Passage/Page #

Theme

1.

"My mama said the Hardbines had kids just about as fast as they could fall down the well and drown. This must not be have been entirely true, since they were abundant in Pittman County and many survived until adulthood" (Kingsolver 2).

THEME: Definition of family, which the novel will explore throughout the story, is initially (and humorously) defined in terms of biological offspring.

2.

Chapter Title, "Jesus is Lord Used Tires" (Kingsolver 36).

THEME: Spiritual guidance and fulfillment may be found in unlikely places.

Where does one turn for spiritual guidance and relief? Nature? Organized religion? A tire shop sanctuary? As you continue reading, where does Taylor find support and fulfillment?

3.

"You just never knew where something was going to end up" (Kingsolver 40).

THEME: Much of life must be navigated without knowing where one might end up (remember the maze symbol?) though one does control how one acts/reacts to choices along the way.

Example: Taylor ends up in Arizona with an abused Indian baby, but she doesn't abandon the child.

4.

"Sandi's mother made her move out, and she lived with her older sister Aimee, who was born again and made her pay rent. In Aimee's opinion it would have been condoning sin to let Sandi and her illegitimate son stay there for free" (Kingsolver 69).

THEME: People, things, deep down, may not be what they appear to be at the surface.

Where does the protagonist find charity, love, sanctuary in the novel?

5.

"Mattie's place was always hopping...There was another whole set of people who spoke Spanish and lived with her upstairs...I asked her about them once, and she asked me something like had I ever heard of a sanctuary.

'Sure,' I said. 'It's a place they set aside for birds, where nobody's allowed to shoot them.'

'That's right. They've got them for people too'" (Kingsolver 82).

THEME: Beneath the surface of the skin, a building façade, a name, the soil, often resides another world altogether.

There's a certain subtlety, and power, in the false appearances in the novel. Who would think a tire shop would provide sanctuary to the poor, needy, homeless?

6.

"The 'Family of Dolls', the protagonist's childhood collection of paper dolls, 'a tight-knit little circle' that her own family realities put 'far beyond my reach'” (Kingsolver 144).

THEME: ‘family’ is defined by far more than sharing the same DNA.

Idealized visions of family are often thwarted by external realities.  The characters in The Bean Trees redefine or rather, re-establish a sense of "family" after the "Family of Dolls" image disintegrates like the protagonist's paper dolls.

7.

Mattie: "You're asking yourself, Can I give this child the best possible upbringing and keep her out of harm's way her whole life long? The answer is no, you can't. But nobody else can either...Nobody can protect a child from the world. That's why it's the wrong thing to ask..."

Taylor: "So what's the right thing to ask?"

Mattie:" Do I want to try?" (Kingsolver 189).

THEME: One’s family may very well be defined by those dedicated to protecting each other from suffering;  parenting involves a difficult realization: one cannot prevent one’s child from suffering.


Here Mattie (like Lou Ann earlier) supports Taylor and helps her dispel her self-doubts, fears, and make the next important decision in the maze of life, does she want to try to hold onto Turtle?

8.

"I chose a new name for myself too, when I left home...we all have that in common" (Kingsolver 204).

THEME: Names (among other outward appearances) do not truly denote one’s identity.

Name-changing may be part of one's attempt to move away from an identity or an attempt at assimilation. Taylor's given name "Marietta" is the name of the town in Georgia in which she was conceived. After the father abandons them, her mother's left "barefoot and pregnant." Estevan and Esperanza adopt Spanish names (and Steven and Hope later) to blend in with the communities in southwest North America. Their Mayan Indian names were such that "You couldn't even pronounce them."

9.

Taylor: "...I can't stand to think of you stuck here forever."

Estevan: "Don't think of us here forever. Think of us back in Guatemala with our families. Having another baby. When the world is different from now" (Kingsolver 232).

THEME: The realization of one's identity, or the fulfillment of one's self (remember the man in the maze) involve making decisions that on the surface may seem antithetical to that fulfillment.

Self-fulfillment may involve a ‘re-birth’.  Remember the dormant frogs in the desert?  The image of the complex maze is a fitting one here.