The Bean Trees Post 1-4: Discussion Director, Brandon Greer, Pd. 3
In the first four chapters of The Bean Trees, the author presents two stories in two different view points. The story of Taylor Greer is told in first person. The story of LouAnn is told in third person. I have several questions below:
Why does the author do this? How does this create the novel? How are the stories similar literally and symbolically?
How does the character of Angel fit into Taylor Greer’s story? This is not directly stated, but there is a connection. This connection also ties Taylor and LouAnn together.
How are LouAnn and Taylor similar? How are they different?
Category: Discussion Director, Per 3 TBT DD 5 comments »
February 10th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Your first question is unfair to me! I read ahead in the book so I am at no liberty to discuss why the author does this. However, if I had not read ahead in the story, I would say that Kingsolver put an additional point of view in the story so the reader could understand the main character (Taylor, in this case) better. If you have not noticed, Taylor and Lou Ann both have the same type of personality and way of handling things. This turns the novel into a more insightful look on a person’s life. To answer your third question, I say that it goes back to my original explaination of why Kingsolver put Lou Ann into the novel.
Angel reminds me of some of the boys that Taylor interacted with in her hometown, more specifically Angel reminds me of Newt. They both have a greasy type of personality that makes you wonder why the character marries or interacts with him. They are both the type of male role that makes the reader sigh in relief once they go away, as they inevitably will.
To answer your final question, as I stated before, Lou Ann and Taylor both have the same kind of personality. They also judge others in the same way. The most obvious statment I can make about their likeness however, is the fact that they both got saddled with children they have not the means or abilities to take care of.
They are different in a few less obvious but very important ways. For one, though both women have the same emotional reactions, Taylor has a better hold over her emotions. She feels the same way as Lou Ann but she holds it in, prefering to be alone to release them. Lou Ann lets them go immidiatly, not really caring about the concequences until a later date or time. Lou Ann holds in more important discussions, prefering to hold it in, in hopes of the problems will solve themselves, a bad judgement on her part. The most obvious difference has to be that they are of different ages.
There is my reply!
-Jenni Kantor
February 10th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
First of all, both characters are similar in the way that they are raising a child as a single mother. The author may do this to create a way to compare and contrast what each character is going through. Their struggles can be appreciated in both stories. The two seperate stories also take place in the same area, and at one point overlap into the tire store. The author may use the story of Taylor to compare it to the story of LouAnn. Taylor’s story is told in 1st person and we can get a feel for what she is thinking. LouAnn’s story is told in a 3rd person, omnicient view. The narrorator can tell the whole picture. Angel can best be described as the person who gave Taylor the baby. They are very similar because they both left the single mother with their baby. Taylor is someone who is traveling along and whatever happens, happens. LouAnn is not that same. She was living in Az, but was a “Kentuckian”. LouAnn and Taylor can be connected this way because Taylor is trying to get away from Kentucky, and LouAnn is ’stuck’ there? -if that’s a good way to say it.
Any other thoughts?
February 11th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I think that the author tells the story in the first person for Taylor to show us how Taylor is adjusting to life in her point of view, how she’s handling everything and what her struggles are based on how she views them. And it’s probably told in the third person for LouAnn to show us what her life is like in the perspective of the author telling the story. How the reader observes what is happening to LouAnn from their perception. Since their stories are similar, I don’t think that the author wants to have both stories told in the same point of view, and along with that she is creating the novel by showing two points of views that entitle us to comprehend the story better. The stories are similar literally because both of the main characters are dealing with a child. They want to try to give the child as much as they can and have to face many of the same struggles doing so. The stories are similar symbolically because they represent the child as a symbol. The child is representing the innocence in the story and in doing so the author creates this imagery in our minds that LouAnn and Taylor have to deal with this innocence that has been put in front of them showing no repentant what so ever by taking care of them and being as motherly as possible and not wanting the children to grow-up and overlook not having a father.
Angel fits into Taylor’s story by representing Newt in LouAnn’s life. This shows that both have had the experience to know someone who cannot defend himself/ will just get away from life if he can, considers himself useless and is very careless. They are a symbolic representation of the hardships the girls have had to face in their lives by having to see and pity them. The two men illustrate commiserate the girls have had to perceive just by having them there as an example. They find themselves thinking that they would never have a child destined to be around an environment in which Newt and Angel had been accustomed.
LouAnn and Taylor are similar because they both have to encumber the children, which they are finding very intricate due to the fact that they have to take care of the children and find a job in order to afford a living. They are dealing with the same struggles through their lifetime at the moment. Neither of them has somebody with them at the time to help them out with the child. They have to find their own way in life. (Sorry Jenni, but I disagree with your answer: “Taylor has a better hold over her emotions. She feels the same way as Lou Ann but she holds it in, preferring to be alone to release them. Lou Ann lets them go immediately, not really caring about the consequences until a later date or time.”) I feel that both of the women are strong enough to have a control over their emotions. Neither of them let anyone know with what they have to face at the moment. For example: Taylor does not tell her mother that she has a child with her who, was given to her by a complete stranger. LouAnn has the chance to tell her mother and grandmother what she is being put through and that she has divorced her husband and has to afford a living by herself. Neither of them tells anyone anything so far, indicating that they both know how to handle their emotions with expediency. This is another similarity between them.
However, a difference that I have noticed amid them is that Taylor is much more strong-minded in getting things done, for example: she was determined to get a job and she succeeded at it even though she got fired later. LouAnn has not had the chance to even look for a job yet or return to her old job. Taylor likes to get things done and she doesn’t step back when she has the chance to do something and she gets straight to the point of things, that’s something that I have noticed in Taylor’s personality. Something unique about LouAnn is that she might on the verge of admitting things but holds them back, she is timid and she stand-up for herself or defend her rights or her belongings. She backs down easily and takes ’no’ for an answer.
-Kianat Zamir
February 14th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Okay guys, you were close on some of them. The question about the view points was one I didn’t have an answer to while I was writing it. My guess is that Taylor’s story shows what it is like to raise a child from the mother’s mind, and LouAnne’s story is from the eyes of the observer.
The question about Angel. This was a hard one. The book says that Taylor grew up without a father. I connected Angel to the father because Angel left LouAnne, which is similar to how Taylor’s father left Taylor’s mother.
LouAnne seems a bit more stable than Taylor, as she has a place to live. She also knew the baby was coming, as with Taylor, the baby was just left with her. I can see Kianat’s and Jenni’s connection with Newt, although I wasn’t thinking of that.
These are my answers to the questions.
-Brandon Greer
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Brandon-Not sure there was just one answer to some of your questions-so the idea of right and wrong doesn’t quite work. The fact that they found ideas you weren’t thinking of is good!
Good responses for the most party everyone. Just, again, but cautious about being repetitive.