The Bean Trees Essays

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The Bean Trees Essay
Taylor Greer is the main character of this novel. Taylor manages to stay in high school and graduate without getting pregnant like many of the other women in her school. Taylor stays out of trouble, and manages to work at a hospital and buys a Volkswagen bug. About five years after graduation Taylor decides to leave her small town to see what life has to offer her. Taylor’s car ends up breaking down in the middle of the Cherokee Nation on Oklahoma. While Taylor is getting ready to leave a woman goes up to Taylor and gives her a baby telling her to take it. Taylor drives off with the child and later discovers that the child had been abused and sexually molested. She calls the child turtle, because the girl’s tendency to grab objects and people. Later Taylor and Turtle make it Tucson, Arizona where both of Taylors back tires blow out. Taylor goes to a tire shop named, “Jesus Is Lord Used Tires.” There Taylor finds a job at Burger Derby, shortly after Taylor quits her job. A month or so later after Taylor meets Lou Ann, Mattie, and her two friends she takes Turtle to a doctor. There the doctor find out that turtle is actually three years old. Her growth had been stunted because she was abused. That same day Lou Ann tells Taylor she is leaving for ever. Later when things start cooling down, Mattie takes Taylor and two other friends out to the desert to see the first summer rain. Turtle is left with a blind baby sitter

The Bean Trees Summary

There are many ways that “Under Pressure” can relate to “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver. In “The Bean Trees,” the main character, Taylor, struggles as she realizes that the world isn’t what she once thought it to be. As she learns more about her new family and friends, such as Turtle, Lou Ann, Estevan, and Esperanza, she feels deeply saddened and moved by what they’ve been through. She tries to create a new life for herself, and quickly realizes that life has introduced her to people she loves…

Words 185 - Pages 1

Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

Prompt 1: Analysis on how Motherhood contributes to the theme of “The Bean Trees” Throughout Barbara Kingsolver's famous novel, “The Bean Trees,” the major theme of community and family love has been circling around, but the recurring motif of motherhood stands out. Kingsolver portrays many types of mothers, birth, adoptive and surrogate: Taylor and her mother, Taylor and Turtle, Lou Ann and Dwayne, Esperanza and Ismene, and Mattie and her house full of refugees. While the theme of community and…

Words 364 - Pages 2

Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

Barbara Kingsolver’s book, The Bean Trees sounds almost like a gender activist exposé of some sort. Unlike other books that have been read in this class, this book overtly and covertly puts into mainstream social, and gender issue through the likable flawed and imperfect characters used in the novel. She pushes to the society social problems that women face, which the society has refused to acknowledge existed or simply ignored. The novel encapsulates societal burden – single motherhood, molestation…

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Friendship In Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

Taylor was very good friends with many others in The Bean Trees. Lou Ann, Mattie, Esperanza, and Estevan were her closest friends and helped her grow and become grounded in Tucson, Arizona. When Mattie invited Taylor, Esperanza, and Estevan to come to a clearing with her to watch the rain come, since there had been a drought for so long. Mattie said to Taylor, “Come on, I want you to smell this.” And then later Taylor says, “...the air had sparks in it.” (Kingsolver 168). Mattie was so happy…

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The Bean Trees Character Analysis

Many people wonder how can strength and rebirth occur from traumatic events and lost hope. Barbara Kingsolver, answers this burning essential question in her novel, The Bean Trees. The book begins with the narrator, Mariette, living in a small town named Pittman County. Mattie strongly despite the fate of young girls in her town, which is earlier pregnancy and marriage. Eventually when she becomes old enough she leaves her old town and her old self behind. Similarly to Mariette reshaping her future…

Words 151 - Pages 1

Lou Ann In The Bean Trees

The character in The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver I relate to the most is Lou Ann because of our similarities upon the aspects of personality traits, the growth throughout the novel and life, and the choices made. Lou Ann in the majority of the novel is very worrisome and fears for her safety and as well as others safety. I for one have always been very cautious and distrustworthy of people I don’t know too well, and constantly worry upon life, death, school, and the future that is yet to come…

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Character Analysis: Bean Trees

their race, religion, and culture when they come to America. The book Bean Trees, the characters Estevan and Esperanza, a young, married couple were immigrants that fled their home, and even had to leave their daughter behind. It was a challenging time for them, especially Esperanza, who tried to commit suicide at one point. When Estevan explained their horrible situation to his friends, Taylor says to Estevan, "I can't even begin to think about a world where people have to make choices like that…

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Friendships In Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

Throughout Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees, the people throughout the bookl form fast friendships and become important to one another.In the spring, nature goes through the proces of rebirth, what apears to be dead in the winter comes alive, people also go through this proces. It is July 1st, not a single cloud in the sky. Mattie wants Taylor, Estevan, Esperanza, and Lou Ann to come with her to the desert for a special occasion. Taylor and Lou Ann leave their children with Edna and Virgie and get in…

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Theme Of Rebirth In The Bean Trees

As The Bean Trees went, on the theme rebirth was shown multiple times in the characters Taylor, Turtle, Estevan, and Esperanza. As Estevan as Esperanza drove with Taylor they helped her with a life changing event, adopting Turtle. For Turtle, she would never have been adopted by Taylor is she wasn’t given to her in the first place. These events were new beginnings for the characters and the start to a new part of their life, a rebirth. All around the world people’s lives are constantly changing for…

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Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

When baby birds hatch into the world they are full of hope and ambition to be able to fly. In the book, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Taylor Greer is given a toddler outside a bar she stopped at on her journey to a new place that she names Turtle that needs all the hope she can get. Taylor and Turtle travel through the book together and keep each other going. Birds represent Turtle because they relate to hope and Turtle needs hope the most. Birds are shown when Mattie brings up her sanctuary…

Words 626 - Pages 3