BEE-utiful Jokes #6

What do you call a wasp?

A wanna-bee! 

Section 4 Pages 226-302

I have now completed the book The Secret Life of Bees and all I can say is it was a wonderful book. This book had lots of development of characters, such as T. Ray showing his tenderness and embarrassment towards Lily after he almost hurt her.

One of the last scenes, with T. Ray finally showing up, was very suspenseful. It really showed how much Lily has developed throughout her time with August. At the start of the book Lily would be very hostile towards T. Ray and would immediately do whatever he said. When he showed up this time, she started off civil, and offered him a seat. Later when he demanded they leave, she refused and tried backing away from his physical abuse. She handled the whole situation a lot more maturely than usual, and was met with a lot more reward. By keeping her cool, she was able to stay with August, much with August's help.

I also need to mention the finality of the lies of Lily. Lily finally talked to August about her mother. It's incredible that their paths crossed so often, Lily and her mom. Although it was different times of their lives, they both showed up at August's and slept in the honey house. They also both were somewhat raised by August. August took the truth well, though she did know all along. She helped out Lily by giving her breaks and really showing her true colours. In all situations she is kind and caring, even at really emotional moments. I loved seeing how much she truly cares for Lily and all the motherly moments they had. It really shows that Lily is going to have a wonderful future with August, and will finally have a mother.

Lastly I want to say how I enjoyed the whole circle of the story coming to an end. The start of the book was about Rosaleen getting arrested when she wanted to vote. It ended with her finally getting her name on the voting list and even started having the charges dropped on her. It really completed all the problems first shown at the beginning.

This book started off as a harsh and heartbreaking story, yet ended tenderly and sweetly, offering joy and hope. Lily finally knows she belongs in this world, with August and Rosaleen, and is finally out of the horrible clutches of her father. This book was a real page turner, and I loved reading it.

Sarah S
May 31st, 2014

All Abuzz About Bees!

The low-pitch buzz commonly associated with bumble-bees does not come from the bees flapping their wings, as one thought. It actually comes from twitching the flight muscles very quickly. This allows the bee to warm up before flight

BEE-utiful Jokes #5

What TV channel do Canadian bees watch? 

See, Bee, See! 

Journal 2

-      Nick

     In the second quarter of the book The Secret Life of Bees, many interesting things happened. I liked how they added a secondary character named Zach to bring out Lily. I also liked how they made it seem like Lily was fitting in and had a family from August telling her she is a real be keeper when she had gotten stung by a bee.

    

     The most interesting moment from this section to me was when Zach brought Lily a journal and told her that they can never be together because society this made me feel like the neighbourhood and the time is very harsh on black and white relationships. The stories setting had been opened up and is foreshadowing that something bad will happen to the black characters.

     I like the character Zach because it brings out another side of Lily and this is good because I can understand and connect more with the main character. I also like how the secondary characters in the book such, as the Boatwright sisters. They have been introduced into the story with their own problems to highlight different characteristics of them. I know that May has a problem with feeling others peoples pain and this maybe the cause of something coming up in the book.

     The books made me think that Rosaleen will either be a character that will go away in the story somehow or play a huge role in the end. This is because Rosaleen is starting to get a little separated from Lily. The only think I did not like about this section of the book was that it jumped around to much. They had one problem or event to show something then they had another random event that I couldn't follow. I think the next section of the book will have events that are very disastrous. 

Discussion Questions Conflict

Discussion Questions Conflict

-      Nick 

1.    Why did August never want to get married?

-       She didn’t want to give up freedom from control or influence

2.    Zach says that Lily and he will never be together, why?

-       Society is too harsh on black and white relationships

3.    What is Lily’s first impression on Zach?

-       He is a very handsome and feels like they can be friends

4.    Why does Lily feel like Rosaleen is starting to abandon her?

-       Rosaleen had been moved to Mays room.

5.    Why did June start to throw tomatoes at Neil’s car?

-       Neil had brought up the subject of marriage and they had fought.

