Willa Cather used common object to symbolize abstract but significant ideas. An example would be the windows mentioned throughout the story. You can look through a window and see what is on the other side. Paul looked through windows very often and saw what he could have but did not. The windows symbolize a wall that separates him from his desires. He watches the wealthy persons through the windows of the hotel and dreams of enjoying their riches himself. He can imagine himself as one of them, wearing luxurious clothes and eating the expensive foods that they do. But he always comes back to his reality, worn out, old and yellow. Sometimes life gives a person champagne and riches, but for Paul, he will have to work for his fortune and he knows it. The window seems to be standing in his way, blocking him from what he wishes for himself, a visible barrier between him and his fairytale dreams. He can see through, but he cannot pass. …show more content…
During Paul’s encounter with the principal and teachers of his school, he is described as wearing a red carnation in his buttonhole. This carnation symbolizes Paul himself and his defiance of authority. It shows that where he should feel remorse for his disobedience, he feels none. The bright red carnation gives a bit of excitement to Paul’s world of yellow. The color red is also a foreshadowing of his future tragedy since red is a color that is usually tied in with death. When Paul is enjoying his time in New York, the presence of the carnations during his stay symbolizes his feeling of liveliness and animation due to fact that he has achieved the finery he desired. As the story reaches the end, however, the flower begins to wilt and die. The death and Paul’s burial of the carnation symbolizes Paul giving up hope which leads to his suicide. The carnation symbolizes his living, and the dying of this carnation symbolizes his own
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.
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.
Taylor, Turtle When someone reads a book and they notice something important, they usually write it down, or mark in the book, in this novel turtles are that one word that makes everyone hooked from the start. In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver there are many symbols that get make the person reading it, to wonder what will go on, and turtles are the one symbol that made me want to read on. Taylor Greer the main character in the book lived in Oklahoma, and moved away to get away from having a baby, but when she finds her a new home, a baby finds her. She ends up naming the child Turtle, and she doesn’t even know how old she is.
In the fiction The Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver uses metaphors and similes to demonstrate how a bird makes a nest in a cactus and a quail mother shepherds the whole family across the street suggesting that the young will be able to survive despite of painful surroundings and that a mother's maternity concern and love towards her children. During a doctor’s visit, Taylor's discovery of Turtle’s suffering from abuses in the past made Taylor deeply sad. At that moment, outside the window,"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.
The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, is a story about characters coming of age. In life, people try to plan out their futures. But no one can really “tell the future” because he or she will grow and achieve self-actualization. Many characters in The Bean Trees go through this transition and become the complete opposite of what they were in the past. Whether the characters reach adulthood by leaving their home state, or their husband leaving them, they change for the better. Two characters that succeed this idea are Taylor and Lou Ann, who become the best of friends.
The significance of the vivid image as a vivid memory in the story means the audience can take part in Paul’s journey.So that they can empathize with him and his experiences, through distinctively visual.
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 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.
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
The author Barbara Kingsolver once said, “Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” This means that mothers can go through great lengths and even break laws for their children. In the book “The Bean Trees”, Kingsolver portrays that quote by writing about Taylor’s experiences with an abandoned child named Turtle. Kingsolver included several characters in the book that act as mother figures. Barbara Kingsolver seems to be saying that a mother does not have to come biologically through the characters of Taylor, Lou Ann, and Mattie.
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
Lawrence shows many points by applying these obvious symbols: the rocking horse and the whispering house. The wooden rocking horse symbolizes the fantasy quest that Paul takes to attain luck. This magical mysterious wooden horse also tells Paul who will win the horse races. The whispering house symbolizes his mother’s lust for money. The house constantly haunts Paul and his siblings with the
“You have a face only a mother could love” Although a harsh insult this is for most mothers a very true statement. A mother’s love is something that you will probably not experience until you have your very own children. Motherhood can be a very sentimental topic in literature, especially when there is conflict with a child and their mother figure. In the book The Bean Trees there are several mother figures that each express their love for their child, even going great lengths for them. Throughout the many great themes of The Bean Trees this one by far sticks out the most because the book is mainly about a mother taking care of her child, that isn’t even hers, making many sacrifices to give her the best life possible. The main character,
Paul`s life is in chaos as he is attempting to uproot his entire life by creating a façade to appeal to the white upper-class. It is this façade, however, that gives Paul control in his life as he is finally able to belong to a family with the Kittredges. This imbalance in Paul`s life causes him to be an Other because he has changed his entire life to simply swindle wealthy whites.