The Secret Life of Bees deals with profound issues including child abuse and racism. The story also deals with less tragic, but still important issues like not fitting in at school. Lily's tragedies and triumphs were inspiring.
I think Lily is a very courageous girl. I wonder how different she would be if her life had been different. She mouths off to her father knowing the consequences could be severe, breaks Rosalee out of the hospital, and asks a perfect stranger to take her and her nanny into their home. These, and many others, are not tasks that girls her age should have to deal and she tackles her problems with pride and perseverance.
T-Ray was a bitter man, rejected by the woman he loved and Lily's face was a daily reminder of what he lost. It is a bit surprising that he protected Lily after the accident that took her mother's life but I think he was not yet the mean-hearted person we see as the book opens.
My perception of what racial tension during the civil rights era would have been like was captured by Kidd. Lily frequently finds herself in situations where being white makes her feel awkward. Her race serves as a barrier between her and Rosalee and then the calendar sisters. She fights to break down that barrier just as Rosalee is determined to break down the racial barriers that are in her way of voting.
I was really affected by the conversation between Zach and Lily about the future of their relationship. Lily says she wishes she could change the color of her skin so she and Zach could be together. Zach corrects her and says that she should be trying to change peoples' minds instead of her skin color. Racism and interracial dating are still huge issues today only they are whispered now instead of being screamed out from a sign on the front door of restaurants and movie theaters. Zach is a mature and determined individual and I think that Lily is just too young and naive to understand just how different his life is compared to hers.
I enjoyed the snippets about bees; how the colony functions and the different jobs within a colony. We got a glimpse into a whole other world that lives in our back yard. The similarities between our world and a bee's world were made throughout the book. Everyone had their job to do on the bee farm and August was the queen bee.
I enjoyed the book but struggled with it a little. I kept thinking, when the actual story starts. I felt I was reading the back story preparing to find out what the point of the book was. I was half way through the book when I finally realized the story did not begin with a new life for her after the bee farm; it was about her and the bee farm. The bees in her room with T-Ray confused me, I thought there was some kind of storyline that would have Lily see bees wherever she went. I did not imagine staying with August was going to be the bulk of the book.
Three Gentlemen
10 years ago
2 comments:
I really liked this book. I can see struggles that Lily had that many young students struggle with today. We have students that deal with abuse, isolation, and racism every day of their lives. It was nice to see that Lily remained strong and was able to find herself and a "family" that could love her - even if they were not the same color. Love doesn't look at color but what is on the inside of every person.
I agree that I kept trying to understand what the plot was going to be throughout the book. Not until the end did I see that the plot was the underlying them throughout the book. Lily dealing with her mother's death and understanding who she was and why her mother left. I was frustrated because I don't think a child at her age would realistically wait that long to tell August why she was there.
Post a Comment