Literary+Devices

//The Bean Trees// receives its name from the novel’s most significant symbol – the wisteria vines in Mattie’s garden that produce vibrant purple legumes for Turtle to play with.  From an essay on the analysis of this symbol: “Those beans, the ones she liked to toss and sort and bury, would come to represent her hope and future. Wisteria vines can grow in poor soil, but only with the help of bacteria called rhizobia. Rhizobia organisms live in wisteria roots and transform nitrogen in the earth into other healthy minerals for the plant. Without the support system created by the microscopic creatures, the plant would wither and die. Turtle is like that flower, trying to grow in the dry rocky earth. She has no family – her mother died and her other relatives abandoned her. She came to Taylor a frightened little baby – still, beaten, and scared. Without proper love and care, she couldn’t have survived on her own. But she didn’t have to. She found a new family with Taylor and Lou Ann and Dwayne Ray and all the residents of their little community. They became her rhizobia, a network of tiny helpers who work together to provide the minerals and care she needs to thrive. “The relationship between the bean trees and the rhizobia symbolize the necessity of meaningful human connections. The image of the purple flowers and beans represent growth. The vines speak of the intertwined nature of human beings. The roots embody the strength that comes from friendship. All these biological entities combine with the novel’s thematic elements to create a powerful image of rebirth and growth that gives hope to a child living in a world of thorny weeds and bitter hail."
 * Motif and Symbol **

From page 227:

//"It's like this," I told Turtle. "There's a whole invisible system for helping out the plant that you'd never guess was there." I loved this idea. "It's just the same as with people. The way Edna as Virgie, and Virgie as Edna, and Sandi has Kid Central Station, and everybody as Mattie. And on and on." // //The wisteria vines on their own would just barely get by, is how I explained it to Turtle, but put them together with rhizobia and they make miracles." //