The Bean Trees

         “The Bean Trees” and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” have many epiphanies that lead to events that dramatically change the story of each book. Taylor Greer, from “The Bean Trees”, was living in Kentucky at the beginning of the book. She didn’t want to be like everyone else, so she drove as far as her car could take her and ended up having her life changed forever. Arnold Spirit, from “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, lived on an Indian Reservation. He had damage to his brain, so he would always get seizures as a child. Despite having brain damage, Arnold was really smart. A lot of the kids from the school on the reservation would bully him, which caused him to have a major epiphany. “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver and “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie, both had many characters that experienced epiphanies throughout the books that changed their lives.

Taylor Greer, in “The Bean Trees”, had many epiphanies, such as when she decided to move away from Kentucky, or when she realized she was in love with Esteban. Taylor’s biggest epiphany was when she was at the diner and a woman gave her a baby. Before she was given the baby, Taylor had left Kentucky because she wanted to get away from the stereotypical lifestyle of a woman her age. She didn’t want to get pregnant and have a bunch of kids, she wanted to live her life and not be like everyone else at the time. As she was on her way, leaving Kentucky, she was given the baby (which she later named Turtle). After receiving the baby, Taylor had her epiphany. She realized that she should take care of the baby because it would be the best thing for the both of them. When Taylor had doubts about keeping Turtle after learning she had been abused as a baby, Esteban said “Mi'ija, in a world as wrong as this one, all we can do is to make things as right as we can.” This was said because Taylor was thinking about putting Turtle in a foster home, which led to her having another epiphany, and Taylor realized Turtle would be better off with her. After having her epiphany, Taylor changed her views on having a child, and realized that when Turtle was given to her, it changed both of their lives in a good way.