(skip content navigation)

• Dynamics Book Discussion Club (Overview)
  
  
• Get Ready: Steps for Start-up
  
  
• Get Set: Suggestions for Success
  
  
• Go!!: Tips on Leading the Discussion
  
  
• Discussion Packets
  • The Bean Trees
  • The Bridges of Madison County
  • Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend
  • Cold Mountain
  • Bibliography
  • Additional Resources

Dynamics Book Discussion Club

The Bean Trees

Barbara Kingsolver
RC 27589, BR 9389
Listening Time: 8 hours, 10 minutes

Abstract
Taylor Greer is a poor but plucky Kentucky girl with a sharp tongue, a strong spirit, and a soft heart. In 1980, at the age of 23, she sets out to find a new life in the West. When her '55 Volkswagen breaks down in the Oklahoma flatlands, she "adopts" an abandoned, abused baby girl, whom she names Turtle. They end up settled on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, where Taylor works an auto repair shop called Jesus is Lord Used Tires that also happens to be a sanctuary for Guatemalan refugees. Contains some strong language.

Preliminary Questions
How many of you enjoyed this book? Did anyone dislike the book? What did you like or dislike most about it?

Biographical Information [1]
Kingsolver is originally from eastern Kentucky herself; as she says, she was raised up "in the middle of an alfalfa field .. The options were limited-grow up to be a farmer or a farmer's wife."

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Instead, Kingsolver chose to attend DePauw University in Indiana, where she majored in biology; later she earned a Masters of Science at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Kingsolver was first known for her award-winning science articles, published in prestigious journals and newspapers. She married in 1985 and became pregnant the following year; apparently, the fertility of her body fueled the fertility of her imagination. She wrote The Bean Trees, her first novel, while sitting in a closet afflicted with insomnia during her pregnancy; no wonder then, that meditations on family and motherhood are so prominent in the book. Since The Bean Trees, Kingsolver has written four novels, including The Poisonwood Bible, which received the considerable distinction of being selected for the Oprah Book Club. She has also published a collection of short stories, a book of poetry, a nonfiction work, and two compilations of essays. Kingsolver says this of her writing: "My work is not about me. I don't ever write about real people. That would be stealing, first of all. And second of all, art is supposed to be better than that. If you want a slice of life, look out the window. An artist has to look out that window, isolate one or two suggestive things, and embroider them together with poetry and fabrication, to create a revelation. If we can't, as artists, improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread."

Discussion Questions

Taylor:

1. How would you describe Taylor Greer?

2. • spunky, caring, outgoing, active, a survivor, a fighter

3. What do you think about the way Taylor changed her name at the beginning of the novel? Why does Taylor decide she needs a new name?

   • did not like "Missy" or "Marietta"
   • wanted a change, was leaving everyone and everything behind, including her name

4. Have you ever known anyone to just start calling themselves by a completely different name, not a nickname or a married name, but a name they chose entirely on their own?

5. Other characters change names as well; Taylor gives her "foster-child" the name Turtle, then later makes it April Turtle; also, Estevan and Esperanza change names twice, once from their Mayan names to their Spanish names, then again to their "American" names Steven and Hope. Does name-changing mean the same thing to all these characters? What do you think all this name-changing signifies to Taylor?

   • control over her status in life
   • consciously beginning a new phase of life
   • dislikes other people telling her who she is

6. When the Cherokee woman puts the baby in her car, Taylor says, "If I wanted a baby I would have stayed in Kentucky. I could have had babies coming out my ears by now." After the abused woman disappears, she thinks, "I can take this Indian child back into that bar and give it to Earl or whichever of those two guys is left. Just set it on the counter with the salt and pepper and get the hell out of here." Why does Taylor keep the baby?

   • she is a caring person who cannot abandon one in need
   • her sense of social responsibility outweighs her need for independence
   • was abandoned by her father
   • good judge of character, could tell that the woman's husband was evil

7. Have you ever had a huge responsibility thrust on you without warning? How did you respond? What would you have done if you were Taylor?

8. As Taylor drives off with the baby, she passes a sign for the Pioneer Woman Museum, probably a symbol placed by the author. In what ways is Taylor a pioneer?

9. • leaving home, going west to start a new life, taking risks

10. Were any of you ever a pioneer, venturing off alone to start an entirely new life? Where did you end up, and how did things work out for you?

