The Bean Trees

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In her novel The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver tells the story of Turtle Greer, an abused toddler who is able to overcome her life of neglect and pain through the nurturing and care of her adoptive mother, Taylor Greer, and the friends they find when they find themselves stranded in their new home of Tucson, Arizona. In the beginning, Turtle is a catatonic toddler who is abandoned in the care of Taylor as she is making her escape from her small town in Kentucky to wherever her car will take her. Taylor vows to never become like the other young girls from her town who become trapped because of pregnancy, yet finds herself with an abused toddler to care for with no planned future in sight. Taylor and Turtle find themselves at the grace of Mattie, an automotive shop owner who welcomes refugees into her home and life. In the back of Mattie's garage is an overgrown garden to which Turtle and Taylor find amazement in its ability to grow and prosper in the Arizona climate. Turtle becomes enamored with the growth around her and begins to show growth in Taylor's care as she begins to speak in vegetative terms. It is through Turtle's love of plants that Kingsolver is able to create a symbolic union between the growth of Turtle from a catatonic, abused toddler and the horticulture that grows around her. Turtle is immediately drawn to the bean trees, so much so that her first word is "bean." She begins to plant her toys, even her dolly, in the hopes that they will grow into bean trees as well; which in a way symbolizes Turtle's roots in Arizona and her ability to grow with the love and nurturing of Taylor.
Taylor has feared for Turtle and her past abuse while in her care and so takes her to the doctor to have her evaluated. The X-rays presented to her of Turtle's body are shocking and revel the true bodily abuse that Turtle was subjected to before she came into Taylor's care. The doctor explains that Turtle appears to be about 2 years old when you look at her, but through a medical examination the doctor suggests that she is closer to 3 years old and has failed to grow because she was unable to thrive in her previous environment. As the story unfolds, Turtle becomes more outgoing and a horticultural expert.
Taylor surrounds herself and Turtle with a network of friends that share in their commitment to find hope in the areas of their lives that contain pain and hurt. Through Taylor's commitment to love and protect Turtle from the evils of the world, Turtle grows into a thriving toddler. The bean trees in the novel represent Turtle, and this is especially evident at the end of the novel when Taylor and Turtle are reading a book on horticulture and come across a picture of bean trees. Taylor says, "listeria vines, like other legumes, often thrive in poor soil, the book said. Their secret is something called rhizobia. These are microscopic bugs that live underground in little knots on the roots. (...) There's a whole invisible system for helping out the plant that you'd never guess was there. (...) It's just the same as with people" (305). Turtle, just like the bean trees, has been able to thrive in poor soil, her past life of abuse, but has an entire system of those to support, help, and love her that make her able to thrive in her new life.

Comments

  1. TashaTOnlineApril 7, 2017 at 10:39 AM

    I agree that the trees represent Turtle, but can they also represent the growth of other characters in the book? I wish you had commented more on the style of Kinsolver's writing and the attention to social issues such as child abuse and immigration. This book is very rich in content and social/historical references and could be used to broaden the thinking of many high school students. Kingsolver is a master at blending biology, geography, history and other disciplines into her fiction. She also does an incredible job with characterization.

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