The question that goes with it is, What does the image of the cross reveal about the way Mattie views what it means to be a religious person?
"Every surface was covered: tables, chairs, walls. Over the fireplace there was a big cross made up of hundreds of small, brightly glazed pieces of tile, each one shaped like something: a boy, a dog, a house, a palm tree, a bright blue fish. Together they all added up to a cross. I had never seen anything like it."
All of the things that make up Mattie's cross represent home and beliefs. The name of her business is "Jesus is the Lord Tires," and she lives her own life by demonstrating Christian virtues to illegal immigrants and needy families. She lives what she preaches.....
The Bean Trees
