The Bean Trees (Identities and Issues in Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Barbara Kingsolver
- First Published: 1988
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Bildungsroman, Family literature
- Subjects: Family or family life, Self-discovery, Mothers, Parents and children, Friendship, Abandoned children, 1980’s, Child abuse, Native Americans or American Indians, Ethnic relations, Women’s issues, Women, Adoption or adopted children, Working class, Southwest, Central America or Central Americans, Aliens, illegal, Refugees
- Locales: Tucson, AZ
The Work
The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver’s first novel, is the initiation story of twenty-three-year-old Marietta (Taylor) Greer, who drives west from Kentucky, finding a new name and a child and ultimately making a life in Tucson, Arizona. In a plot structured on the hero’s journey of separation, initiation, and reintegration, Taylor Greer achieves her adult identity by accepting and making a home for the three-year-old child, Turtle, who was given to her by a frightened Cherokee woman.
Taylor answers a newspaper ad for a housemate and meets Lou Ann Ruiz....
[The entire page is 920 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
