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The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver


Although Taylor is not experienced in the field of parenting, she loves her new child, nurturing her with the attention she never felt from her original parents. She decides to name the infant Turtle because of her firm grip and she immediately cares for Turtle without question ("The Bean," Literature). Shortly after being given the child, Taylor takes her to a hotel to change her diaper and discovers that the baby has been sexually abused. Upon taking Turtle to her first doctor's appointment, she learns Turtle has been abused far more than sexually. X-rays not only show that Turtle has many broken bones, but that she is actually three years old, considerably older than she acts or appears. Because of Taylor's good-spirited heart, she decides not to abandon the baby, but to care for her even more. For a woman who shouldn't even have this child, Taylor constantly goes through struggles and puts them all behind her for the sake of Turtle. She suffers through deprivation and scarcity, and has to raise a child on her own with no idea of how to properly raise one. In addition to her duties at home, Taylor has to work quite a few miscellaneous, low-wage jobs just to make ends meet ("The Bean", Literature). Eventually, Taylor has no choice but to lie to immigration officials about Turtle's origins in order to remain Turtle's guardian. "The adoption process Taylor undertakes is unorthodox and not really legal, but it works" ("The Bean," Novels). Adoption is just another aspect of Taylor's journey to motherhood. Taylor affirms this fact to Turtle numerous times, saying, "Starting right now, you've only got one Ma in the whole world. You know who that is?" (Kingsolver, 238). As the adoption is being finalized, she wants Turtle to be aware she will always be there to lover her and be a friend to her. Taylor loves Turtle just as a birthmother would love their biological daughter.


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