Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees

The plight of immigrants can only be told through experience not statistics mainly because statistics do not convey the predicament that they face in real life. Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Bean Trees, revolves around a young woman named Taylor who has never been a victim of injustice because she’s lived in rural Kentucky her whole life and once she leaves her county, she is exposed to the harsh reality beyond the boundaries. She began her journey in Pittman County where not much occurs and headed west to nowhere in particular, simply savoring her freedom. When a Cherokee woman gives her a baby, Taylor begins to discover more about the world and the injustices that other people face. She eventually settles down in Tucson, Arizona which is
where she meets a few people that open up her mind to different matters. She meets Mattie, a beloved character who protects and aids illegal immigrants, while in Tucson. Estevan and Esperanza are among these immigrants whom she protects and helps. The couple had escaped their oppressed nation in hopes to find a better and safer life in the United States. Taylor’s view on the world changes when she discovers what their past life in Guatemala was like. Throughout the story, Taylor has many encounters that expose her to different depths of the topic of illegal immigration. Through the use of complex characters, conflict, and point of view, Barbara Kingsolver demonstrates the plight of illegal immigrants within her novel, The Bean Trees. Barbara Kingsolver depicts the struggle of illegal immigration through the characters of her novel.
Estevan and Esperanza are two immigrants within the novel who had managed to escape their harsh homeland, leaving almost everything behind them in the past, and came to the United States in hope for a better life. The Guatemalan government was using oppression against their civilians for their own purposes and creating conflict within their own country at the time. Estevan had explained to Taylor, “In Guatemala, you are careful. If you want to change something you can find yourself dead” (Kingsolver 183). The situation in Guatemala had been very barbarous at the time which led to Estevan and Esperanza fleeing the country to the United States. Their daughter, Ismene, was taken away from them by the oppressive government when they had refused to give the names of union members. “[Ismene] was taken in a raid on their neighborhood in which Esperanza’s brother and two friends were killed” (Kingsolver 183). Estevan and Esperanza had made the decision to give up their daughter to protect their fellow union members from the government. The couple had risked nearly everything to do what’s right and when they arrived at the United States, they were labelled ‘illegal’ and needed to hide from the U.S. government as well. When you were an illegal immigrant at the time of this novel, you were only allowed to stay in the U.S. if your life was being threatened and you had evidence. Estevan
and Esperanza didn’t have evidence but their lives were certainly endangered back in Guatemala. Mattie had stated, “When people run for their lives they frequently neglect to bring their file cabinets of evidence” (Kingsolver 214). The couple didn’t have time to bring proof that their lives were in danger from the Guatemalan government. Even after they had escaped the wrath of the Guatemalan government, they still face conflict in the United States, showing how their struggle doesn’t end. The plight of illegal immigrants is expressed through Estevan and Esperanza; they represent the overall struggle that illegal aliens face. The majority of immigrants have a reason to leave their countries. The challenges that immigrants face aren’t new. Only the experiences and stories are new. One story is of Armando Ibanez, an illegal immigrant like Estevan and Esperanza that crossed the border to the U.S. approximately 14 years ago, spoke of his experience back in Mexico to CBS News. He said, “Not having food to eat every day and seeing your mother struggling – seeing your mother struggling to provide food, that’s one of the sad memories I have from Mexico” (Shaban 4). Like Estevan and Esperanza, Ibanez was suffering back in his homeland and took the chance to escape. Illegal immigrants are victims of injustice in both their own countries and the country they emigrate to. Kingsolver had made Estevan and Esperanza complex and realistic to establish the struggle of illegal immigrants is in reality.