The Bean Trees: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

The chapter opens as Lou Ann remembers a mnemonic device for spelling “arithmetic”: A Red Indian Thought He Might Eat Tobacco In Church. Lou Ann then begs pardon for talking about Indians that way, but neither Taylor, Mattie, nor either of the refugees staying with Mattie take offense. Mattie then tries to think of the memory trick for geography, but can’t remember the word for the y. A young man, the husband of the Guatemalan couple currently staying with Mattie, chimes in to finish the rhyme. As he was an English teacher in Guatemala City, Lou Ann and Taylor tell him that he knows better English than the two of them combined. Taylor can’t remember the young man’s name, knowing only that it starts with Es-something.

Taylor, Lou Ann, Mattie, and the two Guatemalan refugees are talking about spelling while on a picnic in the desert. Taylor is sweating in her jeans, as the weather has turned unseasonably warm again after the one frost on Valentine’s Day. Mattie says that the summer wildflowers blooming before Easter is a sign from the Lord that they all need to go have a picnic. Taylor skeptically wonders just who Mattie’s Lord is, but doesn’t mind following the enjoyable commandments he gives.

The picnic spot is a watering hole that Lou Ann recommended, as it was a place that she and Angel used to go to together. Taylor worries that the location will bring back bad memories of Angel, but Lou Ann seems more concerned that the rest of them are happy with the picnic spot. Lou Ann even talks about how she and Angel wanted to get married here, except for the fact that Angel’s mother would have been aghast at the thought of either hiking or riding horseback this far into the desert. The English teacher translates this story into Spanish for his wife, and the humor of Angel’s overbearing mother is one of the few things that earns a smile from the quiet young woman.

Taylor finally remembers the Guatemalan couples’ names: Estevan and Esperanza. She describes the married couple as more like twins, both for their matching names and their matching appearances. Both are small and dark with eyes that remind Taylor of Turtle’s Cherokee features, due to Estevan and Esperanza’s Mayan heritage. While Taylor thinks that Estevan’s smallness is sprightly, Esperanza’s smallness strikes her as sad – as if Esperanza used to be larger but shrunk. Esperanza’s silent watchfulness also reminds Taylor of Turtle.

Taylor describes the strange scene when Esperanza first met Turtle. When she saw Turtle get out of the car at the trailhead to the picnic spot, Esperanza looked like she had been hit with an exploding tire, and her face paled. As they hike, Taylor thinks that Esperanza looks like a school girl from another time, with an orange canteen that sticks out as if from another planet. Taylor asks Estevan if Esperanza is okay, and he says that she is. He explains that Turtle simply looks like a child they once knew in Guatemala. Taylor responds that Turtle could be Guatemalan for all she knows, given that Turtle isn’t really Taylor’s daughter.

At the watering hole, Esperanza continues to watch Turtle while Taylor and Estevan decide to go for a swim after finishing their baloney sandwiches. Lou Ann furiously warns them not to swim for at least an hour after eating, for fear they will drown. Taylor simply tells Lou Ann to pull them out if they start to sink, and dives into the freezing water. Taylor and Estevan splash Lou Ann and Mattie until Mattie and Lou Ann tell them that they won’t even dream of saving them after this bad behavior.

Calming down from the excitement, Estevan swims over to Esperanza’s rock and sings to her in Spanish. Taylor guesses that it is a love song and notes how handsome Estevan looks as he sings. Esperanza doesn’t seem to notice, entranced by the sight of Turtle and Dwayne Ray asleep in the sun. Taylor looks closer at the kids and sees Turtle’s eyes moving beneath her lids, as if she is dreaming of doing all the things that she simply watches in her waking life.

