the bean trees sparknotes literature guide barbara kingsolver

Here, in these chapters, Taylor discovers a new awareness within herself. The tone is sad because she realizes that a Family of Dolls is not within her reach: She knows too much about the world around her.

It crosses Taylor's mind that they could have been the Family of Dolls in a different life. The Family of Dolls was the 'perfect' family. During the night, as she sits on the couch with Estevan, Turtle, and the cat, Taylor is reminded of the paper dolls she'd played with as a child - the Family of Dolls. She now realizes that the things she'd tried her hardest to avoid - exploding tires and motherhood - have become blessings because she's met Mattie and has Turtle.Īlthough Taylor is attracted to Estevan, she respects his marriage to Esperanza and treats him as a friend. She had never paid attention to what was going on outside her own life. To think that she lives in the same world in which these atrocities take place is almost too much for her to bear. Taylor finds it incredible that Estevan and Esperanza chose to save the lives of seventeen other people and leave Guatemala rather than risk their lives or the lives of others to find Ismene.įaced with the atrocities that Estevan describes, Taylor cannot even imagine having to make such a horrific decision as Estevan and Esperanza have had to make. He also explains that Turtle looks like Ismene, Estevan and Esperanza's daughter, who was kidnapped during a raid on their village.

Estevan tells a shocked Taylor about how he was tortured in Guatemala with the electrical wires in field telephones made in the United States.

Kingsolver presents much of the political background surrounding Estevan and Esperanza. Taylor also discusses a group of school kids condescendingly referred to as Nutters, a group of poor kids who picked walnuts to earn money, were not a popular group, but 'had each other.' By having Taylor discuss the many contentious social groups commonly found in high schools, Kingsolver emphasizes the interdependency between people and how necessary it is to be a member of a community. He had been a misfit, not belonging to any of the 'in' groups in school. Taylor notes that Estevan is deeply troubled, that 'something inside this man turning inside out.' Nervous and not knowing how to respond, she warns Estevan that she will either 'shove food at or run on at the mouth.' Trying to console Estevan (and herself), she tells Estevan about a boy she knew in high school who killed himself with electrical wires. At the beginning of Chapter 9, Estevan shows up on Taylor's doorstep to tell her that Esperanza has tried to commit suicide. In Chapters 9 and 10, Taylor is confronted with issues concerning people who suffer through no fault of their own.

The bean trees sparknotes literature guide barbara kingsolver