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The Bean Trees Character Analysis

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Life Brings Out the Best Differences in People Ultimately, experiences shape who a person is and who they become. In Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Bean Trees, three characters, Taylor, Lou Ann, and Mattie, all go through contrasting circumstances, molding them into different people. However, their comparable situations do create some similarities. Taylor is an independent woman who leaves her home in Kentucky and makes a new life for herself in Arizona with a child that is not her own. Lou Ann is also from Kentucky, but undergoes different events, like divorcing her husband and having a baby. Additionally, Mattie is a strong woman who runs her own business, Jesus is Lord Used Tires, and is heavily involved with helping illegal immigrants …show more content…

After Taylor comes home one day to Lou Ann calling out names to Turtle, Taylor says, “It’s not like we’re a family, for Christ’s sake. You’ve got your own life to live, and I’ve got mine. You don’t have to do all this stuff for me” (89). Taylor sees her life as herself against the world. She has never really had a real family, so at first, she is apprehensive when it comes to calling herself, Turtle, Lou Ann, and Dwayne Ray a family. Taylor lives her life on her own; she leaves Kentucky by herself and tries to care for Turtle by herself. However, by the end of the novel, Taylor finally accepts losing some of her independence and admits that she has formed a family with Lou Ann. Kingsolver demonstrates that it is right for someone to accept help when they need it. Yet, Lou Ann foils Taylor and goes through the opposite transformation: she gains more independence. She finally stops depending on Angel and gets a job. After receiving a package from Angel, Lou Ann talks about her new responsibilities, and Taylor says, “In just three week’s time, she had been promoted to floor manager, setting some kind of company record” (165). Once Lou Ann gets a job at Red Hot Mama’s salsa factory, she devotes herself to her job and excels at it. At work, she realizes that she does not need to constantly depend …show more content…

Mattie is the best example of a woman being able to do anything on which she focuses. After Taylor goes to Jesus is Lord Used Tires for the first time and sees Mattie, she says, “I had never seen a woman with this kind of know-how. It made me feel proud, somehow” (45). Mattie has sort of a masculine identity when it comes to working at Jesus is Lord Used Tires and fixing cars. Although the stereotype is that working in a car garage is a man’s job, Mattie crushes the stereotype and establishes herself as a strong and powerful woman, remaining static in this trait for the entire novel. Kingsolver wants women to know that they can do anything if they try hard

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