How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
It was the second day of the new year. I had stayed on at the Broken Arrow through most of the holidays, earning some money changing beds. The older woman with the shakes, whose name was Mrs. Hoge, was determined I should stay awhile. She said they could use the extra help during the Christmas season, especially since her daughter-in-law's ankles were giving her trouble. (3.2)
Taylor has a rare ability to make friends wherever she goes, and to find herself welcomed into self-contained communities of families and friends. What is it about her that makes this kind of openness and acceptance possible? And what's up with the daughter-in-law's ankles?
Quote #2
"You must have grandbabies around," I said.
"Mmm-hmmm. Something like that." She handed the cup back to Turtle and she sucked on it hard, making a noise like a pond frog. I wondered what, exactly, could be "something like" grandbabies. (3.79-80)
Taylor later comes to learn that the "something like" grandbabies are the refugee children who pass through Mattie's safe-house, leaving lots of colorful pictures behind. For Mattie, these children and their families aren't just "something like" family: they're also part of a global community of human beings, whom she feels it's her responsibility to care for and protect. Which makes Mattie's view of community one of the most expansive and generous around.
Quote #3
Pittman was twenty years behind the nation in practically every way you can think of, except the rate of teenage pregnancies. For instance, we were the last place in the country to get the dial system. Up until 1973 you just picked up the receiver and said, Marge, get me my Uncle Roscoe, or whoever. The telephone office was on the third floor of the Courthouse, and the operators could see everything around Main Street square including the bank, the drugstore, and Dr. Finchler's office. She would tell you if his car was there or not. (3.104)
Compared to Pittman County, Tucson feels like a foreign, futuristic world to Taylor. And, whereas everyone in Pittman County knows everyone else, and everyone else's business besides, in Tucson, "it was clear that there was nobody overlooking us all. We would just have to find our own way" (3.104). In the absence of the kind of ready-made community that small towns can provide, Taylor is going to have to make connections in Tucson all on her own.
Quote #4
Mattie's place was always hopping. She was right about people always passing through, and not just customers, either. There was another whole set of people who spoke Spanish and lived with her upstairs for various lengths of time. I asked her about them once, and she asked me something like had I ever heard of a sanctuary. (6.8)
Mattie tries to remind the American people that as a signatory to UN treaties, the U.S. is obligated to take in refugees whose lives are being threatened. Since the state and federal governments aren't doing the job to her satisfaction, she's willing to do what she can to meet those obligations on those people's behalf. In Mattie's opinion, the country is shirking its duties as a member of a global community of nations.
Quote #5
"Tortolita, let me tell you a story," Estevan said. [...] "If you go to visit hell, you will see a room like this kitchen. There is a pot of delicious stew on the table, with the most delicate aroma you can imagine. All around, people sit, like us. Only they are dying of starvation. They are jabbering and jabbering," he looked extra hard at Mrs. Parsons, "but they cannot get a bite of this wonderful stew God has made for them. Now, why is that?" (7.141)
First, "Tortolita" is Estevan's nickname for turtle. We know, sounds like a mix between tortellini, a margarita, and a much better name for a girl than "Turtle." Anway, Estevan's story, even if it's kind of weird that he's talking to a three-year-old about visiting hell, emphasizes the importance of community and reciprocal care. The people around the table in hell can't feed themselves because their spoons are too long. But in heaven, the people don't worry about feeding themselves: instead, they use their long spoons to feed one another. Get it? It's all about taking care of the people around you. Like by calling them fun names like "Tortolita."
Quote #6
Now and again these days, not just in emergencies, we were leaving the kids with Edna and Virgie Mae on their front porch to be looked after. Edna was so sweet we just hoped she would cancel out Virgie's sour, like the honey and vinegar in my famous Chinese recipe. It was awfully convenient, anyway, and Turtle seemed to like them okay. She called them Poppy and Parsnip. (8.59)
Although Taylor worries about the things Turtle might pick up from the somewhat nasty Virgie Mae Parsons, a.k.a. Parsnip, the neighbors slowly establish themselves as part of the community of caretakers who help to raise Turtle. Some say it takes a village to raise a child, and The Bean Trees certainly agrees. Especially if it's a village with plant nicknames.
Quote #7
In our school there were different groups you would run with, depending on your station in life. There were the town kids, whose daddies owned the hardware store or what have you—they were your cheerleaders and your football players. Then there were hoodlums, the motorcycle types that cut down trees on Halloween. And then there were the rest of us, the poor kids and the farm kids. Greasers, we were called, or Nutters. The main rule was that there was absolutely no mixing. (9.21)
Taylor isn't exactly describing an ideal set-up for community feeling here, but her high school experiences do teach her one important thing about humans in society. For people like her classmate Scotty, for example, who "didn't belong to any group" (9.25), social loneliness and isolation were devastating. Without having someone to belong to, it's easy to feel worthless and disposable. And even being a Greaser or a Nutter is better than that.
Quote #8
I couldn't sleep nights. I went to work early and left late, even when Mattie kept telling me to go home. Lou Ann took off a week from Red Hot Mama's, putting her new promotion at risk, just to stay home with Turtle. The three of them—she, Edna, and Virgie—would sit together on the front porch with the kids, making sure we all understood it was nobody's fault. (12.77)
When Taylor's shock and depression makes her incapable of caring for Turtle or herself, Lou Ann steps up to the plate. Together, she and Edna and Virgie form a tight circle around Turtle, and Taylor too, proving that a community of caregivers is stronger than one parent alone. Especially when that parent is too depressed to do anything except spend her spare time with spare tires. And used ones, at that.
Quote #9
"Look at those guys in the park with no place to go," I said. "And women, too. I've seen whole families out there. While we're in here trying to keep the dry-cleaner bags out of the kids' reach, those mothers are using dry-cleaner bags for their children's clothes, for God's sake. For raincoats. And feeding them out of the McDonald's dumpster. You'd think that life alone would be punishment enough for those people, but then the cops come around waking them up mornings, knocking them around with their sticks. You've seen it." (12.93)
The more Taylor begins to recognize social inequalities, abuses, and injustices in the world, the more she is saddened by how little sympathy human beings can have for one another. She realizes that many people in the neighborhood would rather see the "riffraff" cleared out by the police than lend a hand to change their situation. In these moments, community feeling fails, and individualism triumphs. Cue the icy shiver down your spine.
Quote #10
Mattie and Lou Ann and the others stood in the early-morning light holding kids and waving. It could have been the most ordinary family picture, except for the backdrop of white-wall tires. Esperanza and Turtle waved until they were out of sight. I kept blinking my eyes like windshield wipers, trying to keep a clear view of the road. (13.180)
Lots and lots of people have gathered to wish Taylor, Turtle, Estevan, and Esperanza goodbye, but as Taylor looks at them all, she thinks of them as a "family." In The Bean Trees, family, friendship, and community form a trio of interrelated themes: to Taylor and the others, they are all wrapped up together. Kind of like beans in a pod. Oh wait, that's peas…