Essay, Research Paper: Resourcefullness As It Relates To The Novel

Personal resourcefulness throughout the journey of life and all of its trials is essential to achieve one's goals or to be successful. Being resourceful simply means that a person can use personal judgement and intuition along with any available resources to achieve a goal or goals that would otherwise have proved more difficult or impossible. The root of the word resourceful is "resource" which is simply something someone has available to them (literal meaning: stock or supply) , it can be said that Barbara kingsolver's character, Taylor Greer, uses her supply of wit and wisdom along with a never give up attitude as her resources and is truly intuitive and is resourceful in their use. Whether it is to simply survive on the road or overcome the red tape and legalities and win back "her" daughter, April. Or build strong lasting bonds with others.


Right from the beginning we see a spark in Taylor's personality that is absent in all the other residents of Pittman County (with the possible exception of Taylor's mother). We see by Taylor's volunteering for the job at the hospital, a much sought after position by all the pitman girls, that she takes the incentive to do things on her own no matter whether she'll win or lose. We see her expectations of the job being taken by someone else are false when the teacher whom is looking for the helper informs her that nobody else even tried to get the job (presumably because they all had the same expectation as Taylor). This truly emphasizes one of the themes in the novel, that you have to try to do things because if you don't even try here is no possibility of success. It could also be taken to mean that laziness never gets us what we want. I think that the author, in this case, wants us to see this side of Taylor's personality and see her as someone whom will not be pushed around or bend to pressures.

Determination as it relates to Taylor's resourcefulness is another key idea in this novel. We see Taylor in the beginning as a poor white girl from the south with only 2 specific goals (one general goal) the goals she has are
1. get out of pittman county as far and fast as she can
2. change her name
One might be able to summarize these as both being the same goal. Which is to make a clean break. Her resourcefulness and determination come into play when we see her put the things she has to use. She buys a used car (1950s VW), with the money she earned from working at the hospital. This was a smart move for Taylor because it left her with extra money to use on her trip. She also had acquired knowledge about possible obstacles and problems that might occur on the road such as flats and other tire damage. She learned before she left how to change all the tires on the car (should they ever fail her). This may not seem like determination to some, but we must remember that it must have taken a lot of courage for this character to do this because she was deathly afraid of tires exploding.

Turtle is given to Taylor part way through her cross-country trip. Turtle, it seems, brings out a motherly side of Taylor, which becomes more evident later in the novel. This seems like a great opportunity to interject some irony into this situation… which could or could not be taken as humor, depending widely on the reader. The irony to which I am referring is the much emphasized fact that Taylor spent all of her life trying to avoid becoming a mother and now she is one.

A short while later Taylor arrives in Tucson Arizona and at this point the author starts using parallels to nature to represent things happening in Taylor's life or to highlight underlying themes in the book. The first vivid example of this is the rainbow that appears after the hailstorm. Which represents a rebirth or renewal of hope. In Taylor's life this could not be truer, because she is in a new place with a new name with new responsibilities.

Mattie is one of the other characters in this novel that is extremely resourceful. Mattie is manager of a place called "Jesus Is Lord Used Tires" (JIL for short) this place is a sanctuary for refugees from war torn countries, a garden wonderland in the middle of urban Tucson and lastly a place of business. I believe this to be the order of emphasis used by the author to show us what Mattie was up to and how her time money and other resources such as her incredible kindness was being used. Taylor finds a place to live, which is fairly close to JIL and decides to use her skills to make money working at a "burger derby". She meets another woman there that teaches her how to obtain babysitting services every day for free at the local mall in a place called Kid Central Station. But Mattie's tendency to stand up for herself cost her this job. Sort of a curious event considering that a theme in this novel is that we should use these attributes we are blessed with to better our lives and get ahead.

Mattie finally ends up finding permanent residence with another character named Lou Ann. The two characters meet through an ad in the paper and decide to become roommates, because neither could really afford to live well on their own. We see that people need others in their lives to be truly happy, and since they had so much in common they were all the better suited to live together.

We later see Taylor working at JIL which seems to be another perfect example of her resourcefulness in that she used her connections, one might say, to acquire a position and gain money and develop a closer relationship with Mattie, Estevan and Esperenza.

Her attitude throughout the book is always one that seems to say she is willing to help wherever possible. This, I believe, is not only due to her meeting Mattie who has similar values, but just a part of her personality which tends to be a great attribute to her. When Lou Ann is having troubles with her husband who has recently moved to Montana to become a rodeo clown. She consoles her friend and tells her "it will all be alright", she uses her charm and confrontability as assets to better her relationship with Lou Ann and perhaps to better help understand herself and her feelings at the time.

The later events of the book seem to really bring Taylor's resourcefulness to the test as well as her personality and perseverance. When turtle, (her daughter 'April turtle Greer')
is almost taken away from her and put up for adoption by the state. Her attitude and persona seem to bend and yield under the pressures and stresses. She is finally convinced into fighting to get back her daughter after being convinced by Lou Ann. Who, perhaps, was just returning a favor that Taylor did for her earlier.

Taylor's relationship with Estevan and Esperenza had become much closer by this time and she had learned about their problems and wanted badly to help. It seems that they were illegal immigrants to the united states and would be deported back to their native country if caught. This bothered Taylor because this would mean that Estevan and Esperenza would face certain death. Taylor consults with Mattie, Estevan, and Esperenza
And they decide that it would be best if Taylor brought Estevan and Esperenza with her to Oklahoma. Taylor leaves Tucson with Mattie's car, which she has managed to borrow. This car is much better suited for the journey that her old VW. She tries to remain inconspicuous and keep a low profile on the highways to keep Estevan and Esperenza safe from possible checkpoints set up by the department of immigration. We see that Taylor does not know very much about the practices of the department, but we see that the little she does know she manages to stretch to the limit in order to save her friends.

Taylor applies herself and her resources most when she has to save her daughter, turtle.
Since they had given up any hope of finding turtle's parents or relatives ti was decided that she would try to pull off an elaborate scheme, wherein Estevan and Esperenza wouls pretend to be Cherokee Indians and act as Turtle's biological parents. This plan ends up working, and Taylor is left in legal custody of Turtle. This is where the plot basically ends with her leaving her friends in Oklahoma, making a few phone calls then heading back to Tucson.
We see in this novel that personal resourcefulness can help us overcome obstacles and better our lives. Taylor Greer is just one of the many examples of a resourceful character, we see in her actions that what we want and what we get or what happens to us can be different. The only way we can turn what we desire into what is real and what happens is to use the things afforded to us to their maximum.




1999
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