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Narrative description about poverty
Thesis for bean trees
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A New Beginning “The Bean Trees” one of the best-selling novels written by Barbara Kingsolver writes a story about a girl by the name Marietta who leaves home in hopes of starting a new life. Marietta who avoided pregnancy her high school years, which was very common to happen finishes school and gets a job at a hospital after about 5 years she saves enough money for an old car to finally leave Kentucky and start a new life. Starting a new life meant she wanted to have a new name. She chooses the name after stalling at a town in in which she took the name after.
After doing so she runs into a lady at a bar who hands her a child. Scared and appalled she takes the child with her and later discovered she was sexually and physically abused. Struggling to being a mother and trying to
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Later on in the story after trying to live on her own with turtle and getting a job at a burger derby and getting fired she decides to find a roommate. Her and turtle have been getting along and Taylor is becoming more like a mother to her. She has looked for a couple of places to live but none really suit her that well. The last house she visits belonged to Lou Ann Ruiz whose husband(angel) left her and she now lives on her own with her new born baby. After getting to know each other for 10 minutes Taylor and Lou Ann immediately find a connection between one another. “ We had already established that our hometowns in Kentucky were separated by only two counties” (p.96) here both similar yet different characters tie into one main idea “home” Lou Ann and Taylor coming from different lives and people actually find out they are very similar and happen to both be from Kentucky. To Taylor Arizona is such a different atmosphere but yet still finds someone who ties into her old hometown, which brings out their similarities of the beans and
Joy Williams, the author of “The Farm” was born and raised in Portland, Maine. She attended and graduated from Marietta College and from there went on to earn a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. In recognition of her writing, she was the recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story in 2016. Growing up, she was the daughter of a minister and as such, she often incorporated a religious theme in her novels, essays, and short stories. Similar to Jesus, Williams’ style was to present her stories in the form of parables in the hope of getting an important message across to her readers.
The Arizona atmosphere was visibly different in both literal and nonliteral ways from Kentucky. Taylor’s lifestyle would have been drastically contrasting with how she thrived in her new home of Tucson. Apart from having a night and day experience at maternity, and getting a fresh start at life on her own, Taylor also met a new group of people who changed her in many ways. Lou Ann, who molded her into a better mother, Mattie, who helped her to overcome fears, Esperanza, though she spoke very little, managed to open Taylor’s eyes the horrors of a life she would never have to experience, and finally Turtle, who made Taylor realize what she loved most in life. Pittman, Kentucky did not have any of these individuals to teach the protagonist of this story.
In the beginning of the story we see that Taylor is an average teenage girl living with a single mother. She says, “But I stayed in school. I was not the smartest or even particularly outstanding but I was there and staying out of trouble” (3). She was called “Missy” for a lot of her childhood but when she was three she said, “I stamped my foot and told my mother not to call me Marietta but Miss Marietta” (2). From Taylor’s childhood I find that she had a sense of personal pride and could defend herself. These really are great attributes and we really see these attributes grow more and mature throughout the story.
Running Head: THE BEAN TREES. Abstract This book report deals with the Native American culture and how a girl named Taylor got away from what was expected of her as part of her rural town in Pittman, Kentucky. She struggles along the way with her old beat up car and gets as far west as she can. Along the way, she takes care of an abandoned child which she found in the backseat of her car and decides to take care of her.
They say that growing up is hard to do, and it certainly was for Taylor Greer, which is why she couldn't wait to leave her home in Pittman County, Kentucky. The novel, The Bean Trees, written by Barbara Kingsolver, follows Taylor's story of growing up, leaving home, and accepting responsibility. Along the way Taylor is given a child, Turtle, and she struggles with accepting the responsibility of raising a child. Kingsolver's choices for point of view, setting, conflict, theme, characterization, and style throughout the plot help create an uplifting story about love and what it means to be a family.
