Seedfolks

by

Paul Fleischman

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Seedfolks makes teaching easy.

Kim Character Analysis

The novel’s first narrator—and the first gardener in what will eventually become a thriving community garden—Kim is a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl living in Cleveland. Kim is both the youngest child in her family and the only person in her family who didn’t know her father personally. Her father died when Kim’s mother was only a few weeks into her pregnancy with Kim. Fearing that her father’s spirit won’t recognize her as his daughter, Kim decides to plant something in the vacant lot to get her father’s spirit’s attention and foster a sense of closeness with him. Her father was a farmer, so she figures that growing something will appeal to his spirit and mark her as a part of the family. This choice requires immense bravery from Kim, as the vacant lot is piled high with garbage, and the neighborhood itself is riddled with crime and violence. As time goes on and as others in the neighborhood, like Wendell, help Kim tend to her lima beans, Kim becomes a better, more knowledgeable gardener. (Wendell, for instance, shows her how to properly water her plants to protect them from dry spells.) Early on in the novel, Wendell points out that Kim planted her seeds far too early in the season, saying that she’s lucky they sprouted at all. That a few wilted bean sprouts eventually lead to a thriving community garden speaks to the transformative power of gardening, but it also points to the lima bean seeds’ status as a symbol of hope for the future despite bleak circumstances.

Kim Quotes in Seedfolks

The Seedfolks quotes below are all either spoken by Kim or refer to Kim. 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:
Gardening and Community Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1: Kim Quotes

I dug six holes. All his life in Vietnam my father had been a farmer. Here our apartment house had no yard. But in that vacant lot he would see me. He would watch my beans break ground and spread, and would notice with pleasure their pods growing plump. He would see my patience and my hard work. I would show him that I could raise plants, as he had. I would show him that I was his daughter.

Related Characters: Kim (speaker)
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Ana Quotes

I never had children of my own, but I’ve seen enough in that lot to know she was mixed up in something she shouldn’t be. And after twenty years typing for the Parole department, I just about knew what she’d buried. Drugs most likely, or money, or a gun.

Related Characters: Ana (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

I tried a new spot and found another [bean], then a third. Then the truth of it slapped me full in the face. I said to myself, “What have you done?” Two beans had roots. I knew I’d done them harm. I felt like I’d read through her secret diary and had ripped out a page without meaning to.

Related Characters: Ana (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3: Wendell Quotes

“What are they?” she asked.

“Some kind of beans.” I grew up on a little farm in Kentucky. “But she planted ‘em way too early. She’s lucky those seeds even came up.”

“But they did,” said Ana. And it’s up to us to save them.”

Related Characters: Ana (speaker), Wendell (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 12-13
Explanation and Analysis:

Out of nowhere the words from the Bible came into my head: “And a little child shall lead them.” I didn’t know why at first. Then I did. There’s plenty about my life I can’t change. Can’t bring the dead back to life on this earth. [...] But a patch of ground in this trashy lot—I can change that. Change it big.

Related Characters: Wendell (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8: Sae Young Quotes

Vietnamese girl was working there, picking beautiful lima beans. A man and a woman on other side, talking over row of corn. Hear man say his wife give him hoe for birthday. I want to be with people again. Next day I go back and dig small garden. Nobody talk to me that day. But just to be near people, nice people, feel good, like next to fire in winter.

Related Characters: Sae Young (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 47
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: Amir Quotes

In India we have many vast cities, just as in America. There, too, you are one among millions. But there at least you know your neighbors. Here, one cannot say that. The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they’re known to be friends. Here you have a million crabs living in a million crevices.

Related Characters: Amir (speaker), Kim, Wendell, Sae Young
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Florence Quotes

It was a little Oriental girl, with a trowel and a plastic bag of lima beans. I didn’t recognize her. It didn’t matter. I felt as happy inside as if I’d just seen the first swallow of spring. Then I looked up. There was the man in the rocker.

We waved and waved to each other.

Related Characters: Florence (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Seedfolks LitChart as a printable PDF.
Seedfolks PDF

Kim Quotes in Seedfolks

The Seedfolks quotes below are all either spoken by Kim or refer to Kim. 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:
Gardening and Community Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1: Kim Quotes

I dug six holes. All his life in Vietnam my father had been a farmer. Here our apartment house had no yard. But in that vacant lot he would see me. He would watch my beans break ground and spread, and would notice with pleasure their pods growing plump. He would see my patience and my hard work. I would show him that I could raise plants, as he had. I would show him that I was his daughter.

Related Characters: Kim (speaker)
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2: Ana Quotes

I never had children of my own, but I’ve seen enough in that lot to know she was mixed up in something she shouldn’t be. And after twenty years typing for the Parole department, I just about knew what she’d buried. Drugs most likely, or money, or a gun.

Related Characters: Ana (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:

I tried a new spot and found another [bean], then a third. Then the truth of it slapped me full in the face. I said to myself, “What have you done?” Two beans had roots. I knew I’d done them harm. I felt like I’d read through her secret diary and had ripped out a page without meaning to.

Related Characters: Ana (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3: Wendell Quotes

“What are they?” she asked.

“Some kind of beans.” I grew up on a little farm in Kentucky. “But she planted ‘em way too early. She’s lucky those seeds even came up.”

“But they did,” said Ana. And it’s up to us to save them.”

Related Characters: Ana (speaker), Wendell (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 12-13
Explanation and Analysis:

Out of nowhere the words from the Bible came into my head: “And a little child shall lead them.” I didn’t know why at first. Then I did. There’s plenty about my life I can’t change. Can’t bring the dead back to life on this earth. [...] But a patch of ground in this trashy lot—I can change that. Change it big.

Related Characters: Wendell (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8: Sae Young Quotes

Vietnamese girl was working there, picking beautiful lima beans. A man and a woman on other side, talking over row of corn. Hear man say his wife give him hoe for birthday. I want to be with people again. Next day I go back and dig small garden. Nobody talk to me that day. But just to be near people, nice people, feel good, like next to fire in winter.

Related Characters: Sae Young (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 47
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12: Amir Quotes

In India we have many vast cities, just as in America. There, too, you are one among millions. But there at least you know your neighbors. Here, one cannot say that. The object in America is to avoid contact, to treat all as foes unless they’re known to be friends. Here you have a million crabs living in a million crevices.

Related Characters: Amir (speaker), Kim, Wendell, Sae Young
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13: Florence Quotes

It was a little Oriental girl, with a trowel and a plastic bag of lima beans. I didn’t recognize her. It didn’t matter. I felt as happy inside as if I’d just seen the first swallow of spring. Then I looked up. There was the man in the rocker.

We waved and waved to each other.

Related Characters: Florence (speaker), Kim
Related Symbols: Lima Bean Seeds
Page Number: 87
Explanation and Analysis: