Overview Of Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

There is an estimate of about 10 million illegal immigrants that are living in the United States. (Erin H. Fouberg, Human Geography) Even though they immigrated here to the US, they shouldn’t be considered as “illegals”. Immigration requires change and sacrifices for many people in order to stay in their homes. There is no wrong if you are considering to make a change in your life. In the book The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, a young woman, named Taylor Greer, seeks a new change and home by moving to Arizona. Where she unexpectedly ends up caring for a young Indian girl nicknamed Turtle. Taylor reaches Arizona and makes a lot of new friends, even two Guatemalan immigrants, named Estevan and Esperanza. Since Taylor has Turtle and has a

The text states, “And so I am Taylor Greer. I suppose you could say I had some part in choosing this name, but there was enough destiny in it to satisfy me.” (Kingsolver, page 16) Taylor Greer’s statement in the text, demonstrates how Taylor wants changes on herself since she’s entered into new land where nobody knows her. By her action of Taylor changing her name, Barbara Kingsolver represents this in the main character, to represent the overall idea of immigrants having to replace their names into new ones. If immigrants to change their names when entering into a new land, then they will get caught by Immigration and be deported back to their old homeland. Immigrants from international countries and internal migration in a country sometimes depends on the person, whether they need a change or not. Kingsolver represents the idea of change by having the main character express a change on herself. The author states, “‘How about Two Two?’ I said. ‘That’s a good solid Cherokee name.’” (Kingsolver, page 266) Estevan and Esperanza need a new name, so that they’re not easily suspected to be immigrants causing trouble. However, by having a new name and being able to blend in with another culture, there will be a greater opportunity of being able to pull off their idea. Kingsolver mentions this idea of

It’s not fair to consider people illegal immigrants and deport them back to the land they find unsafe. The text states, “’The only way a person from Guatemala can stay here is if they can prove in court that their life was in danger when they left.’” (Kingsolver, page 214) Kingsolver proves a good point to mention the idea that in an immigrant’s country, there can be a risk of many of those people being in danger. People should be given the right to leave a place if they find it unsafe for them. According to Kingsolver, people are immigrating because their old home country gave many life threating risks which required for them to move into a safer area. The author states, “’This is St. Christopher, guardian saint of refugees.’” (Kingsolver, page 259) St. Christopher is mentioned as the guardian of all refugees, which gives further evidence of refugees immigrating in seek for safety. Mentioning that St. Christopher is the guardian of “all” refugees, there may be many refugees that want protection. The author uses symbolism to express how St. Christopher symbolizes the protection of refugees. Many countries are not safe for most of its people, so its citizens migrate to distant lands in search for a better country that suits them. The book states, “’How people call you ‘illegals.’ That just pisses me off, I