Dynamic Characters In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

In the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, the wisteria vine functions as a symbol of Turtle’s growth throughout her journey, as well as the people that have helped her along the way. When Turtle is first given to Taylor, she is agonized and timid, without a clue of whom she can look to as a motherly figure. Taylor remarks how “the most amazing thing was the way the child held on... to [her]… it’s little hands like roots sucking on dry dirt.” (22) Turtle’s horrible past has mentally scarred her. She views Taylor as safety and is relying on her for care. Turtle’s need for Taylor is similar to a plant’s need for water. Neither can survive without the other. As time progresses the duo bonds more closely, and Turtle begins to open up. One

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, tells the story of how life is all about the journey, and not always the destination. The book revolves around one main character, Taylor Greer. Her life has not always been easy, and one day she decides to start over and leave. The reader follows her journey, and eventually meets other characters like Lou Ann Ruiz and Esperanza. These three women all want a clean slate to start a new life. When their journeys come together, a community of women forms that is full of support and love. Kingsolver tells the story of three women, and how their lives drastically change. Each journey is represented by their own symbol; something that explains these journeys with just one object. In The Bean Trees, three main

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).

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.

The first main character is Marietta “Missy” Greer, but she changed her name to Taylor. Taylor is a strong woman for her age and is opinionated and stubborn. When she decides to leave her home in Kentucky, she is described as independent and brave for leaving

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

People would usually imagine a family typically as a usual portrait; beholding parents that are married to each other close aside , a few children in front, and alongside in the picture could include other relatives. In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, this image is not necessarily always the definition of a family. In the novel the main character, Taylor Greer, drove away from Kentucky with two goals:to avoid pregnancy and to get away. While succeeding both goals, Taylor decides to inherit a child she named Turtle along the way, and also encounters a strong connection with other characters at her destination. Barbara Kingsolver creates this found connection between these characters to show that family can come from anywhere,

Passage: He told me that the national symbol of the Indian people in Guatemala was the quetzal, a beautiful green bird with a long, long tail. I told him I had seen military macaws at the zoo, and wondered if the quetzal was anything like those. He said no. If you tried to keep this bird in a cage, it died (189)."

In Barbara Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees," the protagonist, Esperanza, emerges as a character whose resilience is depicted through various symbols, notably beans, toads, and the Alaskan spring. These symbols intricately weave through the narrative, reflecting Esperanza's journey of self-discovery, growth, and resilience in the face of adversity. The first symbol, beans, serves as a metaphor for growth and transformation. When Esperanza receives a bag of seeds from Lou Ann, it marks the beginning of her journey towards independence and self-sufficiency. Initially hesitant, Esperanza gradually embraces the idea of nurturing the beans, paralleling her own journey of nurturing her dreams and aspirations.

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

“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

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.

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

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.

Story about Marches family that they are struggling with poverty.their father has gone to war at south.