she later on renames herself Taylor. Taylor story is much like a coming of age story, and she many new lessons along the roads of life. She learns how to deal with unforeseen troubles, phobias, and the many forms of love, and because these inner actions she learned to see a new outlook on life.>>>>

In the novel, The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver, uses symbolism to illustrate how friendships can help through the process of motherhood. We watch the adventure of Tayler we can see how much of a woman she’s become such as taking care of Turtle. Through the care of Turtle Tayler needed help with Turtle so befriended Lou Ann, Estevan, and Esperanza. What Tayler don't know that all of this was the journey to motherhood even though Turtle wasn't her biological daughter she still thinks Turtle as her own.

In the novel The Bean Trees, written by Barbara Kingsolver, a young woman goes through a life-changing journey where she overcomes many obstacles thrown towards her by life that included her becoming a mother of an orphan Indian baby although she did not intend to. Throughout her journey, Taylor experiences many drawbacks that ultimately lead her to show her true heroic traits. Taylor manifests her heroic character throughout the novel by demonstrating her problem-solving abilities and expressing her sedulous, altruistic and considerate personality.

Change has always been an important part of our lives. Whether the change is physical or emotional, all humans undergo on this phenomenon. Some change is for the better, while some is for the worse. The Bean Trees, a novel beautifully crafted by author Barbara Kingsolver, delineates a young woman’s struggle to avoid the inevitable. Over the course of the novel, the protagonist, Taylor Greer, undergoes many hardships and life-changing experiences. With support from her family and friends, Taylor begins to embraces motherhood and transforms from an inexperienced vagabond into an undaunted young woman.

Throughout The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Marietta ‘Missy’ Greer goes through many changes. From changing her name to adopting a child and many more life changing events. When she left Pittman County, she probably didn’t expect to have what she ran away from. Taylor left her home in Kentucky since she didn’t want to end up like all the other girls there. Most girls didn’t finish school, got married early, and had many kids. Taylor wanted a better life for herself so she left and made a new life in Tucson, Arizona. Some significant items that changed her life are Lou Ann’s ad in the newspaper, a photo of her and Estevan after Esperanza’s suicide attempt, and Turtle’s custody documents. Each of these items play an important role in Taylor’s

Immigration Essay Immagine traveling 1,620 miles from your home country to escape danger just to find out your journey awaits even more danger. Also imagine you do make it to U.S, only to find out your chances of asylum are slim to none. A Pew Research center survey, a New York Times article, and a New York times documentary, all demonstrate the difficulties of the immigration process. These themes also tie into the book “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver. Immigrating to the U.S is a dangerous process and is not fully supported by everyone there.

In the novel, The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, we look as Taylor grows an extraordinary arrangement. This young lady tackles an immense duty of nurturing a youngster that doesn't even fit in with her. The companions that she procured along the way help show her about affection and obligation, and those companions turn out to be family to her and Turtle. Having no involvement in parenthood, she wades through as well as can be expected, as all moms do.

In today’s society, morals seem to determine the difference between doing the right thing and choosing wrong behavior. Different societies affect these morals and cause the guidelines for that particular society to shift. In The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, Kingsolver uses a small town character from rural Kentucky, Taylor Greer, formally known as Marietta, to show different societal standards and how Taylor does not adhere to the social norms of her town. This decision ultimately causes her journey from her hometown in Kentucky, to another small town in Arizona. There, she recognizes how the moral standards of her new town and it’s similarity to her old hometown. Taylor also meets many people that highlight the difference between