The Bean Trees Mother Figures Essay

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 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

Secondly, Barbara Kingsolver want to defend the ideas of alternative parenthood. In The Bean Trees, Kingsolver implicates many forms of parenting option such as single motherhood, teenage pregnancy, and adopted families. In the society in which The Bean Trees take place, a lot of these alternate forms of parenting are look down upon and are considered ‘less than’ when compared to a traditional

Barbara Kingsolver uses irony and ____ in order to show differences in the roles of parents. Missy leaves her hometown and stops in a town to eat food. While there, a woman tries to give her a baby.

“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

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

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

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

Anaïs Nin dared to question the norm of society; she asked “how wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself?” The two main characters in the novel, The Bean Trees, written by Barbara Kingsolver, are two young women who share a common struggle, Taylor Greer and Lou Anne Ruiz. The book changes protagonist between Taylor and Lou Anne whom are complete opposites. However they both deal with their hardships together in Tucson, Arizona. Most women end up pregnant and dependent on their spouse just like Lou Anne. Both of these protagonists learn from each other to improve their lifestyles. Women are not dependent on men; life is what you decide to do not society’s trends.

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

Taylor is a smart girl, she didn't believe it but she is. Taylor always had this thing of not having kids like the other girls she knew growing up. Yet some how this baby, later on in the story named Turtle, is dropped literally in her lap. The women who give the baby up said "Take this baby" (18) Kingsolver. Taylor is pretty apprehensive about her ability of taking care of the small child let alone her self. She still takes up the responsibility of being a parent, and to her luck shes becomes a real good one. The surrogate family she found herself immerse in even encouraged and support her with her actions on taking care of Turtle, saying "You can't promise a kid that. All you can promise is that you'll take care of them the best you can (177) Kingsolver.>>>>

At one point or another we have all wondered how we are going to get past a certain obstacle in life. One of those obstacles that are impossible to overcome by yourself, one that requires another person to help you push through that hard time. Similar situations are faced by some of the characters in The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. The Bean Trees is a tale of a girl named Taylor, who receives a baby from a stranger who is in need of help, this child's name is Turtle. Turtle helps Taylor enjoy the journey of motherhood and Taylor helps Turtle end her journey to find her parents and then Taylor drives Estevan and Esperanza to Cherokee land and Estevan unintentionally helps Taylor get through her dislike in men. Throughout the story,

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

With Taylor walking into the footsteps of motherhood she has examples to help her with like Esperanza and Lou Ann. As Taylor first takes Turtle an bath she realize on Turtle being “a girl, poor thing. That fact had already burdened her short

In The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver uses characters and symbols to show that families are not genetically made up, rather built from love and support. As Kingsolver establishes the dynamic roles of Taylor Greer upon meeting Turtle and Lou Ann Ruiz throughout the novel, she also includes the symbolic significance of the rhizobia to illuminate the message of The Bean Trees.