The Bean Trees Essay Example

Author use many symbolism in the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. She uses symbolism because it makes it easier for readers to understand the deeper meaning or feeling of the character or the events that are happening. For example, author uses the symbolism of bean trees as transformation and Ismene as the abandoned children to show the deeper meaning of them. “Turtle was staring up at the wisteria flowers. “Beans,” she said, pointing... We looked where she was pointing. Some of the wisteria flowers had gone to seed, and all these wonderful long green pods hung down from the branches. They looked as much like beans as anything you’d ever care to eat.” (143-144). This quote is important because it’s the moment where the life of Turtle starts to change. The bean trees, another name for the wisteria vine that Turtle found at Dog Doo Park, symbolize the transformation. Transformation in this book is significant because Turtle has been abused, raped and been hurt which caused her to stop growing. But from this moment Turtle start to transform, start growing like a bean tree. A bean tree start off with a small, hard, and dry bean, first few days it seems like it will never grow but after few days, it will start to grow dramatically. This symbolizes the transformation of Turtle how now Turtle is a small, hard, and dry, not growing, but soon she will start to grow dramatically. “I was afraid to understand this. I asked him if he meant that Ismene was their daughter, and Estevan said yes, that she was. She was taken in a raid on their neighborhood in which Esperanza’s brother and two friends were killed... It’s hard to explain, but a certain kind of horror is beyond tears.” (136). This quote is significant in the book because it explains what happened to Estevan and Esperanza’s child Ismene. Ismene is important because it symbolizes all the abandoned children and twin of Turtle. Since we never met Ismene in the story, we only could see what she meant to her