11. Kingsolver says that in many ways, the novel is about "the education of Taylor Greer" [1]. What does she learn in general? What does she learn about human suffering and about love?

    • you cannot escape problems by running away or just avoiding them
    • life is hard, but good people make it bearable
    • everyone suffers, but some much worse than others, so they need help
    • love brings suffering and healing, but does not magically solve problems

12. Considering all of our discussion about Taylor, would you say that she is a believable character? Why or why not? Keep in mind the quotation we began with: realism is not a priority for Kingsolver.

American Culture:

11. Taylor says that, compared to her tiny hometown in Kentucky, "living in the hustle-bustle of downtown Tucson was like moving to a foreign country I'd never heard of." Have you ever experienced this kind of culture shock, moving from a small town to a large city or vice versa? Did you welcome the change, as Taylor does, or did you long for home? How did you handle the transition? Did you find ways to make things easier for yourself and/or your family?

12. By the end of the novel, Taylor and Lou Ann consider each other family. As Lou Ann says, "Because we've been through hell and high water together. We know each other's good and bad sides, stuff nobody else knows." Is this what you think constitutes a family? What else helps turn a group of people into a family?

    • love, children, need of family
    • living together, or other shared bonds, like mutual experiences or hobbies

13. Estevan says, "Americans believe that if something terrible happens to someone, they must have deserved it." Do you agree? Why do some believe that?

14. • perhaps it is human nature to distance ourselves from terrible events and justify them happening to someone else so that we can feel safe

15. Virgie Mae and Edna are the two older women from next door. Taylor eventually realizes that Edna, who is always sweet and polite, is blind. However, Virgie Mae often makes racist remarks in front of Estevan and Esperanza, such as "Before you know it the whole world will be here jibbering and jabbering till we won't know it's America." What do you think Kingsolver meant to accomplish by including these two contrasting characters?

    • sometimes the blind see more than the sighted
    • should not make assumptions about people or judge them

16. Many Americans share Virgie Mae's opinions on foreigners. How do you think reading the fictional story of Estevan and Esperanza could change someone's view of people who illegally enter the United States?

    • open their minds to other sides of the story

Other Characters:

16. Lou Ann habitually collects newspaper stories about horrible accidents and disasters, and then retells them as morbid warnings. Have you ever known anyone like this? Why do you think Lou Ann has developed this habit?

17. • she has a negative world-view, also shown in her disproportionately low self-esteem, perhaps because of her husband's desertion, and because of her grandmother's constant put-downs as a child and youth

18. Lou Ann is an essentially passive person, always reacting to things instead of trying to change them herself. Consider this description of Lou Ann from early in the novel: "She expected that a divorce would just develop, like a pregnancy-that they would eventually reach some sort of agreement without having to discuss it.. The arguments [with Angel] made her feel that her bones were made of something like the rubber in a Gumby doll, that her body could be bent into any shape and would stay that way." Have you ever been in a relationship or situation that made you feel like Lou Ann does?

19. How does Lou Ann resolve her misery?

20. • gradually, through her husband's departure and the birth of her son, giving her a motivation to get her life together, as well as through Taylor's arrival in her life, giving her friendship and a fresh perspective and attitude

21. Could this passiveness of character be related to Lou Ann's addiction to tragic stories?

22. • she is re-active rather than pro-active, so she obsesses about possible tragedies that might befall her instead of going out to make her own personal "news"

23. How and why does Turtle change over the course of the story?

    • from abused and catatonic to cheerful, talkative, and curious
    • surrounded by people who love her, she can come out of her shell-shocked state

24. Have you ever known an adopted child? What was he/she like? What was his/her life like before the adoption?

25. Esperanza is a minor character as far as the plot goes, but thematically she is very interesting and significant. What struck you most about her?

26. When Taylor first meets Esperanza, she thinks, "Esperanza just seemed to have shrunk. Exactly like a wool sweater washed in hot.. I had this notion that at one time in life she'd been larger, but that someone had split her in two like one of those hollow wooden dolls." Later, we find out that in Guatemala, Esperanza's daughter was kidnapped and her brother and two close friends were murdered, and we learn that Esperanza has tried to commit suicide a number of times. Have you ever felt shrunken and hollowed-out by life's tragedies? How did you recover?

