The Bean Trees Reflective Paragraph 1 Throughout the reading of The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, I noticed a numerous amount of times where Lou Ann seemed to somewhat change her personality in some way or another and I started to wonder why throughout different situations in the novel, she would do this. As we all know, Lou Ann is one of the sweetest, well-mannered young lady in this novel who also has high respect and a lot of worrisome towards her family. When I first realized that she was having a hard time with self-confidence, I couldn’t quite figure out why until later on when I realized that she was sacrificing herself for others constantly. This is where I understood more about how she was having a hard time standing up and …show more content…
As I look back, I still feel somewhat sorry and thankful for where I stand today as an individual. In Chapter 9 (Ismene), there was a scene where a method of torture during interrogation was using an old style telephone as a crank to get answers while being tortured. I couldn’t ever imagine being tortured like this and if I was ever in a situation where I was, more than likely I would do everything in my power to stop it from happening. I remember reading “They disconnect the receiver wires and tape the two ends to your body” and imagining the process of that and how that is so cruel to do to another human being. Although this is a method of torture to get answers from someone, I still can’t figure out why it was brought up in the book. All I can think of is maybe that’s how it was back then; but then again I thought that wouldn’t there just be a death penalty. I feel that a death penalty would’ve been more appropriate since it’s either life or death depending on how you go about answering the questions. Torture just seems a little bit harsh in my opinion, but I did like how the author brought that way up and demonstrated how it was used as it clearly got my attention, and most definitely my
In The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, three characters in particular undergo a catharsis, each in their own way: Esperanza, Turtle, and Taylor. This paper will focus on the change on the development of the character Esperanza, showing the suffering and difficulties, she has undergone and how through a catharsis, this suffering was ameliorated.
There are many relationships in bean trees, and the author focuses on females and their family relationships. Taylor and Turtle is one of the main major part in the book. For example, when Tylor first meet turtle, they leave as a new form of family. Most people think family is people who are related with you in blood like parents, sisters, and brothers. However, family is more than that, what family mean is love, care, and you feel safe with them. When Taylor moved in with Lou Ann and her son, her family becomes even bigger than before. They support and help each other in difficult situations by sharing their experiences. Taylor makes many risks to keep turtle with her as a family. She starts taking care of her, and make sure that she is safe. The major theme in the beam trees was family formed, and Tylor starts consider Turtle her family when she start taking care of her appearance, taking care of her heath, and making sure she is safe.
Summer comes and goes in the blink of an eye. The poem “Snapping Beans” by Lisa Parker, shows the struggles of a young girl going through college. The young girl’s grandmother says “it’s funny how things blow loose like that.” As a hickory leaf skids by on the porch that is still summer green. From all of the context clues provided, one can draw the conclusion that the hickory leaf represents the young girl falling away from her rustic roots.
Written by Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees contains characters who demonstrate how living creatures are able to find methods of growing and transforming, despite unusual arrangements or lifestyle. Throughout the novel, in the chapters “The One to Get Away” and “Dream Angels” the use of motifs are greatly emphasized. Rebirth is one of the two important motifs, as the pattern of life and death is repeated in the novel. Frequently, this theme is connected with dualities: when one member of a pair passes, the other gains life force. Newt Hardbine represents as some sort of double for Taylor, in the chapter
In The Bean Trees, Taylor is consistently faced with a lack of choice. She decides to leave home, but on her way she stops at a bar and a woman puts a child in her car and leaves before Taylor can stop her. When she gets to a motel “[she] pulled off the pants and the diapers there were more bruises. Bruises and worse.” (31) The child abandoned had been sexually molested, making raising her a much harder burden since the child had experienced “a kind of misery [Taylor] could not imagine.” (31) Yet although the child, who Taylor names Turtle, is “just somebody [she] got stuck with” (70), she cares for her and she becomes like her own child. However, finding work and raising a child isn’t easy and “[she] was starting to go a little bit crazy. This is how it is when all the money you have can fit in one pocket, and you have no job, and no prospects.” (66) Taylor also realizes “that [her] whole life had been running along on dumb luck and [she] hadn’t even noticed.” She hadn’t been making any choices, just running with whatever life threw her way. Taylor finally realizes her luck has run out when she learns “[i]f a child has no legal guardian she becomes a ward of the state.” Turtle was not legally adopted by Taylor and therefore she could be taken away. Taylor now has the choice to either fight for Turtle or give up, but Taylor is convinced she doesn’t have a choice at all. Her friend Lou Ann calls her out on this, claiming “there’s got to be some way around them taking her, and
Anaïs Nin dared to question the norm of society; she asked “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 Tucson, Arizona. Most women end up pregnant and dependent on their spouse just like Lou Anne. Both of these protagonists learn from each other to improve their lifestyles. Women are not dependent on men; life is what you decide to do not society’s trends.
