Empowerment And Discrimination In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

Bridget Hamlin

Punswick

HELA 10, Hour 4

27 March 2023

Empowerment or Discrimination

Sexism originates from the violent treatment female chimpanzees received from male chimpanzees (Douglas and Ananthaswamy). Gender inequality has been a prominent issue even before the creation of man. In Barbara Kingsolver’s coming-of-age novel, The Bean Trees, the unjust treatment of the female population is a reoccurring struggle from infancy to adulthood. Equal treatment of both genders, or the lack thereof, greatly influences how women view themselves, others, and the world around them, revealing the impressive strength women possess even after enduring painful, emotional trauma and daily struggles.

Feminism drastically improves individuals’ self-worth

Community is referred to as “networks of solidarity and connection that attest to a primary instinctual need of human beings as social animals” (Kaur). Taylor has built a strong community that started with Lou Ann. The two women both rapidly became single mothers which brought them together and they behaved like a family. One night, “when [their] kids were in bed [Taylor] realized exactly what was bugging [her]: the idea of Lou Ann reading magazines for child-raising tips and recipes and [Taylor] coming home grouchy after a hard day’s work. [They] were like some family on a TV commercial” (Kingsolver 88). Taylor was unsettled by the idea of being a family because of past trauma, but she later realized that it was an absolute blessing. Going from total strangers to a family who love and protect one another is a drastic change but it was made possible by their hardships. Lou Ann was previously a complete stranger and now behaves as a second parent for Turtle which was not easy for Taylor to be accustomed to. All her life she was deprived of a traditional family due to her absent father, although her new family was seen as rather unusual Taylor knew she wanted two present and supporting parents for Turtle. Henceforth, their friendship became unbreakable because of their shared experiences revealing that women are stronger

In Taylor’s life, she has witnessed first-hand how burdening it is to be a single parent because of her mother, being one of few women in Pittman County who had no choice but to parent alone, Taylor was well aware that “single parents do the parenting work of both parents; cooking, cleaning, working, teaching, and caring for their child because of the absent parent” (Johnson). Taylor’s mother received plenty of unkind comments about not getting married, but she persservered and gave Taylor all the love she had and Taylor did the same for Turtle. She was also taught by her mother that how and where individuals are brought up determines their likelihood of success. When she was younger, her mother told her, “a person isn’t nothing more than a scarecrow. You, me, Earl Wickentot, the President of the United States, and even God Almighty, as far as I can see. The only difference between one that stands up good and one that blows over is what kind of stick they’re stuck up on” (Kingsolver 5). This mindset made Taylor opposed to staying in Pittman County and she left as soon as she got the chance. She found that Tuscon was very different from Pittman County as women were seen as individuals rather than someone’s wife and mother. This was freeing for Taylor because she had never