 First edition | |
| Author | Barbara Kingsolver |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Dramatic Fiction |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
Publication date | 1988 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) and audio-CD |
| Pages | 232 |
| ISBN | 0-06-015863-8 |
| OCLC | 16900347 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3561.I496 B44 1988 |
| Followed by | Pigs in Heaven |
The Bean Trees is the first novel by American writer Barbara Kingsolver. It was published in 1988 and reissued in 1998. The novel is followed by the sequel Pigs in Heaven .
 | This Plot is too short needs an improved plot summary.(August 2022) |
Taylor Greer sets out to leave home, Kentucky, and travel west, and finds herself in Oklahoma near Cherokee territory. As Taylor stops in the town, a woman suddenly approaches, deposits a small child, and leaves without explanation. Not knowing what else to do, Taylor decides to care for the child. The two travel to Tucson, Arizona, where she meets Lou Ann, a woman with a young son. Lou Ann had been married; her husband abandoned her and their child.
The novel traces the experiences of Taylor and the child, whom Taylor names Turtle.
The story takes place in real places in North America, including Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona. [1] It begins when the main character, Taylor, leaves her home in Pittman, Kentucky to find herself. First, her car breaks down in the middle of Oklahoma, later in Tucson, Arizona. She travels back to Oklahoma and again to Arizona because of the people she became close with throughout the novel.
Barbara Kingsolver's interest in nature is reflected in the Bean Trees, as it is full of descriptive landscapes and characters' passion towards the environment. The author uses history and biology to describe certain events or world issues related to nature. [2]
Taylor Greer, a native of Kentucky, is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. She is also known by her given name Marietta and nickname Missy. Taylor's personality is described as tough, adventurous, and independent throughout the novel. [3]
Turtle is the three-year-old child who is left with Taylor in Oklahoma.
Lou Ann lives in Tucson and has a baby named Dwayne Ray. She is also originally from Kentucky and is Taylor's roommate.
Esperanza and Estevan are Guatemalan refugees that Taylor meets in Arizona.
Mattie is the owner of "Jesus is Lord Used Tires." She grows vegetables and beans in her garden, which is filled with tire parts. Her home is a place where undocumented immigrants stay.
The Bean Trees is a coming-of-age novel.
Barbara Kingsolver uses a nonstandard perspective to share the characters' adventures and the world they live in. The use of nonwhite mythology, anti-western sentiment, and not using the typical form of male adventure, allowed the author to explore the world where women were powerful and had a voice.
The novel shares negative traumatic experiences of the characters and people they meet, like Native Americans and Guatemalan refugees. While those scenes demonstrate qualities like sympathy and concern, they contribute to the overall spirit of the story being positive and uplifting. [4]
The protagonist is raised by a single mother, which helps to develop themes of motherhood and nontraditional family values throughout the story, as Taylor, herself becomes Turtle's parent. [3] The novel further explores nontraditional extended family through the relationships between the members of the community. It conveys the idea of interdependence and interaction, community's importance to each individual's life, and balance between independence and a sense of belonging. [3] It also addresses the issue of parenthood through adoption. [5] The novel makes reference to the issue of Native American parental rights as well. [5]
The Bean Trees also portrays the effects of child abuse. [3]
It portrays undocumented immigration from Latin America as some characters facilitate immigrants' escape from persecution.
Themes of love and nurturing emerge from the violence and poverty that the characters face. The book conveys multiple symbolic meanings about shared motherhood, life and death, and beauty. The underlying themes not always recognized include those about mockery toward the judicial system, the flawed coping strategies of current-day issues, and the strength of friendship.
Jack Butler wrote for the New York Times , "The Bean Trees is as richly connected as a fine poem, but reads like realism." [6]
Kingsolver employs irony in order to emphasize the changes to Taylor's lifestyle by the end of the novel. [3]
Symbolism is used at the beginning of the story when the main character, Taylor, changes her name while starting the journey of self-discovery. The author evokes Westward expansion through Taylor's symbolic move to the west. [3] Kingsolver's creation of the non-male dominant world, and focus on feminism and environmentalism, communicates the case of eco-feminism. [2]
The Bean Trees was received well by critics at release, [7] such as The Los Angeles Times stating it was the "work of a visionary". [8] It was featured on the New York Times 1988 Notable Books of the Year list. [9]
The novel has become a commonly assigned reading in high school literature classes since its publication. [10] [11]
A turtle is a reptile, most of whose body is shielded by a special bony or cartilaginous shell.
Barbara Ellen Kingsolver is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, essayist, and poet. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a nonfiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally. In 2023, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the novel Demon Copperhead. Her work often focuses on topics such as social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments.
