THEMES

The Bean Trees carries a strong family theme; not family in the usual sense, but loving caring and being there for people that you arenÂ’t related to but consider family. The second theme is one of everyday miracles. Apparently empty places can be surprising resources for lifeÂ’s beauty. The third theme is the ability of women to use their power of community to manage the struggles in their own loves and the lives of others.

MOOD

The undercurrent mood of The Bean Trees is one of struggle. Kingsolver, however does not allow the feeling to get too heavy. Love, humor and the affirmation of risk taking are interspersed with the sometimes quite serious difficulties the characters experience. The troubled feeling surfaces and dips throughout the plot.

At the climax, the reader is brought near tears as Esperanza relives losing a child, but this time is able to say goodbye and deliver the child to safety. Taylor demonstrates her genuine and unconditional love for the child as she describes how near she comes to losing Turtle, unable to resist if Esperanza would have asked to keep the child.

The struggles once again submerge and the novel ends with satisfying resolutions for all of the characters.

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