The Bean Trees Chapter Summaries

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

Lou Ann is another character who shows female strength throughout the book. She is a single mother, but she feels she can’t do it alone because of her low self esteem. Lou Ann thinks she needs a husband around her to help with her child, but she finds herself realising she is just as capable with or without a man around. “And it struck her that his presence was different from the feeling of women filling up the house. He could be there or not and it hardly made any difference. Like a bug or a mouse scratching in the cupboards at night-you could get up and chase after it, or just go back to sleep and let it be. This was good she decided.” (page 65). Lou Ann starts to gain confidence as a mother. As soon as she sees Taylor question her confidence about whether or not she is good for Turtle she swoops in and tells her “You fight back, Taylor. Nobody picks on you and lives to tell the tale.” (Page 179), And “Well, don’t feel like the one ranger,”she said. “Nobody is.”. When Taylor is having legal issues with turtle, she starts to lose hope again, so Lou tells her, “When I met you, that first day you came over here, I thought to myself, ‘Bonita Jankenhorn, roll over. This one is worth half a dozen of you packed up in a box and gift-wrapped.’” She explains how highly she thinks of Taylor and that she needs

The characters Taylor and Turtle are an example of a nontraditional family that is just as strong as a traditional one. They meet the bare minimum requirements for a healthy mother daughter relationship. Taylor takes Turtle to Doctor Pelinowski’s in order to check out the damage of Turtle’s prior injuries. With this action, Taylor proves how she takes time out of her day to ensure Turtle’s well being, just as a traditional mother does. This care is necessary for every kind of family to be strong. Next, Taylor worries about

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 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

Marietta Greer, also known as Taylor Greer in the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, started a new life by leaving her home in Pittman County, Kentucky to avoid motherhood. Her life was full of ups, downs, blessings, hardships, dramatic events, and mixed feelings. The people she met in this new life such as Lou Ann, Mattie, Estevan, Esperanza, and especially Turtle, have created a positive outlook on Taylor’s life. Without ever meeting them, Taylor’s fresh new life would have been dull and confusing. Though there are also some memories that may have followed her as a fear, but it soon became a lucky asset to have in her life. The tractor tire, the photo of Turtle during their first night together, and Turtle’s adoption document are each a significant symbol of Taylor’s journey.

A small family of four, living in the Tory town of Redding. Life was great Mr. and Mrs. Meeker owned a small tavern that supplies their town with food, rum, and supplies. Their son Timmy helped around the tavern and did chores, because his older brother Sam was off at college. Everyone in Redding was close and knew the Meeker family, they all admired how they had raised Sam and Timmy. Every year after college was over, Sam would come home and visit, except one.

Taylor takes in Turtle, her new daughter, and begins to care and love her even though she knows nothing about Turtle and her past life; demonstrating how Kingsolver believes anybody can move on from a tough past if somebody is there and cares about them. Taylor asks the manager of the bed and breakfast she wishes to stay at: “you won't mind if I just bring the poor kid in here to warm up while you decide”(22). Even though Taylor has just been given Turtle

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver is a romance novel that takes place in the late 1900s. It captures the journey of Taylor Greer from Pittman County, Kentucky all the way to Tucson, Arizona. Along the way, Taylor gains a young Indian toddler that was forced into her car while she was leaving a bar in Oklahoma. Taylor decides to keep the child once she recognizes the abuse the toddler experienced in her old home, she names her Turtle. Through thecharacterization of Taylor, Turtle, and Esperanza, Kingsolver suggests that in order for the characters to begin anew, they must experience a symbolic death.

The first chapter of The Bean Trees opens up to our protagonist Marietta who lives in a small town of Kentucky named Pittman. She gets the idea to leave home and head west. Her mother consults her about her decision and tells her to stay but Marietta ignores her request and leaves Pittman. Marietta decides to change her name to Taylor as she is starting a new life. On her adventure she stops at a bar to pick up coffee and continue her drive.

Scout is the main character of the story who lives in a small town in Alabama called Maycomb. She lives with Jem, her brother, and Atticus, her father. It took place during The Great Depression, many people were affected and a lot lost their jobs but the Finch family weren’t affected that much because Atticus was a lawyer. Dill who came to Maycomb for the summer hangs with Jem and Scout and they make games up about Boo Radley and talk about him. Jem leaves when school starts and comes back next summer, they try to go inside of Boo Radley’s house but get scared when someone shoots and they run away. After that was over the case of Tom Robinson starts. Tom Robinson was a colored person that was accused of hurting a white women and Atticus

She uses imagery, personification, and metaphors. By personifying the Tucson Valley as “resting in its cradle”, it seems as if it were a baby. I think Taylor is starting to love Arizona and her description also shows her love for nature. “You can’t promise a kid that. All you can promise is that you’ll take care of them the best you can, Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, and you just hope for the best.

They provide him with clean clothes, free meals and a place to wash up. When asked by her daughter why they do this for this man, Alice reminds her daughter Pam “You Never When You Might Be Entertaining an Angel”. Charlotte, Mrs. Cartwright finds out she has a problem that the doctor tell her about. The doctors tell her she had early onset “Alzheimer’s”. Without sharing her health information she asks Alice to take a trip across the United States heading west. She buys a 1959 Cadillac to drive on the trip. She wants to feel alive and have fun before the Alzheimer’s sets in. They travel through many states during their trip. While it’s her turn to drive Alice stops by a river and encourages Charlotte to get saved by being baptized in a river. Charlotte stops by a bar and has fun drinking and dancing, but Alice being a Christian doesn’t want anything to do with that stuff. The trip ends when Charlotte has an episode and Alice learns she has Alzheimer’s and wants to go home. While away Charlotte’s son William tries to stab his mother in the back and retire her early from her own company. This is a sad example of power and money being a priority more than family love and loyalty. William is definitely controlled by the secular world. Charlotte has a surprise her friend Alice has been buying stock from Nick, who although is now going through a rough time once was a stock investor for Cartwright’s inc. and William fired him. Nick, Pam and Alice attend a board meeting, the

This news is disheartening to Tom, but the family’s only choice is to keep traveling west. Tom’s grandmother eventually dies too from exhaustion and heat. Finally after many grueling days in the hot sun and numerous stops to fix the car, the Joads arrive at California. However, their dreams of finding a wonderful place to live are shattered when they hear California residents calling them Oakies and saying bad things about them. Californians feel threatened by the families migrating into California because the newcomers will take all the job opportunities and they will steal food to avoid starvation. At first the Joads can’t find work and they are forced to live in one of the Hoovervilles. The Hoovervilles are very run down and Connie , Tom’s brother, runs away from the family because of the disappointment of realizing his dreams will not come true.

After a few setbacks, Colton has a miraculous recovery. The family is celebrating his life as they drive to visit relatives a few months after his recovery. He begins to make some strange statements, and the family eventually realizes that the boy had been given a glimpse of heaven while he was in surgery. At first the parents can 't believe it, but as time passes, he continued telling them things about Jesus, God, and heaven that he couldn 't possibly have known at his young age. He describes the heavenly thrones, the triune God, and angels. Colton says he met a sister he never knew he had. It