Taylor Greer and Her Pursuit of Happiness

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The Pursuit and Comprising Happiness of Taylor Greer What is happiness, and when should we compromise it? That is a very common question that people always ask themselves. Well in this novel, Taylor Greer, who is a small-town girl for Kentucky was the victim of sacrificing her happiness in order to give her and her daughter Turtle a better chance at life, but as the story progressed and she became more comfortable, Taylor started pursuing her happiness. In the novel, “The Bean Trees” by Barbra Kingsolver, Taylor Greer chooses keep a child, which was not what she had originally planned to do. This choice was a compromise to her original idea of personal happiness; however, as she comes to love and be loved by Turtle, she finds that true happiness lies in having meaningful relationships with others. Early in her life Taylor was missing out on the lifestyle of a teenager; she never went to parties, she never had a boyfriend or was considered a girl who was noticed Taylor couldn’t do these things because she was committed to her mother Alice. Taylor compromised her happiness and worked in the Pittman County hospital for five long years, in order to support her ailing mother. She worked in the lab with blood samples, urine samples and lots of other gross things. Taylor left Pittman with not a single dollar to her name. Taylor was a very intelligent young woman though; in order to find a place to sleep; Taylor went to a motel where she offered to do all of the housekeeping at the motel for the day in order to stay the night. Although Taylor was planning to sleep in her car, she also compromised her happiness in order to give Turtle a proper shelter so she doesn’t get sick. She cleaned all of the beds in the motel in order to take care of Turtle. “I’ll clean all of the beds and sheets in the motel if you give me a place to stay; for the baby, please.” Taylor was
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