In the story “Seedfolks” Wendell is called by Ana the only other white person that lives in the building. He rushes up there thinking something is wrong, but in reality she just wanted him to go outside and water the bean plant. The bean plant was planted by another girl in the building named Kim. Wendell goes downstairs to water the plants, but when he gets down there he sees Kim. So Wendell just smiles and walks away slowly but as he walks away it gives him ideas. Wendell realizes that the girl is committed to her garden and he does not have very much in his life that he is committed to. He also see that the girl was inspired by the circle that he drew around the one plant. So Wendell basically tell himself to stop moping around and start
Mama wants to keep her dreams alive and keep her family close to her heart. Mama’s plant that she cares for represents this dream by “looking at her plant and spraying water on it” (52) in a small way showing she will try to keep her plant and their dreams alive. She takes care of this plant as if it was one of her own children. Mama's children also have their own dreams and their own plans on how to attain those dreams. The family's competing dreams are emphasized in using a symbol to represent these dreams in this case-Mama's plant. Lorraine Hansberry describes each of the family’s dreams and how they are deferred. In the beginning of the play Lorraine Hansberry chose Langston Hughes’s poem to try describe what the play is about and how, in life, dreams can sometimes...
The author describes the narrator’s relationship to peas as negative. “I began to force the wretched things down my throat.” The word is a negative term implying that he dislikes them. Another time the author develops the characters relationships with something is when he talks about the perfume that the grandmother wears. “...my mothers and sisters would throw open all the windows, strip the bedding and the curtains and the rugs, and spend several days washing and airing things out, trying frantically to make the pungent odor go away.” This shows that the narrator and his family did not find the smell appealing. When Beyer explains how Ellen, the narrator’s mom, was glaring at her mother and her son, it shows that she was mad that her son. “My mother was livid.” His mother was angry that he ate the peas for money. Now she makes hims eat peas for love, despite his hatred for them.
The founder of the garden is a nine year old vietnamese girl, named Kim. She begins planting in dedication of her father, who passed away eight months before she was born She wants to feel apart of the family by crying and grieving with her mother and sister. Kim decides to plant peas, so her father can tell that she’s his daughter. . Ana is an older lady who lives in a small apartment.She likes to be entertained by others. Her role in the garden is the watcher. She depends on Wendall, who lives below her in the apartment building. She first sees Kim planting the peas and thinks the young girl could possibly be hiding drugs, money, or a gun. This tells us that Ana has trust issues and likes to know everything that’s going on. In chapter 2 of Seedfolks Fleischman chose certain characters to have certain characteristics. I wouldn’t use the word certain twice in one sentence.Ana is one of those people. In chapter 3, Wendall is called upstairs urgently by Ana. Fleischman writes, “But she planted ‘em way too early. She’s lucky those seeds even came up.” But they did, said Ana. And it's up to us to save them”(p.10). Wendall is being critical of whomever planted the lettuce, but all Anna wants to do is save them. Ana is willing to help out someone who she doesn't even know. If Ana hadn’t asked Wendall to save the plants forKim, the oriental girl who planted the lettuce would
Feeling fearful and homesick is always uncomfortable, but family always seems to make everything so much more soothing. The notorious “Snapping Beans”, written by Lisa Parker in 1998, is a free verse poem. The speaker is enrolled in a northern college, but is home and visiting her Grandmother for the weekend. She sits on the porch with her and snaps peas almost as if to relieve her stress. The speaker is most definitely a complex individual who worries about what her family may think of her college experiences.
From close-mouthed to communicative, oblivious to obsessed, indifferent to independent, The Bean Trees shows all sorts of changes that can occur in unimaginable situations. Making these transformations seem so real, Barbara Kingsolver effectively brings the book to life by allowing the characters to uniquely grow and thrive in all sorts of circumstances just like we do in the real world. Lessons could even be taken from what these people learned through their journeys in life and applied to how we carry ourselves in our daily lives. Independence, self confidence, persistence, and perseverance all prove to be integral qualities in succeeding in life no matter what it throws at us.
In consideration, many unexpected events can occur to us, which helps to shape one’s belief in something that they should avoid having. The novel, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver portrays the life of Taylor Greer, a young and spirited woman who is brave enough to move out of a rural home in Kentucky with the goal of avoiding pregnancy. Little did Taylor know, she faces a human condition of accepting a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle. Throughout her journey, she creates many friendships with other people and love toward Turtle so there are many things that
Her brother leaves her alone because he trusts her to be able to deal catch gophers on her own. He showed her how to get gophers and believed in her to get them on her own. As she was “all by herself” she contemplated the hardship she faced and how she would deal with it. The girls “mind went running” as she laid still on the grass to “Judy Craig’s gopher” but that quickly left her mind and all she could think about was the hardship of acceptance from her brother. The girls brother leaving her alone with the job of catching gophers shows that he is finally willing to accept her, but because of this acceptance he expects her to do something against her own morals. The girl was faced with an ambivalent
For instance, in Sam’s chapter, a young boy named Royce is introduced. He is an African American teenager that Sam hires to help him plant something in the garden. People automatically assumed he was a trouble maker or someone who couldn’t be trusted. Later in Amir’s chapter, it is revealed that Royce was one of three men who stopped a robber trying to steal a woman’s purse. This is when everyone forgets about the previous stereotypes and realizes that Royce is actually a very generous, trustworthy teen. So in addition to helping people overcome their prejudice, the garden also helped the people who were victims of stereotyping. It made them feel like a real citizen in the community. On page 50, Nora explains, “Many people grew plants from their native lands- huge Chinese melons, ginger, cilantro, a green the Jamaicans call Callaloo, and many more.” Later on the page she continues, “We, like out seeds were now planted in the garden” Nora’s first quote explains that people that may have been judged for bringing their culture to Cleveland, now felt proud to show off all of the unique parts of it. Her second quote explains that the garden was making people finally feel welcome because all of the stereotypes were melting away. This shows that when people from different communities come together, it can make them stronger and more
The story opens by embracing the reader with a relaxed setting, giving the anticipation for an optimistic story. “…with the fresh warmth of a full summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green (p.445).”
