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The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver Context BARBARA KINGSOLVER WAS BORN in 1955. She was raised in a part of eastern Kentucky positioned between extravagant horse farms and impoverished coalfields. Although rich imagery of her home state fills many of her novels, Kingsolver never imagined staying in the region. She left Kentucky to attend to attend De Pauw University in Indiana. Kingsolver majored in biology in college and took one creative writing course. Kingsolver became active in anti-Vietnam protests during her college years, which marked the beginning of her commitment to political and social activism. A few years after her graduation, she went to the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she earned a masters of science degree in biology and ecology. Kingsolver supported herself working at a variety of jobs until she finished graduate school, at which time she got a job as a science writer for the University of Arizona. This job led her into journalistic writing. Her numerous feature stories have appeared in many nationally acclaimed publications. According to Kingsolver, journalism and scientific writing helped her develop good discipline and paved the way for her career in fiction writing. In 1985, Kingsolver married. After becoming pregnant, she began struggling with insomnia. Her doctor suggested that she scrub the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush to tire herself out. Instead, Kingsolver spent her sleepless nights curled up in a closet writing her first novel, The Bean Trees. The Bean Trees was an immediate success among book critics when it was published in 1988, but more important to Kingsolver, it was also widely read by people from all walks of life. Kingsolver has firmly committed herself to keeping her work accessible; while she hopes that literary types will appreciate her writing, she also wants to know that people in rural Kentucky read and enjoy her novels. Kingsolver believes in writing that promotes social change. She is committed to social and environmental causes, and The Bean Trees reflects this commitment. Kingsolver’s dedication to literature with a social conscience led her to found the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, which was awarded for the first time in 2000. She continues to work as an environmental and human-rights activist. Kingsolver’s background in ecology and commitment to activism are evident in The Bean Trees, but she resists further conjecture about her life’s influence on her work. Although her readers are often eager to assume her work is autobiographical, the author claims that only small details come directly from her life experiences; the rest is invented. Since her first novel, Kingsolver’s work has continued to meet with success. Pigs in Heaven (1993) is the popular sequel to The Bean Trees. Her other novels include Animal Dreams, (1990) The Poisonwood Bible, (1998) which was an Oprah Book Club selection and earned international praise, and Prodigal Summer. Issues It would be helpful if you were to research a little bit on each of the following topics: • Immigration • Teen Parenthood • Controversies surrounding Native American Reservations Questions: 1. Describe Marietta/ Taylor. What do you think she looks like? What sort of person is she? 2. How do you think Newt Hardbine died? 3. What two promises does Marietta/Taylor make to herself when she leaves Pittman, Kentucky? 4. What do you know about the life that the baby lived before she was given to Taylor? 5. Compare the way that Chapters One and Two are narrated. 6. Describe Lou Anne. Compare the way she thinks about life with her mother. How does her mother feel about her marriage? 7. What do Lou Anne and Taylor have in common? 8. Why did Lou Anne and Angel's marriage fall apart? Who caused the problems and why? 9. Describe the time that Taylor and Turtle live at the Broken Arrow Motel in Oklahoma? 10. Describe Mattie. 11. How did "Jesus is Lord Used Tires" get named? Why is this an appropriate name for Mattie's business? 12. Why do you think Taylor picked the name Turtle for the baby? 13. What does Angel do with the bottle of baptismal water Grandma Logan leaves for Lou Anne? 14. How do Taylor and Lou Anne meet? 15. Explain the irony of the fact that "the first killing frost of winter came on Valentine's Day." 16. Why does the priest, Father William visit the tire shop so often? 17. Describe Estevan and Esperanza. 18. What is the point of Estevan's story about heaven and hell? 19. How does Lou Anne feel about her Mom marrying? 20. What is the symbolism of Wisteria? How does this symbolism relate to people in the novel? 21. Respond to Estevan's statement about Americans? (ch. 8) 22. What sort of people does Mattie give sanctuary to? 23. What does Angel say to Lou Anne when he comes back? 24. What do the x-rays from Dr. Pelinowsky reveal? 25. What is Turtle's real name and how does Taylor find out? 26. Why did Estevan and Esperanza give up their daughter? 27. How does Edna Poppy save Turtle? 28. How does working at the salsa factory change Lou Anne? 29. Where does Mattie take everyone to experience the first summer rain? 30. Look up the word "anthropomorphism" and find three examples in the description of the storm and the desert that begins ch. 12. 31. How does Taylor feel about Estevan and what does she do about it? 32. What is the symbolism of the night-blooming Cereus plant? How does this relate to the symbolism of Wisteria? 33. How does Taylor respond after Turtle is attacked? 34. Is Taylor a hero? Give reasons for your answer. 35. How do Estevan and Esperanza feel on the Indian reservation? 36. How do Estevan and Esperanza help Taylor to adopt Turtle? 37. Why does Esperanza cry at the adoption? Look up the word "catharsis" and explain what it means in this context. 38. Should Lou Anne get back together with Angel? 39. What do you think the future holds for Taylor and Turtle? List five questions that are left unanswered at the end of the book. 40. Read the following statement that Barbara Kingsolver made about The Bean Trees, then make a list of five or more examples to show how the "central question" is answered in the book: "I always think of a first novel as something like this big old purse you've been carrying around your whole life, throwing in ideas, characters, and all the things that have ever struck you as terribly important. One day, for whatever reason, you just have to dump that big purse out and there lies this pile of junk. You start picking through it, and assembling it into what you hope will be a statement of your life's great themes. That's how it was for me. It probably wasn't until midway through the writing that I had a grasp of the central question: What are the many ways, sometimes hidden and underground ways, that people help themselves and each other survive hard times?" 41. The Bean Trees deals with the theme of being an outsider. In what ways are various characters outsiders? What does this suggest about the sacrifices required to be an insider? How does feeling like an outsider affect one's life? What advantages are there to being an outsider? .
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