The group leaves the picnic spot at dusk, with Estevan driving Mattie’s car because of Mattie’s terrible vision at night and Lou Ann, Taylor and the kids in Taylor’s car. Mattie warns Estevan not to attract the attention of the police, which Taylor finds odd considering how carefully Estevan drives. Lou Ann complains about her sunburn and tries to keep the kids entertained in the back seat when suddenly Estevan stops and Taylor has to slam on the breaks. Taylor worries about Turtle falling in the back seat, but Lou Ann assures her that Turtle is fine. Turtle is smiling, and may have even laughed at the sudden movement of the car.

Lou Ann and Taylor try to see what made Estevan stop, finally noticing a family of quail crossing the road in front of the car. Taylor, Lou Ann, and Turtle freeze as they watch the baby quail swarm in all directions around the mother quail, until final the mother manages to corral all her children safely into the bushes. Estevan taps the brake once more, as if winking the lights, and then continues driving. Taylor feels as if she is going to cry, but thinks that she must be about to get her period. Lou Ann mentions that Angel would have given himself two points for every quail he hit.

Taylor feels much better now that Turtle’s first sound was a laugh, taking it as a sign that she isn’t completely failing as a mother. Taylor laughs at herself for looking for signs, blaming it on Lou Ann’s avid interest in horoscopes and symbols. Yet when it happens, neither Lou Ann nor Taylor can make sense of Turtle’s true first word: Bean.

Turtle speaks her first word, bean, while she and Taylor are helping Mattie in the garden. Taylor tries to explain the concept of seeds to Turtle, a process that Mattie says Turtle will find confusing because most seeds don’t look like the vegetable they will grow into. Taylor decides to show Turtle a bean, which looks the same as the beans they eat, and Turtle names it accordingly. Taylor is dumbfounded at the sound of Turtle’s voice, until Mattie prompts her to praise Turtle for her effort. Taylor then hugs Turtle, calling her “the smartest kid alive.”

Mattie suggests that Taylor take some beans home for Turtle to play with, and Taylor agrees (though she worries what Lou Ann will think of the choking hazard). Taylor explains to Turtle the difference between playing-with beans, eating beans, and putting-in-the-ground beans. Turtle seems to understand, playing quietly with her beans and then finally burying them in between two squash plants. On the way home, Turtle exclaims “bean” at every patch of dirt they see.

At home, Lou Ann is cutting her hair again, something that has become an almost daily habit. Taylor warns Lou Ann that she will be bald if she keeps this up, saddened by the fact that Lou Ann probably never noticed that she had the type of perfectly straight blonde hair that all the high school girls envied. Instead, Lou Ann focuses on her flaws. Lou Ann wails that her hair looks like it has died, and Taylor hesitates to either agree or contradict her, as Lou Ann manages to turn even compliments about her appearance into insults. Taylor wishes she could give Lou Ann a lucky shirt like she did for Turtle, to remind Lou Ann how beautiful she really is.

As Lou Ann worries over her hair, Taylor starts to prepare for Esperanza and Estevan to come over for dinner. Lou Ann invited them over to watch Mattie who was appearing on the evening news, forgetting that Angel had taken their little TV when he moved out. Taylor corrects this by inviting over some neighbors who own a portable TV, Edna Poppy and Virgie Parsons. Though Taylor hasn’t met them yet, she knows that Lou Ann likes them, and owes them a favor for watching Dwayne Ray occasionally.

As Taylor cooks dinner, she mulls over the arrangement she and Lou Ann have made over household chores. Taylor wants to make sure that Lou Ann feels repaid for the times she watches Turtle. The two women also split the bills, with Taylor working and Lou Ann drawing from savings that Angel left. Taylor is cooking sweet and sour chicken for the party, though she had originally planned to make navy bean soup in honor of Turtle’s first word. By now, Turtle has said so many new words that Taylor can’t fit them all into any soup – even if Turtle’s vocabulary is limited to vegetables alone.

