"A girl, poor thing. That fact had already burdened her short life with a kind of misery I could not imagine. I thought I knew about every ugly thing

that one person does to another, but I had never even thought about such things being done to a baby girl. She sat quietly in the bathtub watching me, and I just prayed she had enough backbone not to fall over and drown, because I had to let her go. I doubled up on the floor at the base of the toilet and tried not to throw up" (Marietta/Taylor 31).

I read the book The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. This book is not just about one specific thing, or place and the overall meaning of the book could not be shoved into one little quote. This quote was the one that sucked me in. This quote was the one that made the book impossible to put down and the one that brought the most emotion out of the words. Marietta, who just changed her name to Taylor, has had a baby that was placed in her possession. The reason she left her town, home, and mother behind is because she wanted to escape, and get away from the pressure of their way of life. Including having a baby.

The irony in this is interesting, not only was the thing she didn't want to happen put into her lap, but she is faced with trying to take care of herself and now a new baby girl with a busted car, and no place to live. She stops at a motel for the night to try to warm up the baby. As she is trying to give the baby a bath, the baby is gripping to her so tightly she can barely take one tiny hand off of her before it is replaced with another.

Finally, as she looks at the child, she sees that this baby girl has bruises on her inner thighs. The realization is immediate, and Taylor falls to the floor. This child's name is Turtle and she plays a part throughout the book, and she is an important character.

It is too true that people are terrible to each other, and this is just an example of the many horrible things that people are put through every day. Being put in this position, I wouldn't have been able to control myself. Pity for this child would overwhelm me, and i would've broken down crying. I reread this page so many times, and yet, i still can't picture myself being there. This book was composed of so many great quotes, but i could not get this one out of my head.