6.    What does Lily learn from May about June and Neil?

-       That Neil wants to marry June but  she had been not interested for years

7.    Why did August tell Lily the story of the runaway nun?

-       It was an example of when May had helped someone gratefully, and how if she needs help May will always be there for her

8.    What is the meaning of the wall that May made and why is it there?

-       May made the wall because she takes in the pain from other people and puts it on herself, so she writes down the person’s name in the wall and August feels like this wall helps her with this

9.    Why did Lily faint in the ritual of The Statue of Mary?

-       August had told June to include her in the ritual and she felt pressure so she must have fainted

10. Why did Lily call T.Ray back on the phone?

-       She wanted to see if he had any remorse for the way he had treated her

Journal Entry #2 Pages 76-150

In this section of the book, I feel that a lot more things happen than in the previous section. For example, we learn about the three sisters August, May and June.

We learn that May had a twin sister named April, and how close they were. "If April got a toothache, May's gum would plump up red and swollen just like April's". When they were 11, April got into a rut of severe depression, and finally killed herself with her father's shotgun.

We also learn that May has a "wailing wall", to help her deal with her emotionality. I think that this is a sign of how someone who is suffering from trauma or depression from a past event can find help in anything.

In this section of the book, one major theme is romance. Lily meets a young black man named Zach, who works at the bee house after school. At first, Lily sees nothing different in him than anyone else, but slowly she starts falling in love with him. But she knows that since she's white and he's black, they'll never be able to be together.

I think that this section of he book was more interesting than the last as well, because not only do more things happen, but we learn a lot more about certain characters. To me, learning about characters is more entertaining than just having the plot move along at a slow-ish pace that is happening in The Secret Life of Bees.

One thing that I really like about this book, is the dozens of little facts about bees that are scattered around the novel. For example, at the beginning of every chapter, there is a fact at the top of the page, and when Lily is learning about how to work at the honey-house, she is told several facts about how bees live and what the queen does etc...

Discussion Questions Week 3

1.       June has always been mean and judgemental to Lily since she has shown up, yet has just started to warm up to her. Why did June decide to hug Lily after Lily sprayed June with water? Why does she seem to suddenly accept her?

I think June finally realized how stupid it was to hate a 14 year old, just because she was white. June finally seemed to accept that Lily wasn't a racist white girl who just showed up at their doorstep, yet a lost orphan, who happened to be white, who needed a home.

2.       How do you think August will react once Lily decides to tell her about her mother?

I think August will be understanding, as she knows that Lily has been lying since the second she showed up. The fact that we now know her mother used to stay at their house may bring a bit more confusion and drama, I find that August is a kind soul that has come to truly love Lily and shouldn't be too upset to learn the truth.

3.       Lily has been avoiding telling August the truth since she has arrived, yet lately has been trying desperately to tell her. Why do you think Lily suddenly feels an urgency to tell August why she is truly there?

Lily has been lying non-stop since she arrived, which must be exhausting. She only started lying since she originally didn't trust August enough and wanted to get to know her first. Now that they are close, Lily wants to be able to show August her true self.

4.       Why did Zach’s arrest cause May to go over the edge, and kill herself?

May has been struggling with the injustice of the world's problems for a while now. Usually it was through people she didn't actually know. So having someone so close go through such a terrible event, and to have her sisters try to hide it from her, would really show the harshness of the world. The fact that her sisters tried to hide it shows that they found May very weak, which probably hurt May more than if they had told her in the first place.

5.       When Zach was out with Lily, one of his friends punched a white man in the face. An officer demanded which man did it, but when no one answered, he took them all to jail. Why didn't Zach turn the other guy in if it would have gotten him out of jail?