Taylor stuns, “But neither of us could interpret the significance of Turtle’s first word. It was ‘bean’” (p.130). Clearly, this represents that Turtle is now a normal kid, and she is developing with the support of Taylor. Also, she is now growing in a better environment than her past; obtaining happiness from Taylor’s friends’ better lifestyle and talking of the people she lives with like in Lou Ann’s house and Mattie’s friendliness. In this case, the “bean” is a metaphorical expression that compares Turtle’s life and the bean itself. Taylor explains, “The wisteria vines were a week or two past full bloom… ‘Bean trees,’ she said… Some of the wisteria flowers had gone to seed, and all these wonderful long green pods hung down from the branches” (p.192,193-194). We can see that this perfectly illustrates the progress of a bean growing itself into long green pods like how Turtle is progressively opening up herself and feeling secure in this place. Similarly, the vines will start to bloom up after a few weeks in a suitable condition and will eventually become bigger. Finally, receiving the adoption certificate is also an important moment in Taylor’s
In the short story “The Chrysanthemums” John Steinbeck uses symbolism to reflect the characteristics of his main character Elisa Allen. Elisa, a married woman uncovers her deeply smothered femininity in an inconspicuous sense. Her life in the valley had become limited to housewife duties and the only sustenance that seemed to exist could merely be found in her chrysanthemum garden. Not until she becomes encountered with a remote tinker-man out and about seeking for work, does she begin to reach many of the internal emotions that had long inhibited her femininity. The tinker subtlety engages an interest in Elisa’s chrysanthemum garden that encourages Elisa to react radically. When Elisa realizes that there are other ways to live she attempts to lift the lid off of the Salinas Valley, but unfortunately the tinker’s insincere actions resort Elisa back to her old self and leaves Elisa without any optimism for her hollow breakthrough. Steinbeck’s somber details of the setting, strong description of the chrysanthemums and meaningful illustration of the red flower-pot reveal the distant, natural, ambitions Elisa Allen desired to attain.
This short story was published during the aftermath of the women’s rights movement and during WW2. John Steinbeck cared about the political and societal malpractices and portrayed his views in his writings. This short story belongs in a collection called The Long Valley.
Throughout life many are faced with obstacles that are difficult to overcome. These obstacles can change a person and their life as shown in The Samurai’s Garden, by Gail Tsukiyama. In the novel Matsu and Sachi go through life on a difficult path before finding happiness. When looking at Matsu’s and Sachi’s gardens, one can see that they are a representation of their lives, which is important because the gardens represent their personalities and struggles in their lives.
Diane von Furstenberg once stated “I wanted to be an independent woman, a woman who could pay for her bills, a woman who could run her own life.” Independence plays a big role in being able to be successful in life. Taylor, a girl that can be described as “different ,” is a person who is a strong believer in doing things by herself. She moved out when she learned how to drive and never went back. She gains a child and soon settles down in Tucson Arizona, where she starts her own life. In the novel The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, there are many obstacles Taylor goes through to set the theme of independence.
How does the extract affect the whole story? (The Persimmon Tree by Marjorie Barnard) Extract: “I liked the room from the first… anyone who appeared to have her life so perfectly under control. ” Question: How does the extract affect the whole story? The writer of the story “The Persimmon Tree”, Marjorie Barnard, was born in Sydney. She was a novelist, historian, biographer as well as librarian in her lifetime.
The balance of the individual and community is a prevalent theme throughout The Bean Trees. Kingsolver organizes the book by first introducing us to Taylor's unique individuality and then combining that with the community ideal. The first chapter of the book takes place in Kentucky where Taylor lives with her mother. Through the incidents in Taylor's early life, we come to recognize her strong resolve to be individual. In her book Barbara Kingsolver A Critical Companion, Mary Jean DeMarr agrees with me when she tells us Taylor is "a strong character who usually knows what she wants and what she wants to do and goes about getting and doing it" (45).
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.
This story is about a young Lady that lives in California with her mother and Father. She
With every passing minute there are teenagers growing into adults who think they might want to get married someday. In a matter of time, some of these couples will then want to start a family of their own. These children will become their responsibility and there will be no way of knowing if they will accomplish their life dreams or if they will have to fight to keep their family together. In the novel, The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck tells a story of a farmer that fights to make a financially stable life for his family. In China, there are limited portions of land to be cultivated therefore, each farmer must be unconditionally devoted to his land if he wants to prosper. In retrospect, it is difficult for those that have been accustomed to the American domesticated society to relate to a culture that depends solely on self-produced resources. The resources a farmer grows on his private acre of land must be used not only to raise his family, but also to develop a promising future for the generations to come. Throughout all of the hard work and dedication that is put into the land, one must not waste the wealth on meaningless personal gain that could possibly demolish future goals. As demonstrated in the novel, a young farmer in late 1920’s rural China desires to surpass his poverty-stricken life for the benefit of his family until he realizes the true power of his wealth. As a result, the protagonist of The Good Earth reveres the acquisition of money until it proves to be destructive.