Bean+Trees+Marx

Natalie's Marxism Book Group

Are Taylor’s maternal instincts progressing or digressing? Why? How do various symbols from this chapter (the salvation army pin etc.) show Taylor's relationship with Turtle? Have Lou Ann and Taylor switched their masculine and feminine roles? Has the dichotomy been restored? What is the flower a symbol of, or what do you think its predicting if anything? There are so many references to nature in this chapter, why do you think Kingsolver did this? We have covered this a bit before, but how do the struggles of the main characters show Kingsolver’s place in society?

Opening Activity: Snack time Getting things taken away that are near and dear this is subject to change

Articles: http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/detail?vid=5&hid=21&sid=25fe1502-f89e-46b9-a717-c251259a7d97%40sessionmgr2#toc this is on EBSCO and is called Literary Contexts in Novels: Barbara Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees". The things that pertain to marxism are mostly under the societal content. http://web.ebscohost.com/lrc/detail?vid=7&hid=21&sid=25fe1502-f89e-46b9-a717-c251259a7d97%40sessionmgr2 this is also on EBSCO and is called "The Bean Trees" what I focused on is down in the themes section but also in the critical context section. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=litt24484&tabID=T001&searchId=R7&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=3&contentSet=GALE%7CH1410000886&&docId=GALE|H1410000886&docType=GALE This isnt really one of my articles but more of a clarification of what marxism discusses. PS its on Gale Literature Resource Center and is called Marxist Criticism

Summary/Response The first article listed "Literary Contexts in Novels: Barbara Kingsolver's 'The Bean Trees'" discusses as the title would reveal, various literary elements contained in this text. The section that should be focused on however is the societal content section which discusses how Kingsolver incorperates the realistic struggles of women of the 1980's into her text. Later in the section, it goes on to discuss how Kingsolver's physical and emotional state was similar to that of her main characters. It finishes by stating that Kingsolver's concerns for the environment show through in her descriptions of various locations in the novel. Barbara Kingsolver's //The Bean Trees//, was written for the purpose of showing society how life could be altered if a positive spin were to be put on average tasks and this idea is presented in the article "Literary Contexts in Novels: Barbara Kingsolver's 'The Bean Trees'". It touches upon this when talking about the different class levels of the small town. Taylor did not want to end up "barefoot and pregnant at a young age". She was raised in a lower class (the nutters) in her town and is raised only by her mother. Her sob story does not end there however, trying to end this trail of bad luck she runs away only to end up living in another poor town with a child that was not her own. What Kingsolver tries to express is that even in the worst of situations, it is always possible to live a successful life. The article goes on to say that Taylor observed her unstable surroundings and did something to fix it. She runs away from her home town and when she learns that single motherhood exists everywhere, she finds a way to work around this and form her own sort of family with Lou Ann and her son. As the article points out Taylor and the other main characters fill the roles that are missing in their lives and continue on as they would normally. The women take on mens roles and balance that void. Kingsolver is also included in this article and is shown as a woman with problems of her own, but as she reccomends to others she makes the best of her situation. Through this Kingsolver is trying to show society that there is always an alternative or substitution to anything missing in society and people need to hunt in order to find that and continue on with their lives.