Larcena Pennington Page, born Larcena Ann Pennington, was an American pioneer known for surviving a kidnapping by Apache as a young married woman of 23 years old in present-day Arizona. Left for dead and unable to stand, she crawled 15 miles (24 km) over the next sixteen days to reach safety.
Pigs in Heaven (ISBN 9780060168018) is a 1993 novel by Barbara Kingsolver; it is the sequel to her first novel, The Bean Trees. It continues the story of Taylor Greer and Turtle, her adopted Cherokee daughter. It highlights the strong relationships between mothers and daughters, with special attention given to the customs, history, and present living situation of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. It is Kingsolver's first book to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Animal Dreams is a 1990 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. A woman named Cosima "Codi" Noline returns to her hometown of Grace, Arizona to help her aging father, who is slowly losing his struggle with Alzheimer's disease. She takes a biology teacher position at the local high school and lives with her old high school friend, Emelina. Animal Dreams features Kingsolver's trademark—alternating perspectives throughout the novel. Most chapters are told from the perspective of Codi, while others are told from her father, Homer's, perspective. The book was dedicated to Ben Linder, who was killed by the Contras on April 28, 1987.
Bobbie Ann Mason is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and literary critic from Kentucky. Her memoir was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Grand Lake o' the Cherokees is situated in Northeast Oklahoma in the foothills of the Ozark Mountain Range. It is often simply called Grand Lake. It is administered by the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA).
Navarre Scotte Momaday was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His novel House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and is considered the first major work of the Native American Renaissance.
(Helen) Diane Glancy is an American poet, author, and playwright.
Valerie Taylor was an American author of books published in the lesbian pulp fiction genre, as well as poetry and novels after the "golden age" of lesbian pulp fiction. She also published as Nacella Young, Francine Davenport, and Velma Tate. Her publishers included Naiad Press, Banned Books, Universal, Gold Medal Books, Womanpress, Ace and Midwood-Tower.
Denise Elia Chávez is a Chicana author, playwright, and stage director. She has also taught classes at New Mexico State University. She is based in New Mexico.
Silas Dwane House is an American writer best known for his novels. He is also a music journalist, environmental activist, and columnist. His fiction is known for its attention to the natural world, working-class characters, and the plight of the rural place and rural people. House is also known as a representative for LGBTQ Appalachians and Southerners, and is among the most visible LGBTQ people associated with rural America.
Turtles are frequently depicted in popular culture as easygoing, patient, and wise creatures. Due to their long lifespan, slow movement, sturdiness, and wrinkled appearance, they are an emblem of longevity and stability in many cultures around the world. Turtles are regularly incorporated into human culture, with painters, photographers, poets, songwriters, and sculptors using them as subjects. They have an important role in mythologies around the world, and are often implicated in creation myths regarding the origin of the Earth. Sea turtles are a charismatic megafauna and are used as symbols of the marine environment and environmentalism.
Ruth Ann Palumbo is the longest-serving woman in the Kentucky House of Representatives and has represented District 76, which covers downtown Lexington, Kentucky and eastern Fayette County, since 1991. Palumbo is a member of the Kentucky Democratic Party.
Prodigal Summer (2000) is the fifth novel by American author Barbara Kingsolver. Heavily emphasizing ecological themes and her trademark interweaving plots, this novel tells three stories of love, loss and connections in rural Virginia.
Edward Joseph Weisenburger, J.C.L., is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as the bishop of the Diocese of Tucson in Arizona since 2017. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Salina in Kansas from 2012 to 2017.
Mean Spirit is a murder mystery based on the Osage murders that took place in Osage Indian Territory in Oklahoma in the 1920s. It is the first novel by Chickasaw author Linda Hogan and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991.
Edith Margaret Bell Douglas was a Canadian botanist and horticulturist known for her work in the Southwestern United States and Mexico. She helped establish the Desert Botanical Garden and donated 1,500 of her own specimens to its herbarium. She is a member of the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame and the namesake of the Garden Club of America's Margaret Douglas Medal.
Ella Jean Hill Chaudhuri was an American community leader, activist, and author. She was a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, executive director of the Tucson Indian Center, and director of the Traditional Indian Alliance. She was inducted into the Arizona Women's Hall of Fame posthumously, in 2013.
Demon Copperhead is a 2022 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. It was a co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and won the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. Kingsolver was inspired by the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield. While Kingsolver's novel is similarly about a boy who experiences poverty, Demon Copperhead is set in Appalachia and explores contemporary issues.
