The Bean Trees: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Back on the road, Taylor describes her first glimpse of Arizona. The cartoonish pink clouds and “forest” of red rock formations are a welcome change from the flat, washed-out plains of Texas. Falling in love with the rocks, Taylor tells the Native American child that they will live in Arizona. It is now January 2nd, as Taylor and the child stayed in the Oklahoma motel for the holiday season. Ms. Hoge, the older woman that had helped Taylor the first night, is grateful for the help during the Christmas rush, as the woman’s daughter-in-law, Irene, weighs as much as an “elephant or a hippopotamus” and can no longer walk.

Mrs. Hoge is very taken with the Native American child, telling Irene that she looks lovely with a baby on her hip. Taylor scoffs at the idea of becoming a mother because it looks good, but has become very attached to the child herself. Taylor calls the child Turtle, for her strong grip like a mud turtle’s jaw. Turtle does not talk, and Mrs. Hoge worries that she is mentally handicapped, but Taylor insists that Turtle just has her own way of doing things. Especially after Turtle’s abusive past, Taylor does not want to push Turtle at all.

Taylor is very pleased to be back on the road and leave the flat emptiness of Oklahoma. Arizona suits Taylor much better, but a sudden hail storm forces Taylor to get off the interstate. Taylor realizes that the old “laws of nature” that she knew in Kentucky do not apply here, and that Arizona is a foreign country to both her and Turtle. An old man comes out of the gas station where Taylor has parked and asks where Taylor is from. Taylor gives him a sassy answer about her Kentucky plates, not liking the look of the guy.

When the hail stops, two rainbows appear in the sky and it gets hot enough for Taylor to start sweating in her sweatshirt. Taylor stays in awe of the landscape, thinking it is even more extreme than it looks in the movies. The man from the gas station is still looking at Taylor and now warns her about a tarantula crossing the road. Taylor puts up another brave face, refusing to pander to this man trying to make the world seem more dangerous than it is. The man explains that the rain drives all sorts of bugs out of their holes. Taylor decides that the man is more stupid than mean, and that she has spent enough time in his company. She gets out of the car to push it until it will start. The man scoffs at the old tires, and Taylor knows that he is right. She drives on a busted tire for another couple of blocks until she sees a tire repair shop.

As Taylor pulls into the tire shop, she sees a woman in jeans and cowboy boots hosing bugs off her pavement and notices the name of the shop: Jesus Is Lord Used Tires. It reminds Taylor of the ad for 1-800-THE-LORD that she saw in Oklahoma the night she got Turtle. The woman from the tire shop welcomes Taylor in and gets Taylor’s car up on the jack. Taylor holds Turtle tightly, nervous that the tires will explode just like the tire exploded on Newt Hardbine’s father in Kentucky. Taylor finally sits Turtle down on an empty (and thus safe) tire and introduces them both to the woman at the tire shop. The woman doesn’t bat an eye at Turtle’s unconventional name, and introduces herself as Mattie.

Taylor helps Mattie get the old tires off her car, and Taylor notices a wedding ring on Mattie’s finger that looks long settled into the older woman’s skin. Mattie apologizes sincerely that the tires are too far gone to hold a patch, and kindly offers to help Taylor pick out some retreads to put back on the car. Taylor is too ashamed to tell Mattie that she can’t afford new tires, even if they are used. Mattie seems to know how bad this news is for Taylor and invites Taylor and Turtle into her shop for coffee and peanut butter crackers.

As Taylor and Mattie have coffee, Taylor laughs at the mug she is given. It is covered with cartoon rabbits having sex and seems at odds with the religious name of the shop. Mattie asks about Taylor’s Kentucky plates, and gives more crackers to Turtle. Taylor sees that Mattie is very comfortable with children, and Turtle seems more at ease here than she has since Taylor met her.

