Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver Essay

He is not afraid to express his emotions and often talks about his thoughts and feelings with others which he communicates using his English that is better than most American men. These verify that Estevan is not a typical man. This is important when he has a struggle of his own to face, the loss of his daughter. He and his wife, Esperanza, have to do the unthinkable and choose to give up their only child in order to protect the members of the teacher’s union in Guatemala. Estevan is a man who puts others ahead of himself and challenges the notion that men are selfish by saving the others instead of his family. Then he had to escape Guatemala and make the treacherous journey to immigrate to the United States. Even after all of this, Estevan is still an internally strong person both externally and internally. This is evident in Kingsolver's description of him: “he might have steel bars inside where most people have flab” (97). His “steel bars” may convey physical power, but more importantly, it shows his inner strength. He holds himself up in times of struggle whereas others who are held up by “flab”, like Angel, cannot. He had built up his “steel” frame because he is a person who had to make unimaginable and selfless decision that most men are too weak to make. Estevan remains resilient and strong even in a time of extreme distress which Kingsolver attributes to his resistance to conform to established roles.

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.

Life is constantly changing, like clouds in the sky; always shifting and turning. People never really know which way life will turn next, bringing them fortune or failure. When you look at how things change it is best to compare it to something that you can relate it to. The changeable nature of life can be related to the novel 'The Bean Trees.' This is a book written almost entirely on dealing with changes in the characters lives.

Epiphanies are central to the plots of many novels. In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingslover, the main character, Taylor Greer, has an epiphany that changes the course of her life. After Turtle is traumatized in the park, Taylor withdraws from her and the rest of the world, believing that no nothing she does truly matters. As Turtle improves, Taylor realizes that her positive actions do make the world a better place. When Turtle begins to talk again, Taylor has an epiphany and realizes that every small compassionate action is important and that even she can help make the world a better place. As a result of her epiphany, Taylor is more willing to help others. The positive results of Taylor’s epiphany are first shown when she decides to fight for custody of

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.

Quote Responses 1. “I’ve been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw newt Hardbine’s father over the top of the Standard Oil sign” (1). Indirect Characterization 1.This quote can show that Taylor is very cautious, and she takes all of her past events into consideration for her life. 2. “Before that exact moment I don’t believe I had given much thought to the future” (2).

The theme of The Bean Trees is: Single motherhood is accompanied with struggles and hardships nevertheless, in the end; the love for their child outweighs all. Taylor begins her journey with distaste for the idea of motherhood and how one’s life has to change for that child. In spite of that, when she is forced into the role of Turtle’s mother, her viewpoint begins to change from a negative perspective to a positive one as she starts to care about the child. By the time the finale of the novel comes to be Taylor does not just care for Turtle but loves her with all her heart and shows that by adopting her as her own child.

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.

“Scotty Richey … killed himself on his sixteenth birthday … nobody could understand about Scotty … But the way I see it is, he just didn’t have anybody. … It was like we were all the animals on Noah’s ark that came in pairs, except of his kind there was only one” (Kingsolver 132-4). In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Bean Trees, Taylor mentions to Estevan her classmate Scotty Richey’s suicide. She explains that although her school had a very distinct social hierarchy, people within a class had each other for company. Scotty, however, had nobody. As a result of the extreme isolation he faced, he committed suicide. Today, bullying is a developing issue in the world and exclusion, which Scotty faced, is just one of many forms of bullying. What Scotty experienced in the novel occurs in schools around the world, and the consequences are unimaginable and horrific. In light of the increasingly advanced technology developed in recent years, cyberbullying has become a more common form of bullying among students. Cyberbullying, or bullying that occurs through the internet or media, happens due to the courage that bullies acquire by not having to physically face their victims. The harassment the victims experience lead to mental as well as physical health issues, which often times leads to suicide. In order to prevent such grave repercussions, education systems and parents must teach kids how to behave properly on the

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

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

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.

Throughout my years being by Taylor’s side, I learned several things about her. She was an outstanding mother to her son and daughter.

The tree-lined country road narrowed into a winding track, and decelerating slightly, Booker carefully navigated the bumpy dirt trail. Horshack’s directions were vague at best, hurriedly whispered down the phone in a panicked voice, and Booker could not help but wonder what horrors the young freshman had experienced at the hands of his elders to leave him so terrified. But now was not the time to reflect on the abhorrent behavior of parental bullying; his focus was on Tom and giving him the peace of mind he so desperately sought. If he could achieve that one goal, his mission would be classified a success, and then he could concentrate on building a friendship with the man he adored.

Taylor was born to a film star. She acted more than 60 movies.Taylor left us but what she left