THE BEAN TREES

A detailed Summary of THE BEAN TREES

A great philosopher once said that our expectations and anticipations are usually better than the actual experience. I found this to be true in Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees. My expectations of the book were very different from the actual story line.

I enjoy novels with adventure and obstacles that the main character must fight to overcome. I was disappointed that The Bean Trees contained very little, if any, adventure. Taylor Greer's biggest problems seemed to be her car and her fear of tires. The fact that she was literally handed a Cherokee baby girl was not an issue with her at all. Taylor took everything in stride. Nothing bothered her for very long. She did not feel very worried about transporting illegal refugees across the United States. I thought there would be much more tension, but it was all taken care of in just a few pages. Estevan and Esperanza made it to their destination without any hassles or obstacles. It is extremely costly to transport refugees, and if the transporter is caught he or she faces fines or imprisonment. The refugees would face even worse consequences. The delicacy of this situation was downplayed too much. While I read the book I was sure that somehow Estevan and Esperanza would either ge

ced any life altering revelations. Although life around her changed, she did not noticeably grow as a person. Taylor reminds me of a slide show in which someone is standing in front of a screen and on that screen different backdrops and settings are being shown. The person stays the same except to adjust to the backdrop being displayed behind him or her. The person is merely adapting, not necessarily changing something about himself or herself. Taylor adapts to her surroundings and situations. She does not significantly change from beginning to end.

caught or come dangerously close to being caught. The refugees, including Estevan and Esperanza, were represented in a way that minimized the actual danger of their situation. Estevan explains to Taylor one night how people were being treated in Guatemala. Taylor realizes how little she knows about the outside world, yet that is as far as it goes. The realization is never put into action or further discussion. There is not a dramatic escape or a frenzied police search. Kingsolver made it too safe, too easy. Mattie, the woman who owns the garage, housed refugees, and she never got caught. I thought it would be somewhat similar to the situation faced by the Jews in Nazi Germany. The book would have been much more exciting if Mattie was subjected to a Nazi style search and interrogation. The precariousness of housing an illegal group should have been explored further to make the story more realistic.

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Although a few characters had prejudices, they did not cause conflict for the other characters. I thought that Taylor would face a greater amount of adversary because Turtle is Cherokee. It would be interesting to observe her reactions to that situa

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Approximate Word count = 1199
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels