656 Kingsolver, Barbara
and Britain itself, while completely leaving out any
history of her own ancestors, how they arrived in
Antigua, how they were treated, and how the British
Empire grew wealthy through slavery in its colonies.
This great mental as well as social and physical
oppression has left her people with a profound feel-
ing of powerlessness, an incomplete understanding
of cause and effect, and a belief that they can only
be victims of circumstances that they cannot con-
trol. Antiguans must learn to understand that they
are capable of taking control of their destiny, and
whites must acknowledge the atrociousness of their
crimes and their responsibility for the misrule that is
affecting so many freed British colonies, so that both
peoples can become fully human, neither victim nor
victimizer.
Barbara Z. Thaden
kingSoLvEr, barbara The Bean
Trees (1988)
Barbara Kingsolver’s debut novel, The Bean Trees,
first published in 1988, has since become a landmark
text in environmental and ecofeminist literature.
The narrative follows the life of Marietta Greer, a
teenager living in Pittman County, Kentucky, who
works at the local hospital until she saves up enough
money to buy herself a Volkswagen bug so she can
leave town and avoid getting pregnant. On her trip
west she passes through Taylorville and renames her-
self Taylor. She continues westward, driving through
Oklahoma, where a Cherokee woman abandons
a baby girl in Taylor’s car. Taylor names the baby
Turtle and discovers that the baby has been physi-
cally and sexually abused. Taylor’s car malfunctions
when she arrives in Arizona where she meets Mattie,
the owner of a tire repair shop. Mattie gives shelter
to illegal immigrants above her shop, among them
Estevan and Esperanza, a couple fleeing from Gua-
temala where they had to abandon their daughter
Ismene when guerrillas kidnapped the child to force
them to betray their colleagues. In Arizona, Taylor
finds work with Mattie and room and board with
Lou Ann Ruiz, another single mother whose hus-
band has abandoned her and her child, Dwayne Ray.
As the story progresses Turtle develops a fond-
ness for anything related to nature and is able to
identify fauna and flora easily. Edna Poppy, a blind
neighbor babysits Turtle often, and one night a
prowler attacks the little girl. Though Edna saves
Turtle from harm, a social worker threatens to take
Turtle away when she discovers Taylor has no legal
papers of guardianship. Taylor travels to Oklahoma
to find Turtle’s parents, together with Estevan and
Esperanza, who are in danger of being discovered
in Arizona and are hoping to find asylum elsewhere.
When Turtle’s parents cannot be found, Estevan and
Esperanza pose as her parents before a judge, once
again being forced to metaphorically give up their
daughter. The couple remains in Oklahoma finding
sanctuary in a church and among the Native Ameri-
cans. Taylor obtains legal guardianship of Turtle,
returning with her to Arizona to start a new life.
This quest narrative explores themes of aban-
donment, gender conflicts, nature, immigration,
ecofeminism, ecocriticism, and alienation.
Lourdes Arciniegaabandonment in The Bean Trees
The theme of abandonment permeates Barbara
Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees, propelling the narra-
tive forward and becoming a strong motivator for
several characters’ emotional growth. Abandonment
surfaces from the start of the novel when the reader
meets the protagonist, Marietta Greer, and learns
that Marietta’s father abandoned her mother when
she became pregnant. Marietta refuses to conform
to the fate of other teenage girls of the town who
become pregnant, drop out of school, and lead
fruitless lives. Marietta gets a job, buys a used car,
and abandons her mother to travel and carve an
alternate life for herself. Abandonment plays an
important role in her social development because
when she travels she not only breaks all social ties
with her past, but also her first action upon leaving
Pittman County, Kentucky, the town where she
grew up, is to discard her given name and rename
herself Taylor.
As Taylor continues to travel through Oklahoma
and Cherokee territory, she meets an Indian woman
at a bar who abandons her niece in Taylor’s car. Tay-
lor, who is running away from the risk of becoming
pregnant, now finds herself a surrogate mother to a
girl whom she names Turtle.