The Bean Trees Taylor (born Marietta) grew up in Pittman, Kentucky, a small rural town where families "had kids just about as fast as they could fall down the well and drown," and a boy with a job as a gas-meter man was considered a "high-class catch." She needs to get out to get ahead and to avoid pregnancy. She succeeds on both counts when she buys a '55 Volkswagen and heads west. She leaves …showed first 75 words of 1044 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1044 total…and Esperanza: Mattie is the owner of JESUS IS LORD USED TIRES. Upstairs her shop and home, she houses Central American refugees. She is especially kind when she takes is two special refugees, Esteven and Esperanza. Esteven and Esperanza become two of Taylor's best friends, and she eventually returns them the the Cherokee nation at the end of the novel. Also, Mattie becomes a mentor to Taylor and helps her along throughout her new advent