Bean Trees

3 Pages 833 Words

Hero’s Journey Essay

Bean Trees
After surviving and conquering many blood battles, Samson was considered by many to be a great hero. He was a great mythological warrior who saved lives and possessed many magical powers. But being a legendary god or a magical warrior does not make you a hero. Instead, a hero is defined by their noble deeds and brave tasks. Anyone and everyone can be a hero, it just depends on your perspective. Take Taylor for example, the main character in the book Bean Trees written by Barbara Kingsolver, she has no rare god-like powers. In fact, she did not even realize that she was a hero. A hero can come in any shape or form. To me, a hero is someone who does unselfish acts of kindness, who has their set list of priorities and who will not mind putting other people before themselves. Taylor sets a perfect model for my definition.
Taylor had no idea what she had gotten herself into when she left her little town. She became a mother in an instant and dealt with it much better than some other people would have handled it. Turtle was now a part of her life, and she would have to stick with her through thick and thin. She now had to always think about what would be best for the baby, "I can’t really pay for a room, and I wouldn’t even bother you, except I’ve got a child out in that car that’s wet and cold and looking to find pneumonia if I don’t get it to bed someplace warm" (Kingsolver, 29).

When Taylor had pleaded for a room, it was really for Turtle, she even admitted that she would not have even stopped if she did not have the child. That was a sign of selflessness, because she is thinking about how cold the baby must have been. She also helped around the motel they stayed in, "I had stayed on at the Broken Arrow through most of the holidays, earning some money in exchange for making beds" (Kingsolver, 48). Taylor did not think much of the Broken Arrow. She did not consider that to be her jo...