Lou Ann worries about what to wear for the party, considering that she is heavier after giving birth to Dwayne Ray. Taylor refuses to hear Lou Ann call herself fat, forcing Lou Ann to change the subject to Mattie’s TV appearance. Lou Ann doesn’t know exactly why Mattie will be on TV, only that it has something to do with “the people that live with her,” but Lou Ann is sure that she wouldn’t want to be on TV herself.

Lou Ann compares her fear of being on TV to her childhood fear of saying something inappropriate in church, and Taylor agrees that she is always afraid that she will say something scandalous to Mattie’s Catholic priest friend. Lou Ann likens this to a strange episode in high school, when she worried that she was going to throw herself off of the dome at the Kentucky state capital. Her boyfriend at the time called it a fear of heights, but Lou Ann knows that it is something else. Taylor calls it a “fear that the things you imagine will turn real” and Lou Ann is shocked that Taylor understands so exactly. Taylor just shrugs, saying she saw a Star Trek episode along those lines.

Estevan and Esperanza arrive. Estevan compliments Taylor’s new look, thanks to Lou Ann’s ministrations and a borrowed Chinese style dress, but Taylor thinks that Esperanza looks even more beautiful. Esperanza’s Guatemalan dress is a rainbow riot of colors and Taylor can’t believe that Esperanza had to leave a country whose vegetation matched the vibrant colors on Esperanza’s clothing.

The women from next door finally show up with the television, and Taylor helps Edna Poppy set it up. Edna is dressed entirely in red, while Virgie Mae looks like she is in her formal church wear. On TV, Mattie starts to talk about the United Nations “something-something” on human rights. The program continues to explain the plight of thousands of Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigrants who flee civil wars but are not granted asylum in the United States. Taylor finds it all hard to understand, made worse by the hubbub of the guests still getting comfortable.

As Edna and Virgie finally settle in, the TV program Mattie appeared on ends. Virgie sniffs, saying that all she caught was “some kind of trouble with illegal aliens and dope peddlers.” Taylor then tries to introduce Estevan and Esperanza, but Estevan cuts in to introduce himself as Steven and his wife as Hope. Virgie asks if Turtle, who is wandering around “like a wild Indian” without a shirt on, is theirs but Estevan tells her that they have no children. Esperanza looks like she has been slapped. Taylor claims Turtle as her own, proudly stating that Turtle is a wild Indian, and ushers the group into the kitchen for dinner.

Esperanza comes into the kitchen to help Taylor set the table, and Taylor apologizes for Virgie’s rudeness. As everyone comes in, Taylor looks over Virgie and Edna’s outfits again. Edna has two red bobby pins in her hair, and Taylor imagines the sweet older woman finding them in the drug store and trying to share her excitement with Virgie only to find Virgie lecturing the check-out boy.

Estevan brings out a package of chopsticks for everyone to use. Taylor thanks him, but Edna pronounces herself not up for such a “great adventure” and Virgie sniffs at “such foolishness.” Everyone else attempts to use the chopsticks, learning from Estevan who works as a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant. Estevan relates how the Chinese family translates English through their five-year-old daughter, which sends Virgie on a diatribe against immigrants stealing jobs in America and degrading the language. Edna stops her, but Taylor is angry at what these comments might mean to Estevan. She wants to tell Virgie that Estevan was an English teacher in Guatemala City, but notices that Estevan himself is staying calm and decides to stay quiet herself.

After Virgie’s outburst, Edna smooths out the mood by complimenting the food. Turtle finally manages to spear a piece of pineapple on her chopstick, but starts to cry when it slides off. Estevan comforts Turtle with a “wild Indian” story from South America about heaven and hell. Virgie makes a face, but Estevan continues: In hell, there is a pot of stew, but no one can eat because their spoons are too long for their arms. No one can reach his own mouth and so they starve. Estevan looks right at Virgie and goes on: In heaven, there is the same stew and the same long spoons yet everyone is well fed—because they feed each other. Then Estevan picks up a piece of pineapple with his chopsticks and feeds it to Turtle.