The One to Get Away

The Bean Trees By: Barbara Kingsolver (pg.1-32)

Chapter One
In the first sentence of the novel the speaker and a fear has been identified. The speaker is the main character, Marietta, who is apparently afraid of putting air in a tire because she saw one explode once and it sent a man ten feet in the air. Marietta grew up in a small town which she describes as low income, and minimal education but she works hard in school so she can make a better life for herself.

An opportunity arrives her senior year when her science teacher announces an employment opportunity to the class. Mr. Walter's wife was head of nurses at the Pittman County Hospital and needed a student to do odd jobs around the Hospital after school, and after graduation they might be offered a full time position. Though Marietta feels there are several other students in her class her teacher would pick over her, her mom pushes her to ask. When Marietta asked about the position he told her she could have it because she was they only one who had had the guts to ask.

One day after working at the Hospital for a while a strange occurrence transpired. Two patients came in screaming and yelling and Marietta knew who they were. The one girl had graduated two year before and gotten pregnant and married Newt Hardbine, the boy whose father was shot in the air by the exploding tire. When Jolene came into the Hospital she was yelling and cursing with blood all over her. She was fine but Newt ending up not making it. When Marietta asked her why she chose the life she did Jolene didn't really have a reason other than her dad was already calling her a slut anyway so why not.

Seeing a girl about her same age in such a poor life situation made Marietta even more grateful for her situation and more determined to improve it. She worked at the Hospital for five more years until she saved enough money to buy a VW Bug to get her on the move.

When Marietta left Pittman County she promised to give herself a new name and to drive until her car stopped running. She changed her name to Taylor but ended up getting her car fixed in Oklahoma and continuing on the road. She stopped at a bar to get something to eat and when she was leaving a woman put a child in her car and told her to take it. She stopped at the Broken Arrow lodge and convinced the lady to let her stay the night if she made up all the beds in the morning on account that now she had a baby to take care of. When she gave the child a bath she discovered it was a girl and also had been abused. The baby was definitely Native American and Taylor couldn't imagine what had happened to her.

It is very brave of Taylor to take the initiative to move on and try to make better for herself. It is ironic that she had avoided the small town life and managed to not get tied down with a husband and baby at a young age and then as soon as she goes to leave she ends up with a baby and more responsibility than she was ever expecting.