Seedfolks is a popular book by Paul Fleischman, that shows how people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, ages and nationalities can come together as a community because of a garden. A young Korean girl planted some lima beans in an abandoned vacant lot in remembrance of her father who had died before she was born. Fleischman shows how people with diverse backgrounds can come together as a community. Sae Young was forced to live a life fearing a brutal robbery, Maricela who was pregnant as a teenager but hated it, and Curtis whose girlfriend had broken up with him. Maricela felt that she was hated by everyone because “if you’re Mexican, the Cubans and the Puerto Ricans hate you”. The entire world hates you “if you’re a pregnant teenager” and they think “[you] should be burned on a stake”. She wants people to “shoot [her] and get it over with” because she is embarrassed to be pregnant in front of the crowd. Penny who …show more content…
is the program leader, spotted the community garden and got and made a program “to give us practice taking care” so the girls would be able to “witness the miracle of life”. They came together to stop worrying about their baby. A person at the garden “came over and gave me some flowers she’d grown” to make her feel welcomed because she knew “I didn’t want to be pregnant”. People who were there helped her forget about herself and enjoy herself and “I stopped wishing [her] baby would die” because she wasn’t uncomfortable anymore. People had helped her improve her life so she wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. Sae Young’s horror and fear, after her vicious robbery attack at her dry-cleaning shop. She doesn’t “leave [her] apartment for 2 months”. She got better “very slowly” and she began to go “to [the] store and buy [her own] food. One day she saw a “garden [and a] Vietnamese girl working there” and she still felt “lonely” and “still afraid”. Being lonely and still afraid changed her mind and she went back the next day and "[dug] a very small garden" where everyone one was but "nobody [was] talking to her". She now liked being outside because she thought it felt nice to be "near people, nice people, felt good like next to a fire in winter" and soon she was comfortable near other people. When the community had water problems, Sae Young helped by buying "three funnels" and she felt "glad inside" and a "part of [the] garden". She thought it "almost felt like family". People made Sae Young feel like a community and the desire to be with people as a community. Curtis has lost his beloved after his girlfriend broke up with him.
His girlfriend "Lateesha cut [him] loose. He had a good "body" so he had lots of girls around him all the time and him "just couldn't brush [them off]" but she thought it the wrong way around and "cut him loose". Since then he has been trying to explain but she "wouldn't let [him] explain" which happened “twice”. He was trying to do “deeds” to get her back and because of the garden he had an idea to grow “tomatoes” because she had a “thing for tomatoes”. He was trying to grow the “biggest – beefsteak tomatoes” ever because Lateesha liked them. Curtis put it down in a "spot" where "she could look down and see it". The tomatoes started growing but they weren't "all the way ripe yet". He "painted a sign" and wrote "Lateesha's Tomatoes" for her to see through her apartment window. He was "walking back" and he looked up "at her window" she was "staring down at the sign". This community garden helped Curtis and Lateesha gets back to together. Therefore, the garden helps people come
together. The Gibb St garden started with Kim’s lima beans and the community who helped the garden. As more people who live in Cleveland come and take a part in the garden and create their own. The garden helps the community to help their lives in every way possible. Fearful and solitary, Sae-young began to talk with others and feel comfortable around them. Maricela who unwantedly had a baby when she was only a teenager and she felt ashamed of herself, but the garden helped her not to fell shameful. Curtis whose girlfriend left him in a bad way and the garden helped them become one again. Fleischman's Seedfolks is a book with strong meanings and left with reminders. The book has a powerful message that the garden brings together people any kind as a community.
the modern garden. She interprets how we have the need to control and create what we consider perfect with our sciences and labs. While rules reign, sanitation demands, and socialization take control of the perfect scene for a pleasant environment, the unpleasant side of these malls such as their trash is kept out of the vision of the consumer. Most of these consumer products that are used to entice the population to enter into this heavenly place on earth became waste that is not entirely recycled
Unplanned pregnancies are very common in the show. The show tackled the topic of abortion by revealing that Jane's mother, Xiomara, had a medication abortion after learning that she had gotten pregnant from a one-night-stand. The show also touched on abortion earlier when Jane is mistakenly artificially fertilized in the pilot episode, and the topic comes up as an option when Jane is figuring out what to do about her pregnancy. But for Xiomara’s case, it was taken in a different situation. Although she had the abortion off-screen, so the episode began when she already had the abortion, it marked the first time a Latina character has had an abortion on television.
