Differences in Characters In "The Bean Trees," by Barbara Kingsolver, readers are given the chance to see how two characters that have completely different lifestyles come together and deal with everyday problems, family relationships, and motherhood. Lou Ann chose a lifestyle that would cause her to get married, have a baby and move away right after high school. On the other hand Taylor did everything in her power not to end up living that lifestyle, and I think it resulted in Taylor being a more dependent and strong person than Lou Ann. A good example of how different their characters are is how they deal with everyday problems. For example, the way they go about trying to find a job clearly shows that Taylor is optimistic and Lou Ann is pessimistic. "Really, Ma'am I could understand why you wouldn't want to hire a dumb old thing such as myself P.144" This is something that Taylor imagines Lou Ann saying when she is on a job search. This statement clearly describes Lou Ann p!.
erfectly, she has no self-confidence she is pessimistic and doesn't stick up for herself because her husband continuously verbally abused her, and treated her bad. Taylor on the other hand is very optimistic and self-confident when she is out job-hunting because she always had motivation and support from her mother. Eventually Taylor motivates Lou Ann to have self-confidence and try hard to get a job and she notices differences in her character "I was liking Lou Ann a great deal these days. In a few weeks since she started working she had begun to cut her hair far less often having a job seemed to even out some of Lou Ann's wrinkled edges. Motivation and support played a big role in creating these characters personalities. The reader really gets to see the difference in characters and also how combining the personalities changed their lifestyles. Family relationships played a big role in creating these characters.
