Caitlyn Caputo Mrs. Hazell-O’Brien English I, Period 3 5 October 2015 I will neither give nor receive unauthorized aid. We all need each other Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Bean Trees is a realistic fiction bildungsroman story. A bildungsroman story is a story of a character’s growth and development over a course of time and stages. The first stage is the character’s search for identity through painful experiences. The character then undergoes a change or a rebirth, and will find a mentor figure that will give the character advice. The third stage is often the process of maturing and overcoming conflicts. The final stage is when the character finds their purpose in society and becomes who they are supposed to be in the end. In the beginning …show more content…
of Taylor’s journey to find her, she was longing for independence and freedom but, through Taylor’s experiences, she ultimately realizes that people need each other in order to survive and flourish in society. Despite Taylor’s misperception of all mothers being the house parent, she realizes that mothers and women do so much more, and they are very strong people. In the beginning of the novel, Taylor realizes what she wants to do with her life, she states that, “In this car I intended to drive out of Pittman County one day and never look back, except maybe for Mama” (Kingsolver 11). Taylor is ready for change and she’s looking to get out of Pittman County due to its smallness and old fashion ways. Taylor is looking to move on from her past and find herself again. This displays Taylor trying to find her identity through new experiences and change; and also shows her longing for independence and a new life. Later on in the novel, Taylor starts to face challenges and obstacles that she has to overcome. This woman comes up to Taylor's car and gives her a baby, wrapped in a blanket. Taylor freaks out and expresses, “If I wanted a baby I would have stayed in Kentucky” (Kingsolver 18). In Pittman County, girls would get pregnant as a teenager, and this would be the regular thing to do but, Taylor decided to stay in school; Taylor is unlike other girls because she is strong and stubborn in her beliefs. As a teenager, she was tested to see if she would, “drop like a fly” and get pregnant. Taylor again, is now being put to a test to see if she can handle a baby and single motherhood, even though the irony is that she does not want to have a child. Taylor's decision emphasizes her determination to stay strong in what she believes in and for her to find someone or something to give support to or rely on. Taylor goes through rough and painful experiences to find what she needs and wants in life; she ends up finding that she needs people to rely on and trust. Taylor has an epiphany; she needs people to help her in different ways.
Towards the end of the novel, Taylor offers to drive Esperanza and Estevan to Oklahoma. When Taylor asks Mattie a question about how people help out with people that are illegal immigrants, Mattie responds to Taylor saying, “It comes from people, Taylor, and let’s just leave it. Some folks are the heroes and take the risks, and other folks do what they can from behind the scenes”(Kingsolver 198). Mattie summarizes how certain people are “hands on helpers” and other is the behind the scenes helpers, but she hints at a bigger picture and gives Taylor advice. Mattie becomes a mentor and a strong womanly figure that Taylor looks up to and can ask for help. The closeness between Taylor and Mattie illustrates the reader how Taylor need support in her life. Similar to Taylor having a support system at home, she is also one of the main supporters in her own family. On the phone, when Taylor is talking to Lou Ann, her best friend, Taylor says, “’ I guess you could say we’re family’” (Kingsolver 245). Taylor exhibits that she wants a family and wants people to love her. She ultimately reveals to herself that she needs people in order to survive in society. She uncovers a new awareness of herself in society since she has realized that people need each other. This demonstrates Taylor is learning from her experiences in the past and moving forward and growing in society as a young
woman. Through Taylor's journey to find herself, she discovers that she needs other people in her life to depend on, in order for her self to grow and develop in society. This relates to a bigger picture. This relates to the bigger picture in society that all humans are interconnected. One needs social interaction to live and thrive. John Donne wrote XVII Meditation and it states that “No man is an island / entire of itself” (1-2). Works cited Kingsolver, Barbara. The Bean Trees. New York: HarperCollins, 1988. The Literature Network. Jalic, n.d. Web. September 27, 2015. •
Will Tweedy- He is the narrator of the novel, Cold Sassy Tree. He is a fourteen year old boy that lives in the town of Cold Sassy, in Georgia. Will comes from a well established family, but he has a free spirit, and feels he is obliged to disobey the rules that help direct his life. After his grandmother’s death and his grandfather’s second marriage, Will starts to struggle with the topics of love and death. His perspective on life changed.
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 main characters in The Bean Trees are Taylor and Lou Ann. The first chapter is about Missy leaving Kentucky to find a better life. This chapter is written is 1st person, with Missy being the narrator. She is a person that is tired of her boring life, she changes her name to Taylor, and wants an adventure. She leaves home and goes on a road trip across America. Before Taylor began her trip, she stated, ?And so what I promised myself is that I would drive west until my car stopped running, and there I would stay? (Kingsolver 16). She later continued on Tucson, Arizona.
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.
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.
Uncertain journeys are numerous in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees. Many characters in the novel put their current lives aside to go off in hopes of finding a better one.
Has there ever been a time in your life where the challenges you were facing seemed too impossible to conquer? Many have felt that way, but have pushed through and overcame. In the book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a little girl named Francie grows up during a difficult time in New York. The young girl lives in a poor neighborhood with her family. She learns that anything can happen if you put your mind to it. The author, Betty Smith, taught her readers to push through any obstacle in life, through the books conflicts, setting and research.
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 bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy of each other’s life” -Richard Bach. Far from the Tree by Robin Benway explores the meaning of family, and the impact that loved ones have on identity. The novel tells the story of three siblings who have three very different lives reunite after spending all of their lives separately. Grace, Maya and Joaquin grow dependant on one another, and unknowingly give and take values from each other that help them solve their own issues slowing being brought to light. With the help of his parents and siblings, Joaquin reveals a critical capacity for change as he leaves his old self behind and moves on to a better future with a loving family.
Many are confined in a marriage in which they are unhappy with, and are reductant to make a change. Some are committed to make a change for themselves. Esperanza ponders each one of these women's lives. Through each role model Esperanza gains crucial life lessons on how to overcome different life hardships. Through some women like her great-grandmother and Ruthie, Esperanza learns she must take control her fate, to avoid marrying young, and not let a male figure dictate her future. Other women like Alicia, Esperanza learns to keep pursuing goals in life and to take control of her destiny no matter what obstruction may lay ahead. From Esperanza’s role models, the moral lesson that can be taken away is to be proactive about your life and to shape your own future. Everyone is a role model to somebody in their life. Strive to leave a positive message behind for the ones shadowing in your
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.
Overall, Esperanza experienced multiple events that shaped her into the person she is. The experiences she had built the foundation for what she values by exposing her to the world around her. By moving to the house on Mango Street and experiencing the traumatic events along with the social norms Esperanza became the person she wanted to be even when the circumstances weren’t in her
Papa for example is a hardworking man and does what he must do to make ends meet. Esperanza’s family may represent the typical immigrant family; Hence, Esperanza’s parents are both hardworking, loving, supportive and very caring. Many immigrant parents are very selfless and give everything they have for their child to succeed. Esperanza is the Chicana who is fortunate enough to have this support and move ahead in life. Although she may not have the money, she has the support and Sandra Cisneros does a great job emphasizing on the importance of a community, of a family in order to
Bildungsroman is a novel about growing up. In novel northern lights layra is the protagonist.