When reading The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver there are many moments Kingsolver goes against the nuclear family idea that the American society has formed. A nuclear family involves a father, a mother, and children living together. The biological mother is often viewed as the natural caregiver, and the father is viewed as the provider. However in The Bean Trees this is not the case. Instead Kingsolver has us rethink the definition of family

Kingsolver biggest non-nuclear relationship is between Taylor and Turtle “ “Are you saying you want to give me this child?” “Yes” ” (Kingsolver 18). This is a definite non-nuclear family. Not only is it just Taylor and Turtle, but Turtle isn’t even biologically Taylor’s. Also there is the fact