A symbiotic relationship is mutual benefit and dependence between two people that may seem dissimilar, but can be achieved if they work together. In a relationship where people are depending on and supporting each other, they may begin to rely on each other to survive. In the Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver writes about the Wisteria Vine and Rhizobia. The Wisteria vine thrives in poor soil because of the Rhizobia, a bug that lives underground in the roots of the Wisteria. They turn the soil into fertilizer so that the vine can live. In turn the vine provides a home for the microscopic bugs. Like the Wisteria Vine and Rhizobia need the other, Kingsolver introduces characters that have symbiotic relationships which emphasizes the importance of …show more content…
They provide company, friendship and assistance for the other. Without having the other to lean on they wouldn't have as such strong people to be by their side. Edna keeps Virgie rudeness at bay. While at dinner with with Estevan and Esperanza, Virgie makes mean comments about immigrants. Edna repeatedly says “Virgie” to remind her to shut her mouth and telling her to mind her manners. She is used to Virgie bad manners and her voicing her bad opinions. Without Edna keeping her on track, it's unlikely that Virgie would have many friends that could put up with her being rude. In turn, Virgie provides assistance for Edna because of her blindness. When Taylor realizes that Edna is blind, she also realizes all the things Virgie does for Edna. Virgie’s tight grip on Edna’s elbow, her picking out red bobby pins for Edna, and Virgie the names of people when they enter a room. Edna Poppy and Virgie Mae take care of and support each other. Within Kingsolver’s story, some characters start out alone, but then made friends and created families. Lou Ann and Taylor help each other to better their lives by creating a family and making the other stronger. Turtle needs Taylor so she can live in a safe home with people to provide for her. Edna Poppy and Virgie Mae have each other care for. In a symbiotic relationship an organism learns to live with another and need each other to balance out their strengths and weaknesses in order to
It is a large topic of discussion whether legality or morality is more important. Barbara Kingsolver poses this debate in her book The Bean Trees. This book takes place in the 1980s in Putnam County, Kentucky, and begins with Taylor, the main character, leaving her old house behind to start fresh. Taylor does not get the fresh start she is looking for and instead is given an unwanted responsibility of raising a child. Along her journey to find home, Taylor meets many new friends who help her. Through the illegal ways that Turtle Esperanza and Estevan are taken in by Taylor and Mattie, Kingsolver proves that with regard to family, morality is more important than legality.
Abandonment plays a major role in Barbara Kingsolver's novel. It links all the characters together. Once one abandons, or is abandoned, they find someone else. They all help each other grow and become stronger. Even with something as horrible and hurtful as abandonment, hope can be found. Taylor explains it perfectly to Turtle when she talks about bean trees, "'There's a whole invisible system for helping out the plant that you'd never guess was there.' I loved this idea. 'It's just the same as with people. The way Edna has Virgie, and Virgie has Edna, and Sandi has Kid Central Station, and everyone has Mattie" (227-228). Everyone is linked together and each person has someone to help. This whole cycle is caused by abandonment. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver shows that can be hope and love found in any situation, even in abandonment.
Organisms in nature rely on one another for their well being. However, sometimes those organisms become greedy and decide to take in the relationship, instead of sharing with their symbiotic partner. Through this action, it takes on parasitic characteristics. In Toni Morrison's work, Sula, Sula Peace and Nel Wright demonstrate how a symbiotic relationship goes awry. When one partner betrays the other, by taking instead of giving, the other partner suffers. Nel and Sula's relationship suffers because Sula unfortunately takes actions that lead to partaking in a parasitic relationship where she begins to wither away. Nel refuses the parasitic lifestyle and relationship, which causes Sula to wither away. In the midst of her death, Sula finally realizes that she needs the symbiotic relationship with Nel to survive. The interactions between Sula and Nel began symbiotically; however, it develops into a parasitic one with the dependence of Sula on Nel.
A coon dog and a tick, an oak tree with moss on the north side, a termite and its internal bacteria, and a shark with tiny fish that eat the extra meat chunks in between the teeth all have one thing in common: symbiosis. Defined as the interdependence of organisms, symbiosis is the basis of the relationship between George and Lennie in “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. One type of symbiosis helps both parties while another type involves one organism being hurt by the exchange. The dog is hurt by the tick while the termites and the bacteria benefit from each other’s presence. These types of symbiosis can occur in humans and are evident in “Of Mice and Men.” Both types of symbiosis exist between George and Lennie in the novel.
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
Friendship has a big part to do with Lennie and George’s dream of owning a small farm and raising animals. George and Lennie both set their mind to accomplish their dream and go to work on a ranch for little pay. Another friend of George overhears George and Lennie talking about their idea, Candy offers to put in his monthly wage to buy the farm as long as he lives on it. Lennie and George have to go through many things on the farm and still stick together like brothers. Curley, the son of the boss, runs most of the ranch and has a mean attitude towards George and Lennie, George then realizes that no one cares for Lennie like he does. George and Curley’s wife create a strong bond throughout the book , but George wants nothing to do with it because he is there to accomplish his goal not to start relationships. Many factors in this book show a sense of friendship in some way.
