Quote 28
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 29
"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 30
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…