The Bean Trees Essays

  • Feminism In The Bean Trees

    853 Words  | 4 Pages

    be powerful if they are willing to take it instead of waiting for it to be granted to them. Feminism and the power of women is not only a controversial topic in society, but it is also a popular motif in one of Barbara Kingsolver’s novels. In The Bean Trees, a major theme of her novel is that women are free to break the standards set by men and be independent from men. Early in the novel, Taylor’s car has some flat tires coming into town. She stops by a used tire shop and meets the owner, Mattie to

  • Morality In The Crucible And The Bean Trees

    1151 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the works The Bean Trees, The Crucible, and I have a Dream, the societies are immoral because there are rules and laws that make the society unjust. In the works the authors depict what they define as moral and build plots to heroicize those who rise against immorality, even though the society accepts it. In The Bean Trees, Mattie instructs Taylor that we, the people, have an obligation to help those who are at risk or in danger. She puts her own life on the line and risks it all in order to save

  • Toxic Relationships In The Bean Trees

    1284 Words  | 6 Pages

    fix it. In the book The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, the characters Taylor and Lou Ann are great friends living in Arizona. In Matt de la Peña’s Mexican Whiteboy, Danny and Uno become good friends during one summer while playing baseball. In Amy Tan’s short story “Two Kinds”, a girl and her mother struggle to keep up good relations between them. All of these texts have great examples of signs of good and toxic relationships. The

  • Plot And Suspense Of The Bean Trees

    428 Words  | 2 Pages

    instant response is absolutely. The Bean Trees was a book I would read ten times and recommend to a friend if they were looking for a book that would keep them reading. The interesting plot and suspense of this novel is what I believe made it a great read. When I first began reading the novel, I will admit it had a slow start, but most novels do start out that way so I had to be willing to give it a chance. As things picked up, it became clear to me that The Bean Trees was a journey novel. I really started

  • Missy Changes In The Bean Trees

    565 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Missy, The novel’s main character changes. Said changes are what defines Missy as a whole. These changes occur as a result of Obstacles she comes across and conquers. Such obstacles drive on these changes through either fear or just a lack of will, suppressing her mind and then being confronted with a need for change The reader can see Missy’s first transition when she has a change of heart in the people of Pittman County. We see another one towards her feeling

  • Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

    1420 Words  | 6 Pages

    girls will be pregnant before the age of twenty which averages to around 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.” Out of those teen mothers only around half of those women graduate high school ("11 Facts About Teen Pregnancy") McKenzie. Throughout The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Taylor or Missy, is faced with becoming a statistic, even after she fought so hard not to be, and the reader sees the highs and lows of being a single mother. Teen pregnancy rates have changed since the 1980’s-when the book

  • The Bean Trees Character Analysis

    1017 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Bean Trees, Taylor represents a bildungsroman character. A bildungsroman story is a coming of age story that consists of four stages. In the first stage of a bildungsroman character’s journey, she experiences a loss or painful experience that drives her to start a new life. The character goes through a baptismal rite in the second stage, which always involves water. The character endures many difficult trials in the third stage, but ends up gaining a new insight

  • Examples Of Epiphany In The Bean Trees

    637 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Bean Trees Major epiphanies are found in “The Bean Trees.” The characters, Taylor and Lou Ann, both have a major epiphany. Taylor’s epiphany is that a community is necessary for her. After Taylor and Turtle rent a room at the Hotel Republic and Taylor's money is gone, Taylor knows that she has to get a job to support herself and Turtle; however, she is wondering how she will be able to afford childcare for Turtle. After Taylor moves in with Lou Ann, she finds a community. Taylor learns over

  • Immigrants In Barbra Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

    773 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever wondered what all immigrants have in common? In the Bean Trees by Barbra Kingsolver it tells about some immigrants from Guatemala. The immigrant experience is classified by not giving up, escaping a past worse life, and making sacrifices. In the bean trees it follows Esparanza, and Estevan two immigrants from Guatemala. They left Guatemala because they wanted to get a better life. They were apart of a teachers union, they're headquarters were raided by the government because unions

  • Summary Of The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver

    693 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kamerin Litten Analysis and Overview of the Works of Barbara Kingsolver The work of Barbara Kingsolver in The Bean Trees, a heartwarming, funny, touching debut as reflected in the novel's own sequel Pigs in Heaven, opens in rural Kentucky. The main character, Taylor Greer is gutsy and practical. She decides she wants to make her escape to a more interesting life, leaving her small hometown. After a woman puts a baby in the front seat of Taylor’s car, telling her to take it, she names

