The Bean Trees

by

Barbara Kingsolver

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Bean Trees makes teaching easy.

Taylor’s Mother Character Analysis

Taylor’s mother, whose full name is Alice Jean Stamper Greer Elleston. She raised Taylor as a single parent and unconditionally supported Taylor throughout her life and loves Turtle for Taylor’s sake. Taylor’s mother gets remarried to Harland Elleston over the course of the novel, forcing Taylor to reevaluate what she thought she knew about being an independent woman.

Taylor’s Mother Quotes in The Bean Trees

The The Bean Trees quotes below are all either spoken by Taylor’s Mother or refer to Taylor’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Motherhood Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

There were two things about Mama. One is that she expected the best out of me. And the other is that then no matter what I did… she acted like it was the moon I had just hung up in the sky and plugged in all the stars; Like I was that good.

Related Characters: Taylor Greer (Marietta Greer), Taylor’s Mother
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Bean Trees LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Bean Trees PDF

Taylor’s Mother Quotes in The Bean Trees

The The Bean Trees quotes below are all either spoken by Taylor’s Mother or refer to Taylor’s Mother. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Family and Motherhood Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

There were two things about Mama. One is that she expected the best out of me. And the other is that then no matter what I did… she acted like it was the moon I had just hung up in the sky and plugged in all the stars; Like I was that good.

Related Characters: Taylor Greer (Marietta Greer), Taylor’s Mother
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis: