Although the doctor tells Taylor that turtle has a condition called "failure to thrive," wherein a physically or emotionally deprived child stops growing, he admits that the condition is reversible. Taylor knows that turtle is growing physically because she buys her new, larger-sized clothes, but Taylor does not take sole responsibility for turtle's emotional and psychological progress and well-being. Here, the themes of family and community are evident: without the help of her "family," including Lou Ann, Taylor would not be the mother she's learned to become.
Taylor's extended family also includes her elderly neighbors, Edna Poppy and Virgie Mae Parsons. She and Lou Ann leave the children with Edna and Virgie Mae whenever they have an emergency or whenever neither one can be at home to care for the children. Gradually, Taylor and Lou Ann grow to depend on Edna and Virgie Mae to baby-sit. By introducing the two older women, Kingsolver again emphasizes the community of women needed to raise children. Note the irony in the differences between the two elderly women: Edna is a kind woman who always dresses in red from head to foot. Her sweet nature makes up for Virgie Mae, who is a prejudiced, narrow-minded person. However, together the women survive by serving as balancing forces for each other.
Taylor also meets Esperanza and Estevan, a young married couple from Guatemala City, who are living with Mattie. Estevan taught English in Guatemala and is now washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant in Tucson (something Taylor doesn't quite understand), and Esperanza spends her time upstairs at Mattie's. Esperanza reminds Taylor of Turtle: She sits very still, as though she's in her own world. Kingsolver hints that Esperanza might have survived traumatic times also. When Esperanza first meets Turtle, she looks and acts shocked and can't stop looking at her. Later, Estevan explains that Turtle reminds Esperanza of a child they knew in Guatemala.
