Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver Have you ever been put into I situation in which you can stay and never prosper or leave, with nothing but mere material possessions? This is the dilemma that is brought forth to Marietta (Taylor) in the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. Marietta grew up in Pitman, a small rural town in Kentucky. A town in which families "had kids just about as fast as they could fall down the well and drown" needless to say not a town where many people would want to live. Marietta was one of these people not wanting to be one of the families mentioned above. So she decided to leave, sounds like a simple solution, but the trials and tribulations along the way created an opportunity for education that far exceeds anything that can be learned in school. Not what is the square root of sixty-four but problems that can cause a person to think that they are not capable of overcoming the roadblocks of life. Strength in a time of suffering is a vital part of surviving through out the many rough times of life. The suffering is a lot easier to deal with when you have people around you that can relate to your troubles and help teach you how to overcome them. Money, money is a problem that many people can relate to. Everybody has had those times where they need every penny that they have, except for those luckily enough to be born into money. Marietta, now officially known, as Taylor had to suffer threw the dilemma of being broke, flat out broke. There is no way to educate yourself into having money, but you can learn how to deal with the cards you are dealt. That is what Taylor does, " 'wash your windows lady. dollar for the whole car.' 'I got no windows.. lucky me, because I got no dollar either.'" Taylor is broke, beyond broke not even with a dollar to her name she strives to complete her destiny. She wants to get as far as her car will take her, no matter how hard it is to continue she will. Taylor has learned a lesson that most people have not nor ever will learn. She has learned that money isn't everything to be happy and content pushes money and material objects down to third or even fourth place. Well it is safe to say that Taylor is struggling but at least she only has to provide for herself. In what takes any other woman nine months to do, Taylor has one day. She had an instant birth, her role in life took a hundred and eighty degree turn, she is no longer the student of life she is now the teacher of a child, a teacher of life. To be able to take on the responsibility of a child shows how willing to learn Taylor is, most people given the same situation would not accept the child. "jumped in and popped the clutch, jumped out and pushed some more. I could see the child's big eyes watching me in the dark." After much contemplation she takes the baby that she later names Turtle. Taylor has gone from living with her mother to being on the road by her self and now is on the road with a child, it seems that the road is containing many more bumps than it did when she started. After Taylor finally gets settled and is off the road, she has learned that the troubles caused by having an unexpected child end up being worth it as she has someone to share her love. Being able to share your problems and your love with those that you are closely knitted with is a vital part of life. When Taylor was on the road she was for the most part alone. Once she got settled in one place and was in constant contact with Lou Anne and Mattie her problems began to become less and less. This is not a coincidence when you are with people who you share feelings with the same problems you faced before don't get amplified to the level they once did. Over her journey the most important lesson that Taylor did learn was how to love and how to use love as a pad and a blanket from all the things that alone would be so hard. When Taylor is on the brink of getting Turtle taken away by the child services there is no doubt that she is facing a great problem, but with the help of her friends the problem is dispersed and the weight of the problem is on a group not an individual. In the end she keeps turtle but with out the help of Estevan and Esperanza, Turtle might have had to go through another transfer of parents. Life is all about what you learn, but there is a point where you can learn too much too fast. This is what Taylor had to go through the problems expressed in the book where enough for a lifetime, but Taylor has much more of a life to live. Once you have learned what she has learned the rest of your life is a breeze, just sit back relax and let life come to you. The book makes the reader think what would Taylor be like if she had never left her rural town in Kentucky? Although it makes you wonder there is also an assurance that her life is better now than it ever could have been in a place she disliked so much.
A conflict in the book that in universal is about Jade Dragon. Jade Dragon’s parents are killed while she was being hunted by the Elgen. Although being hunted by the Elgen can not be related to losing your parents can be. Taylor kind of seems like an adult figure to Jade Dragon because she stays with Jade Dragon to make sure she is okay. A lot of times when someone loses their parents of a guardian someone else steps in to be a parent figure, or someone to watch over them.
Life is constantly changing, like clouds in the sky; always shifting and turning. People never really know which way life will turn next, bringing them fortune or failure. When you look at how things change it is best to compare it to something that you can relate it to. The changeable nature of life can be related to the novel 'The Bean Trees.' This is a book written almost entirely on dealing with changes in the characters lives.
She knows she will never truly experience poverty because this is nothing more than a project but she leaves behind her old life and becomes known as a divorced homemaker reentering the workforce after many years. Her main goal is to get enough income to be able to pay for all her expenses and have enough money to pay next months rent.
Joyce Stewart is seventy two year old, white female that lives in the small town of Candor New York. She has spent the majority of her life taking care of other people, including her eight children; now six due to tragic circumstances. She also was a house wife trying to survive being a mother to her children while her husband was away in the Navy. She now is a widow; her second husband passed away about ten years ago. She grew up on a farm with a low socio economic status; she overcame circumstances that she was dealt by working her entire life and eventually living a more financially stable life. Joyce is not rich by any means, but is able to live comfortably. She owns her own house that she and
The notion of poverty has a very expanded meaning. Although all three stories use poverty as their theme, each interprets it differently. Consequently, it does not necessarily mean the state of extreme misery that has been described in ?Everyday Use?. As Carver points out, poverty may refer to poverty of one?s mind, which is caused primarily by the lack of education and stereotyped personality. Finally, poverty may reflect the hopelessness of one?s mind. Realizing that no bright future awaits them, Harlem kids find no sense in their lives. Unfortunately, the satisfaction of realizing their full potential does not derive from achieving standards that are unachievable by others. Instead, it arises uniquely from denigrating others, as the only way to be higher than someone is to put this person lower than you.
