Bean Trees Essay, Research Paper

Have you ever been put into I situation in which you can stay

and never

prosper or leave, with nothing but mere material

possessions? This is the

dilemma that is brought forth to Marietta (Taylor) in the

novel The Bean

Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. Marietta grew up in Pitman, a

small rural town

in Kentucky. A town in which families "had kids just about

as fast as they

could fall down the well and drown" needless to say not a

town where many

people would want to live. Marietta was one of these people

not wanting to

be one of the families mentioned above. So she decided to

leave, sounds

like a simple solution, but the trials and tribulations along the

way created

an opportunity for education that far exceeds anything that

can be learned in

school. Not what is the square root of sixty-four but

problems that can cause

a person to think that they are not capable of overcoming

the roadblocks of

life. Strength in a time of suffering is a vital part of surviving

through

out the many rough times of life. The suffering is a lot easier

to deal with

when you have people around you that can relate to your

troubles and help

teach you how to overcome them.

Money, money is a problem that many people can relate to.

Everybody has

had those times where they need every penny that they have,

except for those

luckily enough to be born into money. Marietta, now

officially known, as

Taylor had to suffer threw the dilemma of being broke, flat

out broke. There

is no way to educate yourself into having money, but you

can learn how to

deal with the cards you are dealt. That is what Taylor does,

" ‘wash your

windows lady?. dollar for the whole car.’ ‘I got no

windows?.. lucky me,

because I got no dollar either.’" Taylor is broke, beyond

broke not even

with a dollar to her name she strives to complete her destiny.

She wants to

get as far as her car will take her, no matter how hard it is to

continue she

will. Taylor has learned a lesson that most people have not

nor ever will

learn. She has learned that money isn’t everything to be

happy and content

pushes money and material objects down to third or even

fourth place. Well

it is safe to say that Taylor is struggling but at least she only

has to

provide for herself.

In what takes any other woman nine months to do, Taylor

has one day. She

had an instant birth, her role in life took a hundred and eighty

degree turn,

she is no longer the student of life she is now the teacher of a

child, a

teacher of life. To be able to take on the responsibility of a

child shows

how willing to learn Taylor is, most people given the same

situation would

not accept the child. "jumped in and popped the clutch,

jumped out and

pushed some more. I could see the child’s big eyes watching

me in the dark."

After much contemplation she takes the baby that she later

names Turtle.

Taylor has gone from living with her mother to being on the

road by her self

and now is on the road with a child, it seems that the road is

containing

many more bumps than it did when she started. After Taylor

finally gets

settled and is off the road, she has learned that the troubles

caused by

having an unexpected child end up being worth it as she has

someone to share

her love.

Being able to share your problems and your love with those

that you are

closely knitted with is a vital part of life. When Taylor was

on the road

she was for the most part alone. Once she got settled in one

place and was

in constant contact with Lou Anne and Mattie her problems

began to become

less and less. This is not a coincidence when you are with

people who you

share feelings with the same problems you faced before

don’t get amplified to

the level they once did. Over her journey the most important

lesson that

Taylor did learn was how to love and how to use love as a

pad and a blanket

from all the things that alone would be so hard. When Taylor

is on the brink

of getting Turtle taken away by the child services there is no

doubt that she

is facing a great problem, but with the help of her friends the

problem is

dispersed and the weight of the problem is on a group not an

individual. In

the end she keeps turtle but with out the help of Estevan and

Esperanza,

Turtle might have had to go through another transfer of

parents.

Life is all about what you learn, but there is a point where

you can

learn too much too fast. This is what Taylor had to go

through the problems

expressed in the book where enough for a lifetime, but

Taylor has much more

of a life to live. Once you have learned what she has learned

the rest of

your life is a breeze, just sit back relax and let life come to

you. The

book makes the reader think what would Taylor be like if

she had never left

her rural town in Kentucky? Although it makes you wonder

there is also an

assurance that her life is better now than it ever could have

been in a place

she disliked so much.