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The Bean Trees

 

            This summer I read The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. In this novel Marietta "Missy" Greer runs away from her hometown in Pittman, Kentucky. As Missy drives away from home, she tells herself that she will change her name to the first town she has to stop in. She ends up in Taylorville, so she becomes known as Taylor Greer. While traveling through the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, she stops at a restaurant where a baby girl is dumped on her. The baby has such a tight grip on Taylor or anything she grabs a hold of, Taylor names the girl Turtle. The two continue on the road until they hit two flat tires in Tucson, Arizona where they stumble upon Mattie, the owner of a local tire shop. Mattie runs a safe house for Central American refugees. I see Mattie being the perfect respectful person because of the way she cares for the other characters in the novel and how she gives advice to help the other characters make good decisions.
             When Taylor and Turtle first arrive at the tire shop, Taylor cannot afford to pay for new tires, but rather than quickly turning Taylor away, Mattie brings the two into her personal section of the shop where she lives. She offers Taylor and Turtle some juice and cookies. After getting to know Taylor and her reasons behind leaving Kentucky, Mattie decides to let Taylor work for her. By doing this and running the safe house right out of her own home, I see Mattie being a very considerate person who does not mind the differences between people. Mattie also has a tendency to give advice about life and the world. Whenever Taylor is in trouble or has to think some things through, she would go to Mattie and in a round about way, Mattie would help her make the right or best decision.
             Mattie shows the reader that she has high respect for all human beings, and that she can care for everyone equally. Mattie is more concerned with the other characters being safe and taken care of than who they are and what their background is.


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