The Bean Trees: Pd. 3: Entry 4: Brandon Greer: Connector
Okay, so this is our last entry on The Bean Trees. 
It should cover Chapters 14-17, finishing the book. The entry next week is the first entry on Dracula by Bram Stoker. Any edition should be pretty similar. I have the Puffin Classics edition.
Anyway, I found this quote which I think relates to one of the most important themes in the book: family.
Family is just accident…. They don’t mean to get on your nerves. They don’t even mean to be your family, they just are.
This quote relates to several different scenes in the book. Taylor never intended to meet LouAnn or Turtle or Esperanza and Estevan. It just happened. When Taylor first met LouAnn, they didn’t get along. Taylor wanted to act like her life was completely seperate from LouAnn’s. Taylor never intended to adopt Turtle, it just happened. Likewise, Estevan and Esperanza never tried to become as close to Taylor as they did. It was a lucky event.
What do you think of this quote? Do you think it connects to the story well. What other connections can you draw from it?
Shank, if you’re reading this, we’re reading Dracula. You already said it would work, and that’s what we’re reading, as you said Digital Fortress had no literary merit, even though it was a New York Times Bestseller.
-Brandon
Category: Per 3 TBT Con 5 comments »
March 6th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Brandon, I have three things to say before I reply to your blog as connector.
One, bring in your Dracula book. I need to see it in order to blog with it.
Two, just a question, but where is this quote from? I looked in the book and could not find it any where. On my post or yours does not matter, just answer me, I really am curious. If it is from the book, what page?
Third and final, (Mom’s insistence to teach my family this has convinced me to write this.) it is impolite to refer to Mr. Shank as “Shank”. Okay, out of my system, and now I will give a reply. (Sorry to whoever else just had to read through that spiel.)
I like your quote. As I said in the spiel, it was a very interesting one to post. You made the same reference of the entire story as I did, family. The whole story was based off of the unique idea of a family situation with no relatives (besides Lou Ann’s Dwayne Ray) what so ever.
It is a good connection to the point that the story is trying to say: you will find family everywhere.
To answer your final question, I think this quote (in part) relates to the situation of Lou Ann, Angel, and Dwayne Ray. She did not really want a child to raise on her own, yet Angel did not really give her a choice. The same situation applies to both Taylor and Turtle and Taylor’s mother.
There is my reply!
-Jenni Kantor
March 8th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I think that this quote not only relates to the story but to everyone’s life. No one gets to choose their family, you’re born into the life you were given. I think that it relates to the story in that fact that Turtle did not choose her family. She was left with Taylor and there was nothing she could do about it. There were many mistakes made between Taylor and Turtle, but in the end, they are family. I think that everyone goes through situations where you don’t want anything to do with your brothers, sisters, or parents. But in the end, they are your family and they do care about you.
I think that throughout the story the reader could see that Taylor cared about her and wanted her to be family. I also think that family is a very unique word that has many meanings. It can mean your blood family that you were born into, or you family that is close friends who ‘always have your back.’ I think that Taylor and Turtle can be described as family that is not blood, but the closest thing to that. Finally, I think that the connection you made to Estevan and Esperanza was good. The way that everyone cared about Turtle and Taylor happened by accident. It was ‘nobody’s fault.’
-Dan
March 8th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
What are we reading up to in the next book?
March 8th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Dan, I think we are going to talk about it at school.
-Jenni Kantor
March 9th, 2009 at 1:27 am
I really like the quote. It does a great job in describing every character’s lives in the book, especially Taylor’s. This quote has a lot of significance; it basically sums up the main theme of the book (which i really came to like). Taylor never knew that her life was going to end up the way it did, with Turtle, Lou Ann, Mattie, Esperenza and Estevan. It just goes to show that you never know what can happen, but none the less she found a family within them and really came to love them. She was really upset when she left for Oklahoma and Mattie treated her like her own and gave her food and money for the journey. Taylor had no hope of finding Turtle’s relatives but she thought of a really smart way of adopting Turtle. Taylor did not want to leave Esperenza and Estevan, she wanted to keep in touch with them and know them forever. Taylor became saddened at the thought of Lou Ann leaving her and moving back in with Angel. Taylor came to love everyone and she was happy with her life, she never expected any of this, it just happened and caught her by surprise, before she knew it she had become attached to everyone!
-Kianat Zamir