27. The author has created many parallels between Esperanza and Turtle. Consider these quotations:

    "When [Esperanza] saw the kids, she fell back against the seat, just as if she'd been hit with twenty-eight pounds of air. For the next ten minutes, she looked blanched, like a boiled vegetable. She couldn't take her eyes off Turtle."

    -and-

    When Esperanza voluntarily "gives" Turtle to Taylor in the shammed-adoption proceedings, Esperanza says, "We will know that she is happy and growing with a good heart." As they leave the notary's office, Taylor observes Esperanza: "She was still drying tears but her face was changed. It shone like a polished thing, something old made new."

    -and-

    Later, as they part at the refugee-safehouse, Taylor realizes that Esperanza had a catharsis during the adoption, because she had come to identify Turtle with her lost daughter: "And [Esperanza] seems happy, honest to God, as happy as if she'd really found a safe place to leave Ismene behind."

    How are Esperanza and Turtle similar?

    • both are Native American, tiny in size, and have lost their families
    • both experienced first-hand violence
    • both are refugees taken in by kind people

28. Do you think that Esperanza will recover from her experiences in Guatemala and find a fulfilling life in the United States? Do you think that Kingsolver would agree?

29. We know that everyone suffers and everyone has problems. What specific problems plague these different characters: Taylor, Lou Ann, Estevan, Esperanza, Edna, and Virgie?

    • Taylor: she wants to escape her prescribed role in life, which she sees as single-motherhood and an insignificant life which does nothing to improve or change society
    • Lou Ann: she is dependent, and feels happiness is not possible without a husband
    • Estevan: he feels trapped by other peoples' prejudices
    • Esperanza: she cannot move past the trauma of her daughter's kidnapping
    • Virgie: she cannot see past her own prejudices, and thus treats immigrants and disabled people as inferior

30. There are three characters who seem to have overcome their problems long ago and are now stable individuals with fulfilling lives: Mattie, Father William, and Edna. What are the reasons for this major difference?

    • they are all actively, compassionately devoted to helping others, without regard for their personal safety
    • they have accepted their personal limitations, like blindness or the impossibility of helping everyone in need

Parables:

28. Over dinner at Taylor and Lou Ann's house, Estevan tells the following South American parable:

29. "If you go to visit hell, you will see a room like this kitchen. There is a pot of delicious stew on the table, with the most delicate aroma you can imagine. All around, people sit, like us. Only they are dying of starvation. They are jibbering and jabbering. but they cannot get a bite of this wonderful stew God has made for them.. They are starving because they only have spoons with very long handles. As long as that." He pointed to the mop. "With these ridiculous, terrible spoons, the people in hell can reach into the pot but they cannot put the food in their mouths. Oh, how hungry they are! Oh, how they swear and curse each other!" "Now," he went on, "you can go and visit heaven. What? You see a room just like the first one, the same table, the same pot of stew, the same spoons as long as a sponge mop. But these people are all happy and fat. Why do you think?" He pinched up a chunk of pineapple in his chopsticks, neat as you please, and reached all the way across the table to offer it to Turtle."

    What is the moral of the story? How does it apply to the characters of The Bean Trees?

30. • happiness is possible when people help each other

31. While waiting for the adoption papers in Oklahoma City, Taylor and Turtle go to the library. Reading from the Horticultural Encyclopedia, they learn the secret of wisteria vines, otherwise known as Turtle's bean trees. Taylor explains: "But this is the most interesting part: wisteria 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. They suck nitrogen gas right out of the soil and turn it into fertilizer for the plant." How do these bean trees represent Taylor and Turtle's story?

32. • society is the beautiful wisteria plant, kind-hearted people are the microscopic rhizobia bugs, one cannot thrive without the other

33. Lets return to the quotation by the author that we began with. Kingsolver says of her writing: "If you want a slice of life, look out the window. An artist has to look out that window, isolate one or two suggestive things, and embroider them together with poetry and fabrication, to create a revelation. If we can't, as artists, improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread" [1]. What are the revelations that Kingsolver creates?

34. • happiness is possible when people help each other

35. Finally, consider this other quotation from the author:

    ". a first novel [is] 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?" [1] .

36. How does this novel answer the author's central question?

    • Turtle, Esperanza, Lou Ann, and Taylor help themselves by withdrawing from reality; Mattie, Father William, and Estevan by initiating action
    • they all help each other through friendship and caring and trying to understand one another