The Bean TreesThe Bean Trees By Barbara By Barbara KingsolverKingsolver

The Life of Barbara Kingsolver

Biography• Born April 8, 1955 and grew up in eastern Kentucky – between horse farms and the coal-mining regions.

DePauw University in Indiana/Grad School from University of Arizona in Tucson

• Starting at age nine, Barbara kept a journal, and she would always write poems and stories and enter them into almost every contest she could.

• In college, she only took one creative writing course and was active in social justice groups.

Kingsolver’s books• Her first novel was The Bean Trees, published in 1988.• 1989 – Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Coal

Mine Strike of 1883 as well as a story collection• 1990 – Animal Dreams• 1992 – Another America: Otra America• 1993 - Pigs in Heaven• 1995 – Essays from Now or Never• 1998 – The Poisonwood Bible (Pulitzer Prize finalist)• 2000 – Prodigal Summer• 2002 – Small Wonder• 2002 - Last Stand: America’s Virgin Lands

Works are Autobiographical

• “There are little things that people who know me might recognize in my novels. But my work is not about me. I don’t ever write about real people. That would be stealing, first of all. And second of all, art is supposed to be better than that. If you want a slice of life, look out the window. As an artist has to look out that window…. If we can’t as artists, improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread.”

Setting

Southeast Appalachia– Originally settled by Native Americans prior to 1700– Settlers and pioneers started to move in over the next

100 years– French and Indian War was fought here

• Britain and France fighting in “the new world”• Disastrous for the Native Americans• Native Americans were never again in a position to

deal with their white rivals on terms of military or political equality

The Trail of TearsThe Trail of Tears began in the Appalachians

– In 1838, the US government forcibly removed more than 16,000 Cherokee people from their homelands in the South and sent them to Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

– The impact to the Cherokee was devastating. – Hundreds of Cherokee died during their trip west, and thousands

more perished from the consequences of relocation.

Appalachian Poverty

• Appalachia has been economically dependent on coal for many years.– Residents are typically

in poverty, malnourished and diseased.

– Depressed economy – Distinct culture

1980’s• First Space Shuttle Launch• President: Ronald Reagan

– Wanted to prevent spread of communism and started the war on drugs

• Fall of the Berlin Wall• Space shuttle Challenger disaster• First home computers • First Nintendo • Beginning of AIDS

pandemic• Gay rights became more

widely accepted

1980’s

Kentucky

• Kentucky is one of the border states that lie between the North and the South of the United States. Its long northern border is formed by the Ohio River, one of the traditional boundaries between the Northern states and the Southern states. Kentucky also forms a link between two of the great land features of the United States. Its eastern border touches the Appalachian Mountains. About 350 miles (563 kilometers) to the west, Kentucky touches the Mississippi River.

Kentucky • The coal-mining industry boomed during the mid-1970's, when an energy shortage hit the United States.

• In the 1980's, several Kentucky school systems sued state officials, charging them with inadequate and unevenly distributed funding for public schools.

Standard Oil – 1980’s

• “I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine’s father over the top of the Standard Oil sign.”

Candy stripers

Pittman, Kentucky

Homer, Illinois

References in the Story…Ladies in 50’s Hairdos

The Great Plain of Oklahoma

Cherokee Reservation

• One of the largest five tribes in the US• Largest population live in Oklahoma• Live in log cabins, not tee pees• Led by chiefs• Highly religious and spiritual• Many tribal members still practice the old ways of health care

using herbs and formulas either self administered or from a “Medicine Man”

Cherokee Reservation• Many tribe members occupy

their time (and make money) with original tribal arts and crafts: baskets, pottery, beadwork, finger weaving, stone carvings and wood carvings.

• Most all tribal members speak English, but the Cherokee language is taught in homes and schools

Cherokee Indian Baby

Pioneer Woman Museum

Mississippi mud turtle

Tucson, Arizona• 60 miles north of

Mexican border• 5 mountain ranges• Known for its

abundance of saguaros (cactus)

• Desert climate• Economy:

– University– Air Force base– Tourism

Tucson, Arizona

Gumby Doll – Lou Ann

• Formica Table Top

Bull riding

Texas Canyon, Arizona

Purple beans (bean trees)

Horticultural encyclopediaand night blooming cereus

Border of Mexico and Texas

Adoption certificate

THEMES in Bean Trees

• The Shared Burden of Womanhood– Women encourage one another and are loyal

to one another– Gender inequality is a societal phenomenon

instead of as a series of individual grievances.• Turtle, LeAnn, and Esperanza all experience

the pain of women in general…

THEMES in Bean Trees

• The Plight of Illegal Immigrants

– Kingsolver depicts those who denigrate immigrants not as evil, but as ignorant or misguided.

– People should not latch on to a political ideology without considering its moral implications. .

THEMES in Bean Trees

• Respect for the Environment– The novel expresses a concern for the

environment not by focusing on the potential destruction of the environment, but by focusing on the beauty of the land.

– The novel also suggests that Native American heritage and respect for the environment go hand in hand.

Motifs

• Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

• Rebirth – The pattern of death

and new life • Motherhood

– The Bean Trees explores several models of mothering, none of them conventional.

– Kingsolver values the attempt at responsible parenting over the results.

SYMBOLS

Symbols are objects, characters, figures,

or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

• Beans and Bean Trees

• Ismene • Birds

Figurative Language

• “But the day I saw his daddy up there like some old overalls slung over a fence, I had this feeling about what Newt’s whole life was going to amount to, and I felt sorry for him.”

• “Believe me in those days the girls were dropping by the wayside like seeds of a poppyseed bun and you learned to look at every day as a prize.”