Let’s say that someone handed you something unexpected. It could be anything: a computer, book, even a guitar! However, what if it was something of great value? What if it was a baby that was handed to you? Odds are, you’d probably freak out and hand the baby over to the authorities or something similar to that. But not Taylor Greer in the novel The Bean Trees! The words that Barbara Kingsolver chooses to use show a tone of informality and humor.
A Coherent Community Community is the bond between groups of people that solidifies our humanity and binds us together. Throughout the book the bean trees, there is an abundance of community as separate groups conjoin to a seemingly unlikely family. The characters bind together in the sense that they all contribute to make the group as a whole better. The most prominent characters that are guilty of helping others are Taylor, Lou Ann, Mattie, Estevan and Esperanza. One example of a family in the bean trees is Taylor and Lou Ann.
Lou Ann is a character that was introduced in the second chapter. Lou Ann is single and has a son whom she loves. Lou Ann met Taylor later on with the book and got in a huge mutual
Every ten seconds, a new report of child abuse is recorded. An estimated 702,000 children are victims of child maltreatment, and this number is not slowing. (CITE) The Bean Trees is a Novel written by Barbara Kingsolver. The story focuses on one teenage girl named Taylor, whose only goals are to graduate high school and not become pregnant. When Taylor leaves her small hometown in Kentucky to clear the slate and start a new life, she is suddenly forced into a situation she would never have imagined. A woman approaches her in a low-lying diners parking lot and hands her a small child. Taylor takes the child, raises her as her own, and names her Turtle. While giving Turtle a bath in a lonely motel, Taylor begins to notice bruises and bumps all over Turtle, and comes to the conclusion that Turtle was abused with whomever she was with before Taylor. “There was a bruise twice the size of my thumb on its inner arm” (Kingsolver 30). Farther into the story, Taylor brings Turtle to a doctor who informs her that Turtle has many fractures in spirals, and officially diagnoses the child with “Failure to Thrive.” Turtle has shown many developmental problems, and Taylor desperately seeks to find
In the famous poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, America is deemed a land of “world wide welcome” for those who seek a new place to call home. The Statue of Liberty is established early on in the piece as a symbol of freedom and protection, a statue symbolic of the spirit of America. In the piece, Lazarus refers to immigrants as the “poor, huddled masses” to whom the United States offers a pair of open “golden doors.” However, many immigrants today feel far removed from the land of freedom referenced in The New Colossus. The promise of a blue sky with endless possibilities is far from reality for the Americans that the poem calls the huddled masses. It is clear that America’s promise of freedom and opportunity, characterized by the
“You have a face only a mother could love” Although a harsh insult this is for most mothers a very true statement. A mother’s love is something that you will probably not experience until you have your very own children. Motherhood can be a very sentimental topic in literature, especially when there is conflict with a child and their mother figure. In the book The Bean Trees there are several mother figures that each express their love for their child, even going great lengths for them. Throughout the many great themes of The Bean Trees this one by far sticks out the most because the book is mainly about a mother taking care of her child, that isn’t even hers, making many sacrifices to give her the best life possible. The main character,
In the News Week article from 1982 Michael Levin an American philosopher and university professor, presents his premises and his conclusion to why he personally believes that torture is morally permissible. In addition Levin’s expects others to understand why such thing as torture is a permissible act that everyone should incorporate as a morally acceptable act. To commence, Levin presents his topic by presenting the usual though that torture may seem barbaric; however, he then diverts to his issue, in which he personally states his believe in the quote “There are situations in which torture is not merely permissible but morally mandatory.” Then, Levin moves on to explain his reasons for why he believes in such moral claim. For
Author use many symbolism in the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. She uses symbolism because it makes it easier for readers to understand the deeper meaning or feeling of the character or the events that are happening. For example, author uses the symbolism of bean trees as transformation and Ismene as the abandoned children to show the deeper meaning of them.
In this experiment, I tested the theory of how light would affect the growth of a bean plant. According to gardenguides.com, lack of light is detrimental to plant growth.”Plants that don't get enough light don't have the resources they require, and fail to bloom or fruit.” It is also stated that every plant will need a different strength of sunlight such as full sun, partial sun, or indirect sunlight (also known as full shade). Plants that receive inadequate amounts of sunlight will not thrive.The reasoning behind this is due to a process called Photosynthesis, stated in gardeningknowhow.com. Photosynthesis is a chemical process which converts energy in the form of light into a chemical energy which is a vital food source for plants to thrive.