The Bean Trees Blog Post 1
The passage that I have chosen is on pg.25 paragraph 1st paragraph. “She put her hands where the child’s shoulders might be, under all that blanket, and pushed it gently back into the seat, trying to make it belong there. She looked at it for a long time. Then she closed the door and walked away.” The reason i choose this passage was becasue I found it important and relevant to the story. I think that it helps the reader to get a better understanding of the bond between the Indian child and one of the main characters, Taylor. While the woman was putting the child down onto the seat Taylor was just watching everything happen silently and appearing as though she accepted and understood that the child was going to become a part of her destiny.
“Why do you think that Taylor accepted the Indian child?” “Do you think that she felt an attachment towards the child and decided to just accept what was happening and not bother returing it to the woman or come back the next day to return the child?”
-Kianat Zamir
Category: Illuminator, Per 3 TBT I 4 comments »
February 10th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I think that Taylor did not really have a chance to actually give the child back. Rather she kept Turtle (the child) out of shock; she did not really understand what was happening at the time and had no reaction what so ever because of this. However, to answer your other question, Taylor must have felt some sort of connection to the child. If she did not, it would have been likely that she would have just tossed Turtle into the street and left. Another fact that supports their connection is that Taylor named Turtle. She willingly excepted her burden and tried to make the child belong.
Well, there is where my opinion and the facts stand.
-Jenni Kantor
February 10th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I think that the child was given to her and she looked at it as an odd opportunity. The person who gave it to her was in need of someone and Taylor was there. One of her main points in the story was to avoid pregnancy until she was out of high school. She may have saw the child as a new begining and a part of her journey to the west. Her go with the flow mentality is shown when she decides to pick her name based on what town her car breaks down in. When she recieved the baby, her thought process could have been, ‘Oh, well theres a new born child laying in my car, and I don’t really have anything going for me yet, so I’ll take this as challenge. Not many people would do this, so I don’t think her mental state is very good. Also, she may have looked at it as bad to return the child because she was given to her out of desperation. It would be wrong to give her back.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I think that Taylor accepted the child because it gave her a strong connection to her Indian background. She was also probably pretty stunned when a total stranger just drops a baby in your car. Maybe she felt a connection in that they are both out of place from home. The baby was taken out her home, and Taylor was completely different from almost everyone else at home. Taylor didn’t get pregnant, she finished school, and she got a job. Taylor grew up without a father, and as of now, so does her baby, whom she has named Turtle.
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I think a big question is why Taylor feels responsible for the child-because of course she has a choice in this matter. And it just can’t be the heritage connection or that she made it out of high school without getting knocked up herself…