Racism In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

Seixm is the discrimination against someone based on their sex; this discrimination is usually directed toward females. Barbara Kingsolver uses her novel to spread social awareness. Not only does she speak heavily on sexism, but she speaks on Central American immigration and includes Native American characters. Kingsolver shows how hard it is to be a female in a male dominated world, as well as how hard it is to be in a minority group. In Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees, she fights sexism by creating complex characters who break gender barriers and go against the stereotypes. Sexism is the belief that women are less than men. If someone legitimately believes another is below them, they most likely will not show any respect. Some people even go as far as not treating them as human beings (which they very much are). The novel's main characters, "...Taylor Greer and Lou Ann Ruiz confront two types of child neglect and single parenting: Esperanza's daughter, Ismene, and Taylor's adopted Cherokee child, April Turtle..." (Snodgrass, Female Victims). Child neglect is a form of abuse, which happens very frequently to females. This might occur because in some minds, female equals weak and male equals strong. And when people think of strong, they think it to be a good quality while weak is thought to be a

Although Taylor believed in some stereotypes, the main characters themselves did not accept the ones expected of them. Eventually, Taylor did become more open minded and educated, ridding herself from the stereotypical thoughts. Additionally, all of Kingsolver's characters are complex and real; they are not simplified and shoved into obnoxious categories. In order to make the novel's world more real, sexism and injustice is present. Young females were abused and gaining justice for them was not likely. Hurting females just because they are females happened too often in this novel, and in this world