Symbolism in The Bean Trees and Medicine River by Barbara Kingsolver Essay

Symbolism in The Bean Trees and Medicine River by Barbara Kingsolver - Essay Example She has shown innate qualities of a writer by relating to people, their plight and the situations that they get into because of the dominant society. Not only this, Barbara King also has a feel and the place for non-living objects that she so beautifully exploits to express her abstract ideas. Another novel that could be spoken about here in Medicine River by Thomas King, who too used symbols, such as people, nature, and other objects in a similar way too represent his ideas and understanding of life in general. An essay so deemed to be worthy enough for comparing the two of the most followed literature works will demonstrate how both Barbara Kingsolver and Thomas King used people, objects, and nature to bring out different meanings and ideas in their literary work. Barbara Kingsolver wrote ‘The Bean Trees’ focusing on the life of people living I low profiled cities like that of Kentucky and her prime character was the young woman named Taylor Greer. Tired of Male domina nce, she decided to head to the west in search of an ideal place that could get her away from chauvinistic nature of the society. In her journey to find solace, she met across people from several ethnicities and she also acquired a little native Indian child. The novel so intrinsically identifies and makes you feel for the original and tough experiences of the core character, Taylor Greer; her experiences through different symbols of friendship, belonging, support, and life get you to relate to some or the other incidences of life. Medicine River written by Thomas King revolves around Will, who is a Photographer by profession. Even though he thinks that he has come back to his home town of Medicine River for the rituals of her mother’s demise, he not only gets caught up in helping the community and the natives, but also manages to fall in love with a girl at the same time. Thomas King has used different symbols to demonstrate the same meanings of friendship, belongingness, su pport, and life through out the story. Both the novels center on the core theme of humanity, whether from the perspective of friends or from some one who is just a well-wisher. However, the symbolism all the more has been so dramatized that it looks nothing far from real with characters ending up meeting just when they were being expected by the readers. Lou Ann of ‘The Bean Trees’ and Harlen of ‘Medicine River’ form an intrinsic part of the novel as both have been presented as the best friends and companions of Taylor Greer and Will respectively. The characters have been so enlivened in the story that the reader can’t stop thinking about his own life experiences and remembering incidences of meeting people who played similar roles in their life to such characters. They add twists and a touch of practicality to the novel’s idea by giving it a touch of real life experiences. "Harlen Bigbear was one of the most charitable people I had ever known . No matter whom it was, Harlen would always go looking for the good in a person. And even if he couldn't find it, he assumed that it was there, buried somewhere." Harlen’s character is so presented in Medicine River that she always prefers to gossip about things that happen around in the society, especially in her community and advise Will about the good and the bad. Will enjoys her company and association even though she is mostly annoyed while talking and discussing. She often did things that even though might be not in so favor of Will’s opinion; he could sense an attachment that makes him feel good about the occasion. On the other hand, Lou Ann in ‘The Bean Trees’