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The Bean Trees Study Guide

by Barbara Kingsolver

The Bean Trees study guide contains a biography of Barbara Kingsolver, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

The Bean Trees takes place in rural Pittman County, Kentucky, during the 1980s. Its narrator, Taylor Greer, begins the story with anecdotes concerning her childhood and later her teenage years. As a child, she remembers watching a tractor tire blow up and send Newt Hardbine's father flying over the top of the Standard Oil sign, and has always been afraid of tires. Taylor's original name was Marietta Greer, but at three years old she demanded to be called Miss Marietta, and this name eventually became Missy. (The narrator will choose to call herself Taylor at the end of the first chapter).

By high school, Taylor is not an exemplary student but stays out of trouble. In her senior year, she has the blond, northerner Hughes Walter as her science…

Read the full The Bean Trees Summary

• The Bean Trees Summary
• About The Bean Trees
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 1-3
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 4-6
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 7-9
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 10-12
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 13-15
• Summary and Analysis of Chapters 16-17
• Related Links on The Bean Trees
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 1
• Test Yourself! - Quiz 2
• Author of ClassicNote and Sources

• The Bean Trees: Major Themes
• The Bean Trees: Questions
• The Bean Trees: Purchase the Novel and Related Material
• Barbara Kingsolver: Biography