The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver - 746 Words

Birds are a personal symbol for Turtle’s development. Throughout the novel, birds are tied to Turtle and major events in her life. Turtle makes her first sound when the car stops suddenly to avoid a family of quail. â€Å"I slammed on the brakes and we all pitched forward†¦ ‘I think that sound was a laugh’...In the road up ahead there was a quail, the type that has one big feather spronging out the front of its head like a forties-model ladies hat. We could just make out that she was dithering back and forth in the road, and then we gradually could see that there were a couple dozen babies running around her every which way† (Kingsolver 106-107). Turtle and Taylor have become comfortable as a family and Turtle has recovered from her previous trauma to the point that she makes audible noises and expresses herself. Just as the family of Taylor and Turtle has brought joy to the lives of Lou Ann, Mattie, Esperanza and Estevan, this disruptive family of bir ds bring joy and laughter to Taylor and Turtle. When Taylor takes Turtle to the doctor and learns the extent of Turtle’s abuse, she sees a bird that has made its nest inside a cactus. â€Å"I looked through the bones to the garden on the other side. There was a cactus with bushy arms and a coat of yellow spines as thick as fur. A bird had built her nest in it. In and out she flew among the horrible spiny branches, never once hesitating. You just couldnt imagine how shed made a home in there† (Kingsolver 137-138). Just as the bird hasShow MoreRelatedThe Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver Essay1520 Words   |  7 PagesIn The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver uses characters and symbols to show that families are not genetically made up, rather built from love and support. As Kingsolver establishes the dynamic roles of Taylor Greer upon meeting Turtle and Lou Ann Ruiz throughout the novel, she also includes the symbolic significance of the rhizobia to illuminate the message o f The Bean Trees. Kingsolver structures Taylor’s dynamic behaviors in ways that explain the definition of family. She appeals to the reader thatRead MoreThe Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver1342 Words   |  6 PagesMotherhood in the Bean Trees The book The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, is a coming of age story about a young girl, Taylor, that is thrust into motherhood when a baby is left in her car. Taylor however, is not the only example of a mother in the story. There is Lou Ann and Esperanza, both literal mothers, but only one of them has their child to take care of. There is Mattie, one of the first people that Taylor meet in Tucson, and who becomes almost a surrogate-mother for both her, and alsoRead MoreThe Bean Trees, By Barbara Kingsolver1858 Words   |  8 Pagessixteenth birthday †¦ nobody could understand about Scotty †¦ But the way I see it is, he just didn’t have anybody. †¦ It was like we were all the animals on Noah’s ark that came in pairs, except of his kind there was only one† (Kingsolver 132-4). In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel The Bean Trees, Taylor mentions to Estevan her classmate Scotty Richey’s suicide. She explains that although her school had a very distinct social hierarchy, people within a class had each other for company. Scotty, however, had nobodyRead MoreThe Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver1281 Words   |  6 Pages Not Dependent Anaà ¯s Nin dared to question the norm of society; she asked â€Å"how wrong is it for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself?† The two main characters in the novel, The Bean Trees, written by Barbara Kingsolver, are two young women who share a common struggle, Taylor Greer and Lou Anne Ruiz. The book changes protagonist between Taylor and Lou Anne whom are complete opposites. However they both deal with their hardships together in TucsonRead MoreCharacters In The Bean Trees By Barbara Kingsolver1043 Words   |  5 Pagesof the characters in The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. The Bean Trees is a tale of a girl named Taylor, who receives a baby from a stranger who is in need of help, this childs name is Turtle. Turtle helps Taylor enjoy the journey of motherhood and Taylor helps Turtle end her journey to find her parents and then Taylor drives Estevan and Esperanza to Cherokee land and Estevan unintentionally helps Taylor get through her dislike in men. Throughout the story, Kingsolver develops a message, thatRead MoreBean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver Essay599 Words   |  3 PagesWithin the novel Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, the reader is introduced to a young women named Marietta, Missy, and she later on renames herself Taylor. Taylor story is much like a coming of age story, and she many new lessons along the roads of life. She learns how to deal with unforeseen troubles, phobias, and the many forms of love, and because these inner actions she learned to see a new outlook on life. Taylor started off as a young country girl in Pittman Country, and was traumatizedRead MoreInequality In The Bean Trees And Hard Times By Barbara Kingsolver1512 Words   |  7 PagesInequality is a hardship that most women experience in their daily life or workplace. The article, â€Å"Let’s expose the gender pay gap† by the New York Times, â€Å"Hard Times† by E. Royston Pike, and the novel, â€Å"The Bean Trees† by Barbara Kingsolver, all represent the struggles females endure by their colleagues or powerful people around them. Women have suffered from inequality in the workplace for as long as we have been alive because we are considered the weaker sex. Often times the adversity a personRead MoreTransformations in The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver Essay1411 Words   |  6 PagesWhen thinking of birds, visualizing them building their nests in cacti certainly isnt the first thing that comes to mind. In the book, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolve r, metaphorically everyone is constantly building their nests in cacti, and evolving from their experiences. From living in attics to taking trips across the country with no destination, characters in this book dont live what society considers the â€Å"conventional American lifestyle.† Growing and thriving in unexpected and unusualRead MoreTaylors Life Choices in The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver783 Words   |  4 PagesIn The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, protagonist Taylor Greer is not your average teenage girl from Pittman, Kentucky. Taylor refuses to remain in her hometown forever, which only leads to teenage pregnancy and motherhood until death. On a mission to escape Pittman’s stereotypical teenage girl image, she buys a ‘55 Volkswagen and embarks on a journey west. Just when she thinks she is home free, Taylor is left with an abandoned three-year-old American Indian girl. Ironically, Taylor ends upRead MoreTraditional Gender Roles In The Bean T rees By Barbara Kingsolver1609 Words   |  7 PagesBarbara Kingsolver’s modern romance, The Bean Trees, tells the story of a young woman named Taylor Greer. Taylor is born in a small rural town and â€Å"gets away† so she can do bigger and better things. While driving cross-country, a woman leaves her a small child. Taylor raises names and raises this child, Turtle. She moves in with another single mom and works for Mattie, a woman who smuggles refugees. Taylor has multiple moments of lost innocence as she learns the true evils of the world, and she uses