Beans: When a plant blossoms it produces a seed filled bean pod. The seeds are then used for planting more bean plants or the beans are eaten for a healthy source of nourishment.
Although to some people, beans are just another thing you would find on the dinner table, they can symbolize things with much more meaning. Through out the novel The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, several refrences are made to beans that make the reader relate beans to life situations and relationships.
When a small, hard shelled seed is given care and attention, it can sprout into a thriving plant. The fact that Turtle's first word is "bean" is significant to the story. Growing up with harsh conditions of neglet and abuse, Turtle is a small, closed off child. Like a bean given love and encouragement, Turtle begins growing up like a normal little girl, learning to speak and beginning to understand the people around her. With Taylor in Turtle's life, Taylor was able to reverse Turtle's condition of "failure to thrive" (9fsjkfljsdklfjsd). Like bean vines, Turtle clings on to anything near her, holding on to what she can. It proves that support is needed for anything to grow and flourish, whether it be beans or children.
Beans are also a symbol of how beautiful things can survive regardless of their surroundings (as long as they have the things they need). In the back of Mattie's yard, filled with old car parts, "the purple beans appeared to go trooping down the block, climbing over anytyhing in their path" (Kingsolver 61). Another example would the be bean vines growing at the ugly Dog Doo Park. If a person has the right persistance and a good head on their sholders they can progess and become successful no matter what kind of town they grow up in. Taylor is a good example of this: she becamse more successfull and more motivated than anyone in her town.
Overall, I believe the beans give the promise that no matter what happens, no matter how bad any situation or surrounding is, that with love, care, and determination you can turn anything into something beaufitul and thriving.
