Theme Of Morality In The Bean Trees

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. Morality over legality is first introduced when Taylor is very skeptical

Mattie is a woman who owns the Jesus Is Lord Used Tire shop and houses illegal immigrants in her home. Esperanza is in the hospital because she tried to commit suicide and Estevan is at Taylor’s house explaining why things are like this for him and his wife. He talks about their life in Guatemala and explains, “‘In Guatemala you are careful. If you want to change something you can find yourself dead’” (143). This quote from Estevan gives both Taylor and the readers a glimpse of what life was like for them in Guatemala. Mattie taking in Estevan and Esperanza puts an end to their suffering and looming death that was always present in Guatemala, even if her decision was not “right” in the eyes of law. Kingsolver further proves that morality comes over legality by showing how much better their lives have become in Mattie’s care. When Taylor and Estevan are sitting together at their picnic, they start talking about life now. Estevan explains how Mattie has created an amazing life for him and Esperanza here and how he enjoys his job. This shows that through Mattie’s morality, Estevan and Esperanza were able to live better lives. If Mattie had never brought them in and instead followed the law, they would have most likely been captured and killed in Guatemala because of the political corruption

Taylor drives all the way up to Cherokee Nation in hopes of finding Turtle’s real parents back at the diner where she was given to Taylor. From pages 225-227, the official adoption of Turtle began. This adoption is supposed to take place between the child’s real parents, but instead, Esperanza and Estevan pretended to be the parents. What the three of them did was against the law. Estevan and Esperanza saw it, however, as a way to make both Taylor and Turtle’s lives better and easier along the road even though it could get them caught. The reason that they did it for Taylor was because they thought it morally right. As a result of how hard Estevan and Esperanza help Taylor in the adoption process, Turtle is now Taylor’s legal daughter. After Taylor says her goodbyes to Esperanza and Estevan, she calls Lou Ann to tell her about Turtle being her daughter “Lou Ann’s breath came out like a slow leak in a tire. ‘Taylor, I was scared to death you’d come back without her’” (245). Kingsolver uses a simile here, comparing “slow leak in a tire” to “Lou Ann’s breath coming out”. This connects to one of the motifs in the book; tires. Tires represent stability, so when Lou Ann lets out the air in her tire, it shows that everyone’s life has become more stable. This quote also ties