The Theme of Family in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees essay paper

Barbara Kingsolver in her novel The Bean Trees provides a new model of modern family and proves that any kind of family has a right for existence since it gives love and comfort to its members.

In her novel Kingsolver examines the themes of motherhood, friendship and human relations. Taylor, the protagonist of the novel makes her journey to maturity and discovers herself. She adopts a child, who does not belong to her and proves that she can be called the mother of this child. Small girl, who does not speak in the beginning of the novel and looks scared and lost, starts speaking by the end of the novel thanks to the love and care of Taylor. The readers can very vividly see how the characters of the novel help to uncover the best features in each other. All three women of the novel, Taylor, Lou Ann and Esperanza, present different types of motherhood and family relations and none of this models is conventional. They study and grow together. The author of the novel proves that care and responsibility make the core of the family relation and despite the family in the novel in not presented in our usual understanding we sill can call it a family. Two women and their children live in peace and harmony and help each other in the most difficult life situations. Moreover, the notion of the family is expanded to the people, who surroundTaylorand help her. The members of the community behave like real members of the family and help each other in all life situations.

The readers can make sure that this type of the “family” has more rights to be called a family than some classical families where nothing but routine and duties unite people together. The novel gives an idea about values, which make a true family regardless of people, who make it.



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