In the great story of a young girls triumph over poverty, rejection and innumerable failures as a child, she will unfortunately never truly prosper as an adult in the world in which she lives. Our protagonist, Sara Smolinsky who is the youngest of the four Smolinsky girls, has the most motivation in life to be independent, and fend for herself. However to achieve this goal she would need to break loose of the family chain and peruse a life elsewhere. It appears she has done so as she runs away from home seeking an education. Six years or so go by and she has more than fulfilled her dream of independence, however as members of her family take on life threatening sickness she once again feels the need to come home, and falls back under the spell of family obligation. As for other characters in the book, the same problem with familial duties always interferes with what one truly wants.
After reading the story by Jeannette Walls, there are many reasons her life was impacted due to her poverty. One of the most prominent reasons for Jeannette Walls success after being brought up extremely poor was due to the perseverance her father gave her. For example in part two chapter sixteen there is a scene where Jeanette's father teachers her a strong lesson about perseverance. “Dad kept telling me that he loved me, that he never would have let me drown, but you can’t cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim”(Walls 66). In this scene Jeannette
Taylor, Turtle, Lou Ann, and Esperanza all develop because of their relationship with and to others. An iron is sharpened when it rubs against another piece of iron. Similarly, it is through contact and relationships that character is developed. The characters discover that they need each other to survive, just like the symbiotic relationship between the wisteria and the rhizobia. Taylor learns to depend upon the help of her friends. Turtle overcomes her emotional shock through Taylor’s love and care. Lou Ann finds her self-confidence through Taylor’s encouragement. Esperanza finds hope through her love for Turtle. All the characters learn how to be like the people in heaven. They are “well-fed” because they help and serve each other. The interaction among the characters provides nourishment and life. They develop into better people through this interaction.
However, she never really experienced the actual life of living in poverty as the majority of people living in poverty experience. Barbara, an educated white women had just that on other people living in poverty, because of the color of her skin and education level that is more often than not restricted from people living in poverty. She was able and more qualified for jobs than other people living amongst the status she was playing. She also was able to more readily seek better benefits than people living in poverty. When she first start her journey in Florida she had a car, a car that in most cases people living in poverty do not have. She was also able to use the internet to find local jobs and available housing in the area that many people living in poverty are restricted from. Another great benefit she had was the luxury of affording a drug detox cleansing her of drugs deemed bad. Many people living in poverty do not have much extra cash laying around much less fifty dollars to afford a detox for prescription drugs. She also had the luxury to afford her prescription drugs, another option that many people living in poverty do not have. Another element that made Barbara’s experience not that genuine was the fact that she was not providing for anybody other than herself. Twenty-two percent of kids under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line (http://npc.umich.edu/poverty/#5) , Barbara did not have to provide for pets or kids which would of changed her experience altogether of living in poverty. Not to belittle Barbara’s experience, but many factors of what life is like living in poverty were not taken into consideration during her
The case of brown v. board of education was one of the biggest turning points for African Americans to becoming accepted into white society at the time. Brown vs. Board of education to this day remains one of, if not the most important cases that African Americans have brought to the surface for the better of the United States. Brown v. Board of Education was not simply about children and education (Silent Covenants pg 11); it was about being equal in a society that claims African Americans were treated equal, when in fact they were definitely not. This case was the starting point for many Americans to realize that separate but equal did not work. The separate but equal label did not make sense either, the circumstances were clearly not separate but equal. Brown v. Board of Education brought this out, this case was the reason that blacks and whites no longer have separate restrooms and water fountains, this was the case that truly destroyed the saying separate but equal, Brown vs. Board of education truly made everyone equal.
The Brown vs Board of Education as a major turning point in African American. Brown vs Board of Education was arguably the most important cases that impacted the African Americans and the white society because it brought a whole new perspective on whether “separate but equal” was really equal. The Brown vs Board of Education was made up of five different cases regarding school segregation. “While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools ("HISTORY OF BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION") .”
(1) On May 17th, 1954, the Supreme Court made a decision that would mark a defining moment in the history of the United States. This decision declared “separate but equal” unconstitutional. It was ultimately unanimous, and occurred after a long, sought out campaign to convince all nine justices to overturn the “separate but equal” doctrine that had been sanctioned in the infamous 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. The legal path paved in various aspects of racial discrimination in public life has been the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Section I states “no State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Schimmel, Stellman and Fischer 312) At one point in time, it was determined actions by public officials and employees are state actions because public schools are state institutions. This is where Plessy v. Ferguson established separate but equal facilities meet the clause of the amendment. Between the two major cases in 1896 and 1954, there have been a number of lawsuits challenging the separate but equal principle. This case being discussed as the first influential case in the history of education in the United States is Brown vs. Board of Education. Brown was not the only case to push for a change, but rather one of five lawsuits against school districts. Because of the successful lawsuits challenging the doctrine in graduate and professional schools, it was possible for these other cases to step forward. In this case, the court recognized what important function of state and local governments education had become. They realized how education is the foundation on which good citizenship lies. Rejecting Plessy v. Ferguson, the Court determined “separate but equal” he...
In the 1954 court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of schools was unconstitutional and violated the Fourteenth Amendment (Justia, n.d.). During the discussion, the separate but equal ruling in 1896 from Plessy v. Ferguson was found to cause black students to feel inferior because white schools were the superior of the two. Furthermore, the ruling states that black students missed out on opportunities that could be provided under a system of desegregation (Justia, n.d.). So the process of classification and how to balance schools according to race began to take place.
This story shows how a family stuck together in hard times with faith and hard work that they would get through it. Sometimes people may have the same opportunities, but it is very likely all will have different outcomes. The risky nature of Walter may have put the family in a bind with his investment falling through, but what they did still have was each other. At least now, Walter especially, has the opportunity to learn from his
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. It was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education were not, in fact, equal at all.