Epiphanies In The Bean Trees

Figurative language is used to emphasize Cassie and her emotions in her experiences and interactions and how she learns from that. Epiphany is used to convey how both Cassie and Stacey learned from their mistakes and simultaneously grew from said mistakes. Many other characters in this book go through an experience they could learn from, but don’t learn from it (e.g. T.J.). But, Stacey and Cassie, thanks to their parents they learn from their mistakes and experiences and get a life lesson along with it. Taylor's book displays a variety of themes but the most prominent theme is that making mistakes is part of life, and is okay, but it is important that you learn from those mistakes and grow from

In her romance novel The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver discusses the importance of family and friendship. The protagonist Taylor Greer escapes her home in Pittman County to live a more fulfilling life elsewhere. She arrives in the Cherokee Nation where she is handed a baby. She names the baby Turtle and drives to Tucson where she stops by Jesus is Lord Used Tires and meets Mattie, the owner. The tire shop doubles as a sanctuary and protects illegal immigrants. Kingsolver uses the motif of birds to symbolize the illegal immigrants and emphasize a theme of salvation. Taylor moves in with a self-deprecatory, single mother named Lou Ann Ruiz. Lou Ann changes her negative attitude over the course of the book, which adds on to the theme of backbone and internal strength. Turtle develops an attachment to vegetation, a motif of the novel that symbolizes growth and rebirth. Taylor, Turtle, Lou Ann’s son Dwayne Ray, and Lou Ann’s family-like qualities illustrates Kingsolver’s themes of a true home and family. At the end of the novel, Taylor faces a difficult situation in which she Taylor could lose Turtle to further highlight Kingsolver’s theme of true family. Kingsolver presents the tension between legality and morality through the depictions of her characters’ choices and values. In doing so, she underscores the message that shared morality, rather than legality, defines and creates a better family.

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.

Taylor receives no explanation from the woman who leaves Turtle with her, yet Taylor still takes on huge responsibility of caring for the child. Then, Taylor starts to notice a lot of things that makes her wandering what happened with the little girl. Taylor starts noticing Turtle’s smile while she was bathing her, and she also discovers that Turtle has been sexually molested and abused. By discovering these details of Turtle’s life, Tylor want to know more about Turtle’s life. She start working, but Tylor keeps thinking about Turtle. For example, in page (69) Tylor starts the work at Burger Derby, but after 6 days she quiet. She kept thinking about Tylor and who will take care of her while she is in work. That shows how Tylor start acting like mother when she left her job and tried to find a good place for her and

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.

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

She was never exposed to a trauma or suffering before; hence her ignorance to what might potentially hurt her. However, this scene provided Taylor with an eye opening experience for her, as she becomes more appreciative for her blessings, which can be confirmed on the scene following it, where she sees the world in a new light. Throughout her entire life, she has been trying to resist pregnancy and involvement with men, and now she counts them as her blessings, hence her companionship with Estevan and Turtle/April. This verifies that she is preparing herself for parenthood. In many ways, this scene gives a pinnacle point in both these characters, establishing trust and reliance with them as they both share something new about them, signaling a positive shift in their friendship. Listening to the horrors of Estevan’s past generates a calamity for Taylor. She begins to grasp the capability for malice in the world. Estevan mentioned the idea that Taylor has preferred not to realize the horrors in other nations. There have been preceding chapters that Taylor will discount what it might pain her to realize. However, this scene creates awareness for her to count her blessings and prepare herself for the long journey of raising Turtle. Conversely, when Taylor found herself cuddling with Estevan, not only did she establish respect for him after this scene, but also with

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

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

The influence of being raised by a single mother and the environment around Taylor leaves her determined to avoid motherhood and after finishing high school, leaving Pittman in favor of a more interesting life. Doing so makes her realize she is completely unprepared to take care of a child when she decides to keep Turtle. As she gradually starts spending more time with Turtle and living with Lou Ann, however, she learns what it is like to be a single mother, and grows confident in her abilities of taking care of Turtle. Moreover, she even helps Lou Ann gain more confidence in herself, setting an example of being an independent woman and even encouraging Lou Ann get a job. When Lou Ann does get a job, Taylor notices that Lou Ann “finally stopped comparing her figure to various farm animals. Having a job seemed to even out some of Lou Ann’s wrinkled edges” (205). Lou Ann learned to stop worrying over her appearance all the time and demeaning herself, showing the influence Taylor had over her life. Taylor’s presence helped Lou Ann realize that maybe she does not need to fit the mold society has set for her, and that she can be her own person instead. She uses that newfound confidence to help Taylor when her confidence in caring for Turtle diminishes. Taylor believes she is unfit to take care of Turtle after Turtle gets attacked, but Lou Ann does not let Taylor mope

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.

The commencement of the plot portrays Taylor to be a confident and gutsy woman who does not want to be tied down to her

differences in her character "I was liking Lou Ann a great deal these days. In

In the short stories “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver and “A + P” by John Updike the protagonists experience an epiphany that change their restricted way of thinking. The main character, “Sammy” in John Updike’s, “A + P” is a teenage boy working in the town grocery store. Sammy experiences an epiphany when he decides to quit his job at the grocery store. He quit because he believed that it was wrong of his boss to treat customers poorly due to any pre-conceived notion that was determined by what the customer looks like. Raymond Carver’s main character named “the husband” in his story “Cathedral” experiences an epiphany

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.