Mattie welcomes Taylor to Tucson, telling her about her late husband Samuel who came from Tennessee and never quite got used to the dryness. Samuel and Mattie started the tire shop because Samuel was a “fanatical” mechanic and Mattie keeps it running now that he is gone. Mattie notices that Turtle has eaten all the peanut butter crackers while she and Taylor were talking, and offers to go get Turtle some juice. Taylor declines, but Mattie insists that it’s no trouble and steps out the back door.

While Mattie is out getting juice for Turtle, two men stop into the tire shop. One simply wants to pick up a new tire, while the other looks like he is dressed as a Priest. Taylor is wary of this man, as she hadn’t encountered many Catholics in Kentucky, but he leaves when he hears that Mattie is not in. He drives off in a station wagon that looks like it has a whole family of “Indians” in the back. The other man, Roger, waits for Mattie to get back.

When Mattie returns, she gives Turtle a sippy cup and goes to help the other man (Roger) with his car. Taylor is impressed, both with the genius of the sippy cup and Mattie’s know-how with cars. Roger takes the tire he wants, and Mattie comes back to Taylor and Turtle to offer Turtle more juice. Slightly overwhelmed by Mattie’s kindness, Taylor comes clean that she won’t be buying any tires today. Mattie laughs, saying that she already knew that and just wanted to help cheer them up. Taylor asks if Mattie has any grandchildren, and Mattie gives a confusing answer: “Something like that.”

Mattie continues to give Taylor child care advice, warning her that dehydration is a constant danger in Arizona, and Taylor realizes how much about motherhood she still has to learn. Mattie then asks Taylor what kind of work she might be looking for. Taylor shares her “peculiar resume” from the odd jobs she had in Kentucky, including picking bugs off bean vines. Mattie laughs and goes to show Taylor the bean vines she has in a little garden that she keeps in the back yard of her shop. Taylor is amazed by the bountiful produce available in January, and Mattie explains that a frost usually arrives to kill the crops mid winter, but that this year has been uncommonly warm. The beans in particular came from Mattie’s Chinese neighbor, brought from China in 1907.

Taylor marvels at how different Tucson feels, even though it is still American land. Her hometown in Kentucky is stuck twenty years behind the cultural developments of the rest of the country, and Taylor feels as though she has catapulted into the future. This is exciting, but Taylor is also unnerved by the lack of community she senses in this urban center. She decides to leave her car with Mattie and take Turtle to live in a hotel for the meantime. Living in this hotel is much rougher than the hotel where Taylor lived in Oklahoma, with a clientele of prostitutes and homeless people congregating at the corner.

Taylor is especially confused by a new type of poor people that she meets in Tucson. Though they look like the bag ladies that Taylor remembers from Kentucky, they seem to enjoy their exotic appearance and live in galleries and studios they have converted out of an abandoned shopping mall. Taylor goes inside one of these stores try to understand, and is mainly confused by the art and the artist herself. Turned off by the artist’s snobby attitude when she asks about the name of one of the works of art, Taylor makes fun of the other paintings and leaves.

Taylor struggles to find a new source of income as her savings dwindle, but draws the line at giving blood as the other homeless people in Tucson do. She tries to work at the blood bank because of her experience in the Pittman County Hospital, but is turned away because she has no license in the state of Arizona. She hangs out at Burger Derby, a dying fast food joint, talking to the girl behind the counter. The girl, Sandi, turns out to be crazy about the Kentucky Derby horse race and loves hearing all the juicy details that Taylor knows about Secretariat, a famous race horse.

Taylor asks Sandi about getting a job at Burger Derby, then realizes that she would have to pay someone to watch Turtle. Surprisingly, Sandi also has a son that she leaves at the Kid Central Station at the mall while she works. This day care is meant for shoppers, but Sandi just checks in every two hours on her breaks. Taylor thinks about checking the Kid Central Station out, and Sandi asks her to check in on Seattle, her son, if she’s going there now. Sandi explains that Seattle is named after a race horse and looks exactly like her with blonde hair. Sandi then comments that Turtle looks nothing like Taylor, and Taylor explains that Turtle isn’t really hers. Turtle is just someone Taylor “got stuck with,” a feeling that Sandi understands.