Since the character is so young, it is obvious he does not fully understand why he is faced with discrimination based on merely the color of his skin. The child does not even mention the color of his skin, because to him it is irrelevant and should have nothing to do with how he is treated. With a young child being so innocent they cannot understand why the color of his or her skin would put them back in life, although they may know it does, he or she is only faced with feelings of confusion. By directly leaving the cultural context of the child's race out of the poem, the reader feels that he is extremely innocent and therefore does not deserve his battle of racism. By also including symbols and context clues of Jesus Christ the author builds the unfair racial treatment of the character. The author states that, “They fell among a garland of thorns,” which causes the reader to think of Jesus. Some readers may also think that the point of the berries is to resemble the Garden of Eden. Making the reader compare the child to Jesus not only makes the reader feel like he did not deserve his treatment, but also causes the reader to be emotional. Intense feelings of emotion leads the reader to not only feel terrible because of the characters racial setback, but also causes the reader to relate deeply to the character by including the most important part of anyone’s life, religion.
The novel challenges the contradicting sides of the expectation and reality of family and how each one contains a symbiotic relationship. The ideal relationship within families differ throughout The Bean Trees. Kingsolver focuses on the relationship between different characters and how they rely on each other to fill the missing gaps in their lives. When Taylor and Lou Ann meet, they form a symbiotic relationship and fill the missing gaps in each others lives. Once the two women move in with each other, Lou Ann fills Taylor’s missing gap of motherly experience and opens her eyes to a life full of responsibilities.
When Marie-Neige believed that she was in the extreme depth of hopelessness, the unexpected generosity and kindness from Lucien allowed her to re-evaluate herself regarding her previous negative outlook of life. Lucien’s decision to purchase her property and sign it under her name after realizing all the pain and miseries Marie-Neige experienced instigated a substantial change within Marie-Neige’s character. This revelation caused Marie-Neige to transform from someone who had “been given nothing in her life, on even the slightest scale” (pg.6) to someone who began to “recognize the sudden lightness” (pg.6) in life by discovering the limitless possibilities of her own farm. Because of Lucien’s compassion and kindness, Marie-Neige realized how such a simple act could greatly positively influence her view of the world. This feeling of hope and optimism has allowed her to destroy the barriers encompassed around her poverty-stricken life and discover her true aspirations in society filled with endless opportunities. In addition, the allusion to Cornelius also demonstrates the importance of the farm to Marie-Neige since it is an essential for her way of living. When Marie-Neige was still living a poverty-stricken, difficult life, she attempted to cultivate her plants successfully in order to one day be able to enter society and forever leave her destitute, poor state. Now that she has rights to her own land, she believes that she is now able to “enter the world of the grower of the black tulip” (pg. 6). This means now that Marie-Neige has possession of her own property, she will be able to properly tend her own flowers by herself and compete within the mainstream, competitive society while abandoning her previous sufferings and
The Bean Trees has the structure of a quest. The protagonist or quester is Taylor Greer. Her place to go or destination of the quest is more of an idea rather than an actual place. It is the idea of a place free of oppression due to her gender and cultural background. She wants a place to start a new life. Taylor’s escape
The Bean Trees is a novel which shows Taylor’s maturation; it is a bildungsroman story. Taylor is a developing or dynamic character. Her moral qualities and outlook undergo a permanent change. When the novel begins, Taylor is an independent-minded young woman embarking on an adventure to a new world. She has no cares or worries. She is confident in her abilities, and is determined to make it through life on her own. As she discovers new things and meets new people, Taylor is exposed to the realities of the world. She learns about the plight of abandoned children and of illegal immigrants. She learns how to give help and how to depend upon the help of others. As she interacts with others, those people are likewise affected by Taylor. The other developing characters are Lou Ann Ruiz, Turtle, and Esperanza. Together they learn the importance of interdependence and find their confidence.
Tom Sawyer, a mischievous, brave, and daring boy that goes through adventures in love, murder, and treasure. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is about a boy maturing from a whimsical troublemaker into a caring young man. In the "conclusion" Mark Twain writes, "It being strictly a history of a boy, it must stop here; the story could not go much farther without becoming a history of a man" Tom is now maturing throughout a span of adventures in love, treasure, and everyday life that make him more of an adult, then a boy.