The Bean Trees Analysis

The Beanes family is traced back from Christopher Banes who was an immigrant from Scotland and started his life as a merchant and planter. Dr. William Beanes is a fourth generation Scottish man born on the 24th of January 1749 to the parents of William Beanes and Mary Bradley at Brook Ridge, a thousand acre farm near Croom, Maryland on the Patuxent River. His father was the first in his family to move to Prince Georges County. Brooke Ridge was given to his great grandmother, Anne Brooke since her brother died childless in 1671. William Beanes was one of seven children in his family (Magruder 2).

While displaying doubt to her mother about being able to get the job Mr Walter was offering, her mother expresses her faith in Taylor on page 7 of The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver by saying, “The way I see it, a person isn’t nothing more than a scarecrow...the only difference between one that stands up good and one that blows over is what they are stuck up on.” She knows that Taylor can handle whatever challenges the job presents her with and wants her to realize that in herself she has the power to do it, now all she has to do is use what she knows to get the job. Mama says this to her in a knowing way, because while Taylor does not realize herself she can get the job, Mama knows she can. A few days after Mama tells her this, she uses her backbone she is “up on” and tells Mr Walter that since he hasn’t made his mind up, she is going to be doing the job. Mama lights a fire in Taylor she didn’t know she had by saying this quote, that she takes to heart throughout the rest of the novel.

Turtle and Taylor end up living in Tucson, Arizona. Taylor finds a job and a place to stay. While she is in Tucson she starts to recognize that there are a lot of people in the world that have gone through much worse situations than she has. She tells Estevan, "I keep finding out that life can be hard in ways I never knew about" (141). She is growing out of her naiveness and learning more about the realities of life. This in turn is making her a more understanding and

There are many relationships in bean trees, and the author focuses on females and their family relationships. Taylor and Turtle is one of the main major part in the book. For example, when Tylor first meet turtle, they leave as a new form of family. Most people think family is people who are related with you in blood like parents, sisters, and brothers. However, family is more than that, what family mean is love, care, and you feel safe with them. When Taylor moved in with Lou Ann and her son, her family becomes even bigger than before. They support and help each other in difficult situations by sharing their experiences. Taylor makes many risks to keep turtle with her as a family. She starts taking care of her, and make sure that she is safe. The major theme in the beam trees was family formed, and Tylor starts consider Turtle her family when she start taking care of her appearance, taking care of her heath, and making sure she is safe.

My symbols are flowers, plants, and gardens. Flowers symbolize beauty, youth, strength, and gentleness (Melani 1). Gardens symbolize growth, feminine, protection, and miracles (Fraim). Plants symbolize life, afterlife, strength, and stability (Lipson).

By fighting to save the most important part of her life, Taylor shows that she has realized what is truly important. When she decides not to discuss Turtle’s future in front of her, as though she simply property, Taylor’s renewed belief in small acts of kindness and the effect they can have on people, is shown. Once more, she knows that even small acts of compassion can have large impacts on the lives of others. The effects of Taylor’s epiphany are illustrated again when she agrees to drive Estevan and Esperanza to Oklahoma. Even though she does not want Estevan to leave, Taylor drives him and Esperanza to Oklahoma, risking fines and jail time in the process. When Mattie warns Taylor of the dangers of her plan, Taylor says, “Just stop it, okay? Estevan and Esperanza are my friends. And, even if they weren’t, I can’t see why I shouldn’t do this.” By saying this, Taylor’s belief in the importance of doing the right thing, even when it is dangerous, is displayed. Taylor’s morals have been transformed: bravery and integrity are now more important to her than safety and realism. She no longer withdraws from her friends and loved ones like she did after

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

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.

All around the world people are moving to find a better life, over 3.3% of the world's population are international migrants. People are always going through a rebirth from when they get a job to becoming a family or when they move. Rebirth is not always a big change, but it always changes life some way or the other. The characters in The Bean Trees lives are constantly changing during the whole book. Throughout The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, there is a common theme of rebirth that the characters Taylor, Turtle, Estevan and Esperanza all experience.

Throughout The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Marietta “Missy” Greer goes through many changes. For example, she changes her name to Taylor, adopts a child, and experiences life-changing events. When she left Pittman County, she probably did not expect to have a family that she avoided having in the beginning. Taylor left her home in Kentucky because she did not want to end up like all the other girls who did not finish school, got married early, and did not have much to look forward to in life. Taylor wanted a better life for herself so she left and made a new life in Tucson, Arizona. Some significant items that changed Taylor’s life along the way were Lou Ann’s ad in the newspaper, a photo of her with Estevan after Esperanza’s suicide attempt, and Turtle’s custody documents. These items are very meaningful because they play an important role in Taylor’s new life

and strength of character help her move forward. Despite some moments of hesitation and self doubt she makes her choices with full knowledge of what she is doing and why. Being neither her real mother or legal guardian, if Taylor gets caught Turtle will certainly be taken away from her and put into the custody of foster parents. But, if she does nothing she will lose Turtle anyway.

I played the bean game by myself, I did this at the school in an Eastshore classroom. I chose the items that I chose, because they represented my values, and mostly because they didn’t cost as much as other options. I was influenced by my values for the majority of options in the game. For example, instead of getting my own place, I stayed with my parents. Picking that option better fit my values because I would rather have savings when I get out of college, than I would my own place.

In the novel The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, the character Estevan displays a number of characteristics such as oppressed, cultured, and brave. For particular, Estevan’s oppression originated in Guatemala City considering what he says during his conversation with Taylor: The out of the clear blue sky he said, “In Guatemala City, the police use electricity for interrogation. They have something called the “telephone”, which is an actual telephone of the type they use in the field. It has I’s own generator, operated by a handle.”

During this trial we have heard testimonials from our key witness Morry McFelon and Detective Sherlock, a witness to the victim's body and Beancounters demeanor immediately after the incident. The crown's case is as stated, Beancounter was not acting in self defense. This was a man who was drinking, and was fed up with constantly being harassed by local youth, he made a rash and firm decision by not involving the authorities and proceeded to take matters into his own hands which resulted in the death of 17 year old Donald Deadduck.