How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
I thought of the color pictures in my grade-school history books: Columbus striding up the beach in his leotards and feathered hat, a gang of wild-haired men in loin clothes scattering in front of him like rabbits. What a joke. (14.32)
As Mayans, Estevan and Esperanza are Indigenous people whose culture has been misrepresented by colonial forces for centuries, so much that it appears as factual knowledge in grade-school history books young American children read as gospel. By the end of The Bean Trees, Taylor's friendship with Estevan and Esperanza has taught her to be much more critical of her own formal education. Is your state one that has renamed Columbus Day as Indigenous People's Day? That ongoing debate still can tell you a whole bunch about the state of education in the given states of our mighty country.