The Bean Trees
There seems to be a buzz going around about Kingsolver's indifference towards men. Much of that, though, is generated by one of her first novels, The Bean Trees. It does ring true, for this particular story, that only one man out of many plays a laudable part. But that novel fails to represent Kingsolver's entire spectrum of stories. Another one of her just as successful novels, Animal Dreams, highlights a major male character, and a few others, with a positive sheen. The two novels, so similar in the way of a woman's self-journey, are also quite different when it comes to outlooks on men.The reason Taylor Greer, the main character in The Bean Trees, leaves her hometown is because there is nothing for her there. Mainly, she has seen pretty much every woman in the town "get hogtied to a future as a tobacco
farmer's wife", or some equal/worse fate. The men in her life, including her father, have instilled a bad feeling in Taylor, either by being lazy and boring, leaving their spouses, or even beating the women who "love" them. By the time the cute northern high school teacher comes along, Taylor isn't even "moony" over him -- and he would be the one to like. So as a young girl, she learns not to be easily impressed by members of the male species. Now that there are two equally successful novels by Kingsolver, it is impossible to say that she is all for women and totally against men. There is a huge difference between Taylor's life and Codi's life. Taylor will have nothing to do with males, it seems, while Codi's life was virtually changed for the better by a man. It is possible, then, for Kingsolver to recogniz
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Approximate Word count = 548
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)
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