In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Bean Trees, one major social issue that Kingsolver attempts to educate her readers on is xenophobia. Virgie, a character in the novel, is someone Kingsolver uses to demonstrate the presence and effect of xenophobia. During a dinner party with Virgie and Estevan, a refugee working at a restaurant owned by Chinese immigrants, Estevan mentions how he “work[s] with a very kind family who speak only Chinese.” (Kingsolver 111) In response, Virgie “mutter[s] that she thought this was a disgrace,” as Virgie believes that immigrants “ought to stay put in their own dirt, not come here taking up jobs.” (Kingsolver 111) Nonetheless, Taylor, the narrator, observes that “Estevan didn’t seem perturbed, and [she] realized