The Bean Trees
By Barbara
Kingsolver
The Life of Barbara Kingsolver
• Born April 8, 1955
and grew up in
eastern Kentucky –
between horse farms
and the coal-mining
regions.
Biography
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 Tears
The 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
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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 mid1970'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
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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 encyclopedia
and 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.”