Kingsolver develops the story of a strong young woman, named Taylor Greer, who is determined to establish her own individuality. The character learns that she must balance this individualism with a commitment to her community of friends, and in doing this, her life is immeasurably enriched. Many books speak of family, community, and individuality. I believe, however, that the idea that Barbara Kingsolver establishes in her book, The Bean Trees, of a strong sense of individualism, consciously balanced with a keen understanding of community as extended family, is a relatively new idea to the genre of the American novel.
While she might think that her plans are working, they only lead her down a path of destruction. She lands in a boarding house, when child services find her, she goes to jail, becomes pregnant by a man who she believed was rich. Also she becomes sentenced to 15 years in prison, over a street fight with a former friend she double crossed. In the end, she is still serving time and was freed by the warden to go to her mother’s funeral. To only discover that her two sisters were adopted by the man she once loved, her sister is with the man who impregnated her, and the younger sister has become just like her. She wants to warn her sister, but she realizes if she is just like her there is no use in giving her advice. She just decides that her sister must figure it out by
Seed by Lisa Heathfield is set in a cult or “a small community where they worship Nature and idolise their leader, Papa S”. The novel follows the journey of a 15 year old girl named Pearl who had been born and raised in Seed. Mental and sexual abuse is a continuous, recurring subject throughout this story. Heathfield’s representation of this theme is shown through a strong and unsettling use of imagery and the nature setting.
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.
While most movies of the 2000s somehow spoke about sex among young adults, for the first time the emphasis is on the virginity of a Mexican American female. In part this topic is not discussed openly, it is only discussed awkwardly in a mother to daughter conversation. This movie opens the eye to many families conservative other this matter, Ana’s mother openly shames her daughter to losing her virginity to a random person which was not the case. In this scene, rather than have a heartwarming conversation with her daughter she is angry possibly at her daughter but possibly at herself for not knowing what her daughter was doing. Ana is prepared to lose her virginity and is responsible to purchase contraceptives something also talked about but mostly whispered in the chicano community. Ana states that women get pregnant not because they are having sex but because they are having it unprotected or don’t know how to use different methods of contraceptive. The talk among Mexican American families is not how to use contraceptives rather it is do not get pregnant or “ELSE”. Real Women Have Curves shows that the real problem is not getting pregnant it is the lack of communication Mexican American women have with their
In the book Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman there are many different characters, and even some of them cross paths. A community garden was started just by one person therefore everyone follows. They all learn how to get along with other people, how to not stereotype so much, and how to depend on each other in their community. All of them struggle with something, whether it's with family, friends, or feeling stereotyped. They learn the importance of a community, and realize how much they really depend on each other. Having a community is important for all people to incorporate diversity, culture,and unique stories into their lives. You don't realize how much people depend on their community until its gone. The importance
Both Dumas and Cordero are growing up in a culture that is different from their parents’; this difference is one reason why both girls have a feeling of ‘otherness.’ Even though both girls feel a struggle between their heritage and the American culture they live in, they deal with this struggle in dissimilar ways. Although Cordero does love her family, she feels as though she is trapped by her Mexican heritage. She is surrounded by Mexican-American females who are oppressed, unsatisfied, and often longing for a different life. We get many stories of her grandmother, cousins, and neighbors who are stuck in a place of discontent with no way out; and she does not be part of an endless loop of females who are under the control of men.
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
Donna’s father is angry when he finds out and automatically assumes it means she’s going to have sex with many men. This example is representative of the double standard held between men and women. It wouldn’t be an issue if one of the boys had multiple partners or used birth control, but as soon as one of the females does, it is frowned upon. When Jackie hears that Donna is on the pill, she exclaims “you’re going to be so popular,” which implies women can only be well-liked if they please men. Then, Eric’s parents give him “the talk” and while Kitty mentions that foreplay is important, Red disagrees. This implies a woman’s pleasure is not important, as long as men are taken care of. While Laurie is home, Eric finds out that she is failing classes, perpetuating the “dumb blonde”
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.
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.
Later on, Lil Mago brings both Casper and Smiley to La Bombilla. La Bombilla’s a place beside train tracks on where illegal immigrants wait aside on passing trains so that they could travel toward the United States. Throughout the time being in La Bombilla, the MS-16 gang members robbed passengers for all valuable belongings. Thru all this chaotic behavior, Lil Mago spots a beautiful Honduran teenage girl n...
...cy’s life on that fateful night. The man told me something along the lines of “Had we not stopped, Stacy would have lain on the ground for about 5 minutes, woken up, walked back home to Justin, and been beaten even more” Then he told me something that took me a moment to comprehend. “Stacy is pregnant and had been basically drinking herself and the baby to death. Although there is a bright side, Stacy sobered up and confessed to Justin’s abuse and now has a recovery plan and wants to start up a new life.”