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Women In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

1661 Words7 Pages

In a government survey of rape and domestic violence, “Nearly one in five women said that they had been raped or had experienced an attempted rape at some point, and one in four reported having been beaten by an intimated partner” (Rabin). This is a demonstration of the inequality that women face in society as they are targets of abuse and assault. Barbara Kingsolver is an author that uses her stories to enlighten her audience on the inequalities of society. In her most popular novel, The Bean Trees, Kingsolver tells the story of two struggling mothers, Taylor, a young woman who adopts a Native American girl on reservation, and Lou Ann, a single mother that has to overcome her worries to support her new born son. Barbara Kingsolver uses elements of fiction to show the negative effects of the objectification of women by connecting the problems that her female characters go through to the problems women face in real life.
In The Bean Trees, Kingsolver writes how women are portrayed as sex objects through her characters’ thoughts of the image of women in media. An example is when Lou Ann is walking home, and walks past the strip club’s provocative entrance, …show more content…

Kingsolver uses media in the book to show how women are over sexualized. Kingsolver shows women treated and seen as objects that are used for others’ gain, not as individuals with their own thoughts. There are also examples where the women are mentally and physically abused, and the consequences of these problems. The Bean Trees is a novel that questions the treatment of women and girls in not only the time it was written, but even in today’s society where many of these issues are still present. Kingsolver wrote her novel to spread awareness to the discrimination and injustice through a cohesive narrative and her characters’ development to connect to her

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In John Steinbacks “The Chrysanthemums,” the shift of the setting from the ranch to the road plays an important role in the development of the main character, Elisa. Therefore, in the first setting, Elisa is in her garden attending to her the chrysanthemums, which she loves and cares for. Immediately, we’re placed in a rural setting, where women happen to live in isolation and man is manly. Elisa sneaks quick glances towards the men by the tractor shed, who is talking to her husband, waiting for them to leave, so she can throw aside her gloves and work her fingers into the soil of the garden. However, Elisa shows her fearless side by quickly digging in the garden, with her eagerness to grow her chrysanthemums, right after the men leave.

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In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Taylor faces many obstacles. Throughout the obstacles that Taylor faces she grows and changes into a new person unlike the one that she was before. Taylor is a girl who does not want to be stuck in her home state of Kentucky any longer. She leaves her mother in Kentucky to try and find a way to create herself a new life. Becoming a mother so quickly and helping Esperanza and Estevan are obstacles that Taylor faces during trying to start her new life.

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To began with, Symbolism is literary element used often in The Bean Trees and Mirror Image. In Kingsolvers book, symbolism is used in the very title The Bean Trees. Turtle’s first word is bean which she gets from seeing a wisteria plant that has gone into seed form and produced bean like pods. Later the author emphasizes the symbolism by having Turtle read about how the plant thrives in bad conditions.

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In 1988 Kingsolver wrote and published her first book, The Bean Trees, while pregnant with her first daughter, Camille Hoffman. Due to Kingsolver’s building frustrations with the United States’ involvement in the first Gulf War, she moved with her daughter to Tenerife in the Canary Islands for a year. Soon after she and her daughter returned to the United States, Kingsolver and Hoffman divorced. In 2004 Kingsolver moved to a farm in Washington County, Virginia with her second husband, Steven Hopp, and their teenage daughter, Lily Hopp, where they currently live to this day.

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At the same time, Ruth May instills hope as she plays silly children’s games with local children, and Leah’s passion for everything and everyone she loves deepens. Kingsolver writes with confidence, her “steady hands” crafting a story that ruthlessly covers painful topics in pursuit of establishing what she feels is the truth. Her novel is a thing of terrible beauty, a thing of appalling truths, a thing of loss and love and an endless amount of unknowns. Most importantly, however, it is a thing of total

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Set deep in the dense forests of Congo and in the heart of African culture, The Poisonwood Bible presents a story of the Price family and their revelations on confronting a different culture. In The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver presents the theme that women must overcome the naturally forming barriers that are created as a result of societal norms. The female characters of The Poisonwood Bible are oppressed by not only the rules of society but the chauvinistic and supercilious ways of the male, Nathan Price. Orleanna and Leah demonstrate the importance of making life altering choices in order to redeem themselves. Kingsolver demonstrates that by overcoming the barriers of societal and personal expectations, women are able to be empowered.

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Throughout the course of the book, Janie experiences oppression as a woman, revealing the hidden gender roles in American society that help form the American

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The speaker is uneducated, so the writing in the first person is readable for beginners as well as educated adults. Walker addresses the audience specifically to to create deeper imagery, where the audience can add their own experiences to the story, such as “You’ve no doubt seen those TV shows” (46). The speaker directly addresses the audience, and so anyone reading the story, whether a minority, or the majority, will be connected to the story. Purpose: Walker describes the impact of oppression on the relationship between mother and daughter, and how the oppressed view themselves.

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Kingston reveals another example of how defying gender roles can lead to a better life in her story “Shaman.” As her mom is

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Instead of accepting her mother’s perspective, Kingston merges reality with fantasy as she explores the possible personalities of her estranged relative. Instead of complying with the cultural belief that one must not bring dishonor to one's family, Kingston explores what would cause someone to “drown herself in the drinking water” (16). This strong language is a metaphor that suggests than women are destroyed by the very same thing that allows them to live. This dichotomy is presented in “White Tigers” as some talk-stories depict “swordswomen jump over houses from a standstill” (19) while others communicate that women must be demure. This inconsistent portrayal of gender roles depicts the narrator's struggle with identity.

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Many women in the book, such as Sarah has all of her children sold, and is acceptable with slavery. Some of the female’s children become objects used against them, as a way to control their mother. Overall kindred is an example by and about women of color. These stories demonstrate the complexities surrounding problem that affect women of color. Slavery, power, and motherhood are all themes from Kindred.

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Walker’s essay shows the dehumanization and abuse that black women have endured for years. She talks about how their creativity was stifled due to slavery. She also tells how black women were treated more like objects than human beings. They entered loveless marriages and became prostitutes because of the injustice upon them. Walker uses her mother’s garden to express freedom, not only for her but for all the black women who had been wronged.

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Afro-American women writers present how racism permeates the innermost recesses of the mind and heart of the blacks and affects even the most intimate human relationships. While depicting the corrosive impact of racism from social as well as psychological perspectives, they highlight the human cost black people have to pay in terms of their personal relationships, particularly the one between mother and daughter. Women novelists’ treatment of motherhood brings out black mothers’ pressures and challenges for survival and also reveals their different strategies and mechanisms to deal with these challenges. Along with this, the challenges black mothers have to face in dealing with their adolescent daughters, who suffer due to racism and are heavily influenced by the dominant value system, are also underlined by these writers. They portray how a black mother teaches her daughter to negotiate the hostile, wider world, and prepares her to face the problems and challenges boldly and confidently.

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Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.

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The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man.

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