  • Nontraditional Families In The Bean Trees

    982 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the book “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver, there are many examples of nontraditional families. Your traditional nuclear family would consist of a father, mother, a child maybe two. You do not see that in “The Bean Trees”. One example of a nontraditional family would be before Taylor and her mother Alice before Taylor left Kentucky. Then another nontraditional family would be Estevan and Esperanza. The final nontraditional family would be Taylor, Turtle, Lou Ann, and Dwayne Ray. Taylor

  • The Bean Trees Character Analysis

    707 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, there are many characters that come from different backgrounds and have different personalities. Turtle is a three year old, Native American child who is picked up in Cherokee Nation, OK and moves to Tucson, AZ, where she develops an obsession with plants. Taylor is a young woman originally from Kentucky who moves to Tucson to pursue a different life. On her way, she picks up Turtle and later adopts her. Esperanza, a Guatemalan immigrant, is quiet and shy

  • Women In Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

    1661 Words  | 7 Pages

    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

  • Analysis Of Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

    1265 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Bean Trees was published to an enthusiastic reception in 1988 and received an American Library Association award in that year (Demarr). In the novel, The main character, Taylor Greer leaves her hometown of rural Kentucky in search of a better life. Along her Journey she faces many difficulties and made long lasting relationships. Taylor never lost hope and remained optimistic. In The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver establishes the theme of hope for the future through the use of similes, motifs

  • Analysis Of The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver

    1569 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Bean Trees “The Bean Trees” was written by Barbara Kingsolver, a novelist, poet, and essayist. She was born on April 8, 1955. Kingsolver was raised in eastern Kentucky but now resides in Tucson, Arizona with her husband and children. The purpose of “The Bean Trees” is to inform people of the hardships of the real world and to promote social change. As a matter of fact, this novel was published in the United States during eighties but 1988, to be exact. The significance of the 80s is that literature

  • Analysis Of The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver

    755 Words  | 4 Pages

    One's voyage to self-satisfaction and comprehension cannot achieve all alone. Dependably there must have different impacts to aid one little seed to develop and flourish. Throughout The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver depicts the setting in order to provide insight into Taylor Greer, a protagonist who struggles with discovering her true identity, through her journey to self-satisfaction. Taylor’s experience in Pittman, Kentucky, the trip to Tucson, Arizona and last but not least Cherokee Nation helps

  • Analysis Of The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver

    756 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, the main character, Taylor Greer, leaves home in hopes of adventure and something new from her home in rural Kentucky. Five years after high school, she saves enough money for herself to get an old Volkswagen bug; however, little does she know that her trip will leave her with permanent responsibilities and new friends whom she never imagined she'd meet. When Taylor's car runs out of gas in Taylorville, the place of where she changed her name to Taylor

  • Motherhood In The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver

    481 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The Bean Trees,” by Barbara Kingsolver, is a novel surrounding the life of Taylor Greer as she travels west while discovering the hardships of motherhood due to raising a three-year-old American Indian child named Turtle. Although Taylor grew up in Kentucky, she travels west to Tucson, Arizona, in which she moves in with Lou Ann and finally embarks on the journey that is her life. It is evident that feminism and womanhood is a central theme throughout this novel, as both Lou Ann and Taylor have

  • Women In The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver

    1521 Words  | 7 Pages

    gasoline for their cars or embarrassing oneself in front of others. What is often over looked is the harassment and hypersexualization of women all over the world, twenty-four seven, seven days a week. Barbara Kingsolver in her work of fiction, The Bean Trees, has given readers all over the world an insight of few realistic women’s struggles in the revolutionized world. The book follows main character Taylor Greer as she deals with having an unknown baby handed to her through starting over her life.

  • Character Analysis: The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver

    1615 Words  | 7 Pages

    distinction between a positive and negative characteristic in a relationship, the connection between two people could be ruined. In order to have a mutually beneficial relationship, there should be some characteristics to follow. In the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, Taylor Greer escapes a small town life to embark on a journey. She went through high school by avoiding pregnancy and getting herself a job working at a hospital. After she saves herself enough money, she decides to go on