Quote of the Novel
If tomorrow the novel, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver went out of print, only one quote would be needed to tell what the book was about. “But it didn’t seem to matter to Turtle, she was happy where she was. The sky went from dust-colored and then cool black sparked with stars, and she was still wide awake. She watched the dark highway and entertained me with her vegetable-soup, except now there were people mixed in with the beans and potatoes: Dwayne ray, Mattie, Esperanza, Lou Ann and all the rest. And Me. I was the main ingredient.” This quote is the last line of the novel, and it summarizes the entire novel in as little words as needed.
First, this quote is thought by Taylor, the main character of the novel; who at the start of the novel was trying to run away from being a parent but later found that being a parent is what she needed. The Child, Turtle became Taylor’s daughter after she adopted her. Turtle had been given to Taylor at a truckers stop, and Taylor had not let go of Turtle since. This quote sums up the novel because it shows that Taylor was the main part of Turtle’s life, and she loved to be. Also, it shows that turtle has no real family, but the all of the people in her life are almost an extended family, that she loves like a parent or sibling.
It is easy to understand the importance of this quote in this novel. This quote shows that even though all of the people in Taylor’s and Turtle’s life aren’t related to them, they are more of a “family” than anyone else in the world could be. This is shown because there is no real order to the people in Turtle’s life; and everyone is mixed in, like vegetables in her vegetable soup song.
This quote that mentions how happy Turtle was on the highway, which shows how happy she can be anywhere she is. Turtle spent more of her life on the road than in a house with her Taylor, and she was always smiling and happy as she could be. While Turtle was at home, she was always happier than she was on the road, because she had Dwayne Ray to play with, and Mattie, Lou Ann and Esperanza to look after her, almost like second mothers while Taylor was too busy.