In her UN speech on gender and equality, Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter Film series, pointed “It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are. ” Watson called out the gender inequality to the whole society and also motivated females for their rights. It has become common today to discuss the female roles. The story "The Chrysanthemums" written by John Steinbeck, the movie Mona Lisa Smile starring Julia Roberts and the novel The Bean Trees written by Barbara Kingsolver tell the different stories, but they explore life though the similar theme …show more content…
On her way driving to a new place, accidently, she gets a baby, whose parents die, named Turtle by Taylor later. When Taylor first sees Turtle’s body, she finds turtle is a baby girl and says “ A girl, poor thing. That fact had already burdened her short life with a kind of misery I could imagine.” (Kingsolver 31) Taylor means that the burden of being born a female has changed the baby girl’s life. Turtle is not just regarded as individuals who suffers because of her gender but also generally represents the women in the society. Women face difficulties and inequalities due to the fact that they are women. Lou Ann who is another main female character also suffers because of gender inequality. Lou Ann has no jobs and depends on his husband being a housewife to take care of the family at home. Even though her husband, Angel has one artificial leg, it is him who has a stable job to make money to support the family. It reminds me of Elisa whose life is actually the same as Lou Ann. They both do have jobs and depend on their husbands at home. Even their husband is not excellent as they, but the fact is that men have their jobs outside to support their family economically. Later in the novel The Bean Trees, Lou Ann’s husband leaves her. While then, it is Lou Ann who has to give up the chance to seek for her new life, instead, she needs to take care of the baby of her and Angel because of her character as …show more content…
Compare to Elisa who is alone in womanhood society, Betty, Taylor and Lou Ann are so lucky to have another woman who can support and inspire them to challenge for their own meaning of life when they have confusion facing difficulties in their daily life. No doubt, if there is a person who can stand on Elisa’s side to persuade her to fight for her freedom and right, she will change her life and stand on her own instead of being spiritual lonely. Luckily, Betty is taught by Watson to live as Betty herself desires to and to seek for her dream of being a lawyer, when she knows her husband’s affairs. Taylor and Lou Ann mutually support each other. Taylor teaches Lous Ann to live independently and confidently, while Lous Ann encourages Taylor to try her best to fight her right no matter how small the possibilities is for success.. Their stories let women realize inequalities around them, and more importantly, they encourage those women like Elisa to stand up to fight for their free