The Secret Life of Bees Story Examination - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review of the Secret Life of Bees Chapter 5 Q3. Lily had lived peacefully with black people. For instance, she had grown to consider Rosaleen a mother to her as she had taken a good care of her since the death of her mother while she was aged four years. She thus, considered all people equally despite the color of their skin. On page 101 and 102, she overhead June and August discuss her and Rosaleen. In the discussion, June told August that Lily should not live with them because she was white. June’s argument was a revelation to Lily. She did not know people could hate her because of the color of skin. On page 103, Lily wonders about the use of race as a point of hatred. According to her, all people have similar characteristics. There is nothing different except the skin only. On the same page, she wonders why race should be a point of hatred yet even her piss, and that of June are similar. In the above statement, therefore, Lily means that people are equal but due to Johnson’s bill, a point of division developed between the white race and the black race. The bill brought division because before then they had she had considered blacks equals to the whites. However, the bill brought division, which did not exist before. Chapter 6 Q1. In the story, August reads the story of Mary because to her and to the other blacks, Mary rescued them. They considered themselves children of Mary and they, therefore, called themselves daughters of Mary. Blacks considered Mary their rescuer sent by God, who had heard their cries for help. Mary was thus a symbol of hope, success, and defeat of the problems of the past. She represented the long awaited dream. In her story, August clear depicts the perception of Mary by the blacks. The reverence of Mary by the blacks started when slavery existed. In the story, August said that a man named Obadiah who was loading bricks onto a boat found a statue of a woman that Pearl later named it Mary. Pearl gave the statue the name Mary because she and the other blacks believed that the statue had told Obadiah that she had come to take care of them. Blacks thus related the biblical Mary with the statue, as they believed the biblical Mary had a mothers’ heart. The verses attributed to Mary were thus appropriate to the blacks as they reminded them of hope brought about by the statue named Mary. Chapter 7 Q2. In page 136, Zachary is upset when Lily commented that he was a footballer. For Zach, Lily’s comment represented the view of the whites on the black people. At the period of the setting of the story, the whites thought that blacks were only physically capable. The view had developed out of the view that God created blacks as slaves for the white people. For Zach, therefore, Lily’s comment meant she perceived him as a slave without the ability to think for himself. On page 140, Zach clearly portrayed the reason for his anger. When lily pointed to him that, he can become a professional footballer, Zach asked him the reason; the whites see the blacks as only able to succeed in sports. Zach did not want to be a footballer but a lawyer yet his dream seemed impossible due to the perception of the whites. Chapter 8 Q2. August does not mean that the story literally happened. When Lily asked August whether her Big Mama heard the bees sing about the Mary, she responded yes and no. August meant that even though the bees did not really sing the song told to her by her Big Mama, it is possible for a person to listen to an internal voice. It is possible for a person to listen to different sound despite the different external voice. However, she affirmed to Lily that is not possible for everyone to hear that unique internal voice. It is only possible for particular people. Big Mama’s story relates with the title of the story. Few people are only capable of hearing bees sing of Mary. The view of this argument as presented by August means that there is concealed information accessible only to particular people. The truth of this view related with the heading of the story, which also portrays a hidden fact that is not accessible to everyone. Chapter 9 Q1. Chapter 9 is the defining moment. Even though, Lily had earlier understood that June does not like her, she had always seemed to have no problem with her. In many occasions that August tried to change the perception of June over Lily, it was June herself had the problem and not Lily. Page 195 of chapter 9 defined the relationship between June and Lily. It portrayed them as two individuals who hated each other. Even though, the issue started as a joke; Lily was aware that her action was not going to end well. However, she decided to go on with her action. Her action showed the deep-seated hatred of June. Nonetheless, the page ends with the two commencing a friendly relationship. Chapter 10 Q3. Everyone knew that May was troubled. August and June knew May was troubled by the death of April, their sister. Before the death of their mother, June and August relied on her, to take care of May. When she died, the duty fell on them. August and June sought help for her. They took her to several doctors but with no success. With the suggestion of June, the two sisters resolved to the idea of a wailing wall. It was through the Wailing Wall that May relieved herself of her trouble by writing prayers and tucking them on the world. The Wailing Wall was, however, not a permanent solution. The two sisters thus seemed to have waited for their sister to take her life as April had done while she was fifteen years. Chapter 11 Q1. According to Lily, Zach had changed. In the previous chapters, he was a warm, and a kind person. He used to play with Lily during lunch times. He also used to sing a lot during the worked at the honey house. However, when he returned in chapter 11 after a long absence, Lily observed that he had changed greatly. In the chapter, Lily claimed that he had become an intemperate person. Lily points out that he came back with a part that was easily charged, angered, and heated. Stepping into his presence caused anger in him. He talked a lot of race riots, righteous causes, sit-ins, Malcolm X and Afro-American Unity. The change in Zach hurt Lily that she wished to tell him to remember the time they ate May’s Kool-Aid ice beneath pine trees. Chapter 12 Q3. Lily thought her mother loved her so much, but she was shocked to realize from August that she was unwanted by her mother. She is extremely hurt by the by the fact that when her mother decided to leave T. Ray and stay at August’s house, she did not bring her. On the day, she left her husband; Deborah left Lily with a woman from the next farm to baby sit her. The realization that her mother had willingly decided to leave her and go away, disgusted Lily. It made her hate the fact that she had imaged all through her life that her mother was a loving woman. However, she later understood that Deborah loved her. It was because of her depression that she had decided to leave her. Therefore, Deborah was not a bad mother. The hard situation that she was going through made her do things, which to Lily seemed to portray her badness. Lily’s imagination was realistic as every mother is expected to love her children. Chapter 13 Q2. Even though, it is quite hard to talk oneself out of anger, Lily was wrong in claiming that it is not possible for an individual to talk himself/herself out of anger. The sustainability of anger depends on the perception that an individual maintains. A depressed individual can thus, change his/her perceptions by controlling the information he/she consumes. A person can for instance, promote the view that he/she is going to make through a particular difficult situation by telling himself/herself all the positive things. In this way, an individual would be able to escape anger. Different people deal differently with anger. Some people have self-control that helps them calm down even in extremely hard situations. Some people like Lily deal outwardly with anger. However, despite the truth of this fact, Lily’s action that led to the smashing of August’s honey was not justified. By doing so, she is not solving the problem but misdirecting her anger. Instead, she could have sought help or try to calm down by working down the woods. Chapter 14 Q3. Deborah left T. Ray because he was mean. He increased his meanness towards after she left her. In chapter 13, August described Deborah as a thin person with dark circles under her eyes. She was also so depressed that August took her to the doctor. The doctor asked her about her family, but she declined to say. August took her to Bull Street, a mental institution under the recommendation of a doctor. The condition of Deborah portrayed many difficulties that she was passing through. The dark circles on her eyes portray mistreatments. Again, the fact that her husband did not take her for medical assistance shows his lack of love for her wife. The quarrel between her and T. Ray before Lily shot her accidentally further shows the extension of their bad relationship (Kidd, 2002). Reference Kidd, Sue M. The Secret Life of Bees. New York: Viking, 2002. Print. Read More