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The use of symbolism in the novel
Importance of symbolism in literature
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Around the world there are about 43.5 million mothers. Although being a mother is hard most women have the desire to become one. The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver is about motherhood and relationships with children but it is also about the relationships with friends and me along the way. Barbara Kingsolver uses symbolism, similes, and suspense to convey the important message that Motherhood and good relationships can be the key to happiness. The Bean trees shows how relationships may lead to hurt and devastation. The book starts out with the fact that Taylor does not have a father because he was not a good person and left them. “And for all I ever knew of my own daddy I can’t say we weren’t, except for mama swearing up and down that he
Literary devices are used by Sandra Cisneros throughout the vignette “The Monkey Garden”, to highlight the mood of the piece. For instance, Cisneros uses symbolism to encompass feelings of mysticality when she describes the Monkey Garden as a place the kids can go too “far from where our mothers could find us.”(95). The garden is symbolized as a haven, that can seemingly alleviate the characters problems. Cisneros also uses juxtaposition to further develop mystical emotions the in the audience. When the author compares two objects like “a dollar and a dead mouse.” (95), she is juxtaposing two inherently disconnected objects to emphasise the range of feelings in the garden. By using literary devices to establish the mood, Sandra Cisneros can
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.
The Bean Trees has the structure of a quest. The protagonist or quester is Taylor Greer. Her place to go or destination of the quest is more of an idea rather than an actual place. It is the idea of a place free of oppression due to her gender and cultural background. She wants a place to start a new life. Taylor’s escape
In the novel To Dance With The White Dog there are many similarities between Sam Peek and Kay’s father. The Dedication and Authors Note, located before and after the[b1] novel, give the reader insight into the true meaning of the book. In the Authors Note Kay speaks of his father and the fruit trees that he cared for; from this a correlation arises with Sam Peek and his beloved pecan trees.
The novel challenges the contradicting sides of the expectation and reality of family and how each one contains a symbiotic relationship. The ideal relationship within families differ throughout The Bean Trees. Kingsolver focuses on the relationship between different characters and how they rely on each other to fill the missing gaps in their lives.
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.
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.
Mama’s plant represents her dream of buying a house when she describes that the plant does not receive enough sunlight. Early on a Friday morning, Mama wakes up to Walter, her son, slamming a door after fighting with his sister, Beneatha, over what their fathers life insurance money should be used for. When Mama enters the room, she exclaims, “ ‘Lord, if this little old plant don’t get more sun than it’s ...
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.
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.
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.
Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a tale of poignant family relationships and childhood and also of grim privation. The story revolves around the protagonist of the story, young Francie Nolan. She is an imaginative, endearing 11-year-old girl growing up in 1912, in Brooklyn, New York. The entire story revolves around Francie and the Nolan family, including her brother Neelie, her mother Katie and her father Johnny. An ensemble of high relief characters aids and abets them in their journey through this story of sometimes bleak survival and everlasting hope. As we find out, the struggle for survival is primarily focused against the antagonist of this story, the hard-grinding poverty afflicting Francie, the Nolan’s and Brooklyn itself. The hope in the novel is shown symbolically in the “The “Tree of Heaven””. A symbol used throughout the novel to show hope, perseverance and to highlight other key points.
The author Barbara Kingsolver once said, “Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.” This means that mothers can go to great lengths and even break laws for their children. The Bean Trees follows Taylor’s attempts to raise her adopted daughter Turtle, focusing on what it takes to be a family and the alternative forms that family can take in the absence of the traditional mother-father-children family model. Taylor is fiercely protective of the small family she forms with Turtle, her best friend Lou Ann, and Lou Ann’s son Dwayne Ray in Tucson, Arizona as they all help each other “through hell and high water.” Taylor even figures out a way to legally adopt Turtle, not to prove that Turtle is a legitimate part of her family,
Mama has dreams for her family to rise from poverty and live in a better and bigger place and also for them to continue to grow together as a family. Mama has a plant that she also cares for. She takes care of this plant as if it was one of her own children. Mama's children also have their own dreams and their own plans on how to attain those dreams. The family's competing dreams are emphasized by Hansberry's recurring use of the motif--Mama's plant.
In the classic play, “Into The Woods,” the fairy tales Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and The Beanstalk, and Rapunzel collide in a twisted story. The fairy tales intertwine in the woods, while they are struggling to make their wishes come true. In the play and in the book by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, the fairytale, “Jack and the beanstalk,” helps pave the path for Into The Woods. For instance, by having the reader's question the moral behaviors of the fairytale. Furthermore, Jack and the Beanstalk helps readers comprehend Into the Woods by regarding greed as an essential element to understanding the play and the book.