The Bean Trees Chapter Summary

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 from Marietta, she decides to stop at a bar to get a bite to eat. When she gets back into her car, a woman puts a baby in her car and tells her that she, herself, is the sister of the mother and to take the child; then, she leaves with no further explanation.

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.

How The Bean Trees is a coming of age themed novel In The Bean Trees Taylor and Lou Ann struggle to come of age, or mature, with these two being very important characters I believe a major theme of the book is coming of age. There are many pieces of evidence to support this claim, therefore I will provide them. Our first example would have to be Taylor’s journey throughout the book.

In the 20th century novel, “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver, the two protagonists are Taylor Greer and Lou Ann Ruiz. These two have very opposing character traits. In chapter four, to introduce each character, Kingsolver changes the narrators voice from Taylor’s first person narrative, to an unknown third-person narrative. This shows Taylor’s upbeat personality versus Lou Ann’s more fearful and pessimistic views.

Unique Title Francie Nolan was a very special girl who went through a lot and still kept living her life normally. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, by Betty Smith is about a young girl named Francie and her family troubles. Her family troubles are very hard. Her father is a drunk and doesn't give her mother enough money to sustain them, so her mother also has to work. Her mother is beautiful and everyone in their neighborhood pity's her for have married Johnny Nolan (Francie father) and Francie has a lot going on with her family with just this, but there is more to the story.

In The Bean Tree, Taylor grows as a person through the choices she makes.(how do these things help Taylor grow as a person) Taylor is talking about how she doesn't want to be like anyone else in her town and wants to make her own path. "I stayed in school. I was not the smartest or even particularly outstanding but I was there and staying out of trouble and I intended to finish.

Another example of how immigrants are mistreated is usually when they come to America. Although America is usually advertised as a “safe heaven” or “land of opportunity”, it could also be a very cruel and difficult place for foreigners to try and fit in. There was a part in the infamous book Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck where Crooks was not allowed to play cards or even sit at the same table as the other men because he was black (not originally from America). This example depicts how poorly immigrants can be treated in a so-called “land of opportunity”. The novel The Bean Trees written by Barbara Kingsolver contains yet another great example.

In the Bean Tree men see what they want to see but don't see it from a woman's perspective. Lou Ann is on a bus and she is reading a pamphlet about woman's pregnancy. “On the bus she decided it must have something to do with the fact that the pamphlets were put together by men, who in her opinion liked the looks of a mother and baby better than a pregnant woman. She was fairly sure about this. On the bus, for instance, several men would stand up to offer her a seat, but they wouldn't quite look at her.

In my own personal opinion, motherhood does not sound like an easy thing. I mean, think about it, all the responsibilities and precautions you have to take when it comes to taking care of a child. In The Bean Trees, Taylor takes on the role of a mother when she is given a child by a strange woman at a bar in Oklahoma. Even though this child was not legally hers, Taylor decided to care for Turtle.

As a person who doesn’t necessarily read on a regular basis, this intrigues me to learn more about Kingsolver. A development that she showed was about that anyone can do something you never thought you’d be good at. They way she portrays herself from being a girl who had no idea she’d become a writer to being a successful one and thoroughly enjoying it now, reminds me of myself. Her thinking process of writing novels or journals captivated my perspective of her, and is making me want to read her book. As mentioned, she wrote her The Bean Trees in her closet because of her insomnia.