There were many sacrificial elements that existed in The Bean Trees. Sacrifices that the characters in the novel made for the benefit of others or themselves. These sacrifices played a role almost as significant as some of the characters in the book. Some prime examples of these sacrifices are Mattie’s will to offer sanction to illegal immigrants, the fact that Taylor sacrificed the whole success of her excursion by taking along an unwanted, abused Native-American infant, and Estevan and Esperanza’s decision to leave behind their daughter for the lives of seventeen other teacher union members.
very upset and insists that they must observe less convenance if they want to keep up with society. He tries to get her to attend her sister's wedding, but she refuses. Leonce goes to New York on business, but Edna refuses to go with him. The children are with their grandparents so Edna enjoys her time alone. She starts an affair with Alcee Arobin. He introduces her to the importance of sex, which she did not enjoy with her husband. She closes up her house and moves to a smaller one. Upset, her husband puts a notice in the newspaper, which says that their house is being remodeled. He tries to hide Edna's strange behavior from his friends.
Taylor's fears In the story, The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingslover, we see a character named Taylor overcome several fears that she has. Taylor Greer, a woman who once saw a man being thrown several feet up into the air shortly after his tractor tire blew up, never really liked tires. She always seemed to think that the same thing might happen to her if she ever did something like, overfilling it too much with air. Her mom, who was fairly normal, decided to test Taylor's tire-changing skills shortly after she bought her ‘55 Volkswagen.
Scientists are perpetually astounded by the ability of plants to withstand environmental restrictions. Plants deprived of enough access to sunlight will grow in a direction towards the sun, an adaptation that often results in odd angles of stems or trunks, but ultimately allows the plant to receive the nourishment necessary to survive. In Mary Oliver’s poem The Black Walnut Tree, thee speaker must decide between selling her walnut tree to relieve a financial burden and keeping her walnut tree to reinforce her familial ties. Though the burdens of remaining connected to family are emotionally and financially warping, the basic human need to love conquers all obstacles. However, a measure of regret always remains
The Bean Trees is a novel which shows Taylor’s maturation; it is a bildungsroman story. Taylor is a developing or dynamic character. Her moral qualities and outlook undergo a permanent change. When the novel begins, Taylor is an independent-minded young woman embarking on an adventure to a new world. She has no cares or worries. She is confident in her abilities, and is determined to make it through life on her own. As she discovers new things and meets new people, Taylor is exposed to the realities of the world. She learns about the plight of abandoned children and of illegal immigrants. She learns how to give help and how to depend upon the help of others. As she interacts with others, those people are likewise affected by Taylor. The other developing characters are Lou Ann Ruiz, Turtle, and Esperanza. Together they learn the importance of interdependence and find their confidence.
In the novel, The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, we watch as Taylor grows a great deal. This young woman takes on a huge commitment of caring for a child that doesn't even belong to her. The friends that she acquired along the way help teach her about love and responsibility, and those friends become family to her and Turtle. Having no experience in motherhood, she muddles through the best she can, as all mothers do.
Gloria Naylor’s rewriting of the Humanistic hierarchy beautifully intertwines the main character’s, Mama Day, efforts to help others and challenge the common beliefs surrounding the Humanistic hierarchy by showing how the four features of the hierarchy, God, man, animals, and plants, are all connected. Gloria Naylor proposes the theme that there is no hierarchy at all , but rather each of the parts of the puzzle need one another to survive. Ironically, Mama Day uses such sources of plants and animals to help other characters in the novel, such as George, survive. With survival being a main theme of the hierarchy, (survival of the fittest) Mama Day proves that the only possible way to truly survive is through interconnectedness and appreciation
Lennie and George’s companionship meet and transcend all the needed requirements. They are a textbook example of loyal friends. They, together, are like peanut butter and jelly in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Lennie gives George someone to talk to and someone to keep him on track. George gives Lennie insight on the world and someone that will respect him even though he isn’t intelligent. They, more importantly, give each other something to live for. If George wouldn’t have met Lennie he would be a drunk in a whorehouse dying of cirrhosis. If Lennie didn’t meet George he would of died soon after his aunt did, because he would either have got himself in a bind with no one to help him or he would of simply wondered off and died of loneliness.
Often in nature organisms rely on one another to survive. Relationships in which each partner gives equally are called symbiotic. The two partners live harmoniously along side one another depending on each other but still have the ability to stand and act alone should they need to. However, these perfect relationships do not always exist. Sometimes, certain organisms take more than they give and as a result the other organism suffers. Those that do this are called parasites. In Toni Morrison's novel, Sula, Sula Peace and Nel Wright demonstrate a symbiotic relationship gone awry. The two start off learning from each other and giving to each other equally, but as they spend more time together Sula seems to thrive and Nel seems to wither away. The relationship does not continue in this manner for Nel realizes that in order to survive she must remove Sula from her life and reverse the negative effect of their relationship. Using the relationship that she develops between Nel and Sula, Morrison implies that codependence can be compromising to oneself, suggesting that if one cannot stand on their own the result will be fatal.