5^th E English Name:________________________

The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver

Chapters 1-7 Plot Review

Fill in the blanks with accurate information from the book.

The main character of this novel has a couple of names and nicknames: __________________________

__________________, before settling on the name Taylor, which she chooses because ______________

____________________________________________________________________________________ In the first chapter, she leaves the small town of _________________________ in the U.S. state of ________________________. She doesn’t really like a lot about her home town, but she does like her mother. “There were two things about Mama. One is __________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________. And the other is that no matter what I did, no matter what I came home with, she acted like __________

___________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________.” When Taylor leaves, she promises herself she will drive west until _______________________________________________________________, and then live there. But she doesn’t. Her car breaks down in _________________________________

_______________________________, and she doesn’t like it there. But she does end up getting a _____________________ from a stranger, a “round woman in a blanket.”

Chapter Two introduces another main character in the novel, Lou Ann Ruiz. Lou Ann lives in _________________, in the state of ___________________. Lou Ann is pregnant, but one Friday, her husband, Angel _____________________________________________________________________.

In Chapter Three, Taylor and Turtle arrive in ___________________. She has to stop at a tire shop called _______________________________________________ because ________________________

_____________________________. The woman who runs the place is called ____________________. In the back of the shop is _________________________ with _________________________________. Taylor has very little money, and has to live in a place called _______________________________. Down the street is a hamburger place called the ______________________________, where ____________________ works (and where Taylor does work briefly in Chapter Five).

Meanwhile, in Chapter Four, Lou Ann’s _________________ and _________________ have come to help her out with her new baby. (She has named her new son ________________________________.) We know that time has gone by, because her baby was born on _____________________. Near her house is a man named Bingo, who sells vegetables. Lou Ann buys her tomatoes from him because __________________________________________________________________________________. Bingo has a piece of advice for Lou Ann: “Whatever you want the most, ________________________

______________________________________________.”

In Chapter Five, Taylor quits her job after less than a week at the Burger Derby. She doesn’t like the job, but the one thing that made her quit is _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________. Taylor knows she needs a job, and to save money, so she decides to try a roommate from the want ads. At the first place she goes, answering an ad, there are Fei, La-Isha, and Timothy. They can be described as ___________________________

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__________________________________________________________________________________. At the second place she goes, looking for a roommate, there is _________________________, and they get along great.

Chapter Six takes place mainly on ___________________________________. One thing that has happened in the meantime is that Taylor has taken a job at _____________________________________

___________________. She likes the work there, except for one thing: __________________________

____________________________________________________. Taylor comes home from work to find Lou Ann calling out _____________________________ to Turtle. It starts an argument/discussion that goes on into the night. Taylor feels Lou Ann ____________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________. Lou Ann, as usual, feels at fault. She says, “I feel like the only reason I have any friends at all is because _____________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________. Taylor says, “I’ll tell you my theory about staying with one man your whole life long.” It relates to a notice she found on a toilet flapper ball when she worked at a hotel. It said: ______________________

___________________________________________________________________________________. She says, “That’s kind of my philosophy about men. _________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________.”

Chapter Seven introduces two new main characters, _____________________ and _______________________ from Guatemala. They are people __________________ is giving “sanctuary” to, as she has done for many others. _______________________ seems especially affected when she sees Turtle. Her husband says it’s because “my daughter looked like ____________________

_________________________________________________________.” In a small scene that occurs after the picnic, Taylor has to slam on the brakes, and ____________________ seems like she might be hurt in the back seat. It turns out the truck ahead of her stopped because _________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________. The very first vocal noise Turtle made was a ____________________. The very first word she speaks is _________________. Later, there’s a dinner at Lou Ann and Taylor’s to watch ___________________ on television. Lou Ann is always criticizing herself and things about her looks, such as her __________

and _____________. Two other neighbors arrive, _____________________ and __________________. It turns out that Mattie is on television to discuss ____________________________________________

________________________________ on a news program. Estevan introduces himself as ___________________ and his wife Esperanza as __________________. At first, the neighbor assumes Turtle belongs to them, since “She looks like a little wild Indian,” but Estevan says, “_______________

____________________________________________________,” and “Esperanza looked as though ______________________________________________________________.” As the evening goes on, it seems clear that the two old neighbor ladies can be described as ______________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________. At the end of the chapter, Estevan tells a story, a parable, one you may have heard before. It’s about what you might find if you visited Hell:____________________________________________________

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___________________________________________________________________________________. And about what you might find if you visited Heaven:________________________________________

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