Being thought of as a coward and a snitch is a lot worse than any punishment in my opinion. To be thought of and punished by someone who is only judging you by the colour of your skin, is horrible yet a lot easier to blame on them then if it is one of your friends who is judging you. By turning in your friends, you lose important people in your life who would have probably had your back if the role was reversed. The officer would be punishing you for something you know you didn't do, yet by betraying your friend, you would have to live with the guilt forever and know in your heart you deserve it.

6.       While out with Zach at Clayton Forrest’s law office, Lily decided to call T. Ray to see if he knew her favourite colour. Why do you think Lily called T. Ray?

Lily finally realized that T. Ray didn't care at all for Lily. If T. Ray could remember that one detail of her, then it would show deep down there was some good in her, and that he does care about her. In her heart she probably had a bit of doubt running away, thinking that T. Ray at least cared a bit for her. She finally realizes that he doesn't care at all for her, if he can't remember a simple detail about her.

7.       If you were in Lily’s shoes, would you come clean about why you truly ran away? If so, would you have done it by now?

I wouldn't have come clean right away, since the family probably wouldn't let me in then, but I think by now, once I truly cared for them and understood how wonderful they are, I would have. The guilt would be too much for me, to lie constantly to such nice people. I know Lily is struggling with that same problem right now. 

8.       Lily has truly come to love living with August and June, do you think she is going to be able to stay there once they know the truth?

August is a very kind soul who cares very much for Lily, I'm sure that she will be able to see through the deceitfulness, especially once she finds out how horrible T. Ray is. I know she wouldn't want Lily going through any more pain and would forgive her for lying. Also I feel she will get to stay, as the story has subtle clues about August and June thinking something to this day, showing that Lily is still in touch with them. 

9.       Neil has been asking June to marry him for a while now, yet she never would say yes. What was stopping her?

June had been hurt before in a devastating way. Not only was she left at the alter, she was left by her sister, April. Two people she loved deeply had deserted her without warning, so she was unable to see how she could open herself up again to someone, without getting hurt. 

10.   Why do you think that June finally decided to say yes?

June realized how short life truly is, and how in a simple day, everything could change. She realized that Neil would stay by her forever, as he demonstrated through his never ending work to make her marry him. He never gave up on her and showed how much he loves her, reassuring her that this is a good thing.

Sarah S

May 25th, 2014

Section 3 Pages 150-225

I have just finished the 3rd quarter of the book The Secret Life of Bees. This section had so much drama as Lily struggles to tell August about her mother, learns her mother was there and bonds with June. Yet those are only the tip of the iceberg, since in the chapter we also have Zach thrown in jail, which later leads to May's suicide.

I will admit reading of May's suicide made me tear up. I could tell it was coming from the foreshadowing shown in the line, "To this day August and June wonder how our lives would have been different if one of them had answered the phone instead of May." (Page 185) I knew what was happening and found it horrible that as a reader, there was nothing I could do to stop it. I find that a character's death in a book is always symbolic, and meaningful. As I try to find one for May's, firstly there is the obvious one, written in her suicide note, that it was here time to die, and theirs (August and June's) to live. May was obviously miserable in her life, and could no longer find joy. It was bringing down the people around her and just wasn't good. With her note, she encouraged that now her sisters can live, which they intend to follow through with, making June finally agree to marry Neil. I think it also is giving Lily a bit of a push to live her life and share the truth of her being there, with August.

For a deeper purpose of the death of May, we could bring up how Lily has truly become accustomed to her life with August and misses the routine. She has found comfort in her new home and has become a family. It is shown through the section that although August and June lost a sister, they have gained another one, by showing their love towards Rosaleen. Although it is not as much stated as Rosaleen's acceptance into the family, we see that Lily is considered also as family, through the affection of August when Lily hadn't returned when Zach got sent to jail, and June's hug towards Lily after the day with the sprinkler.

A last thing that May's death showed us is the depth of racial judgement and Lily's development. Lily has been becoming more accepting, yet when being questioned about May's death, the police officer shows his discontentment of Lily living with four, now three, black women. He says that she is making herself less valid of a person by staying with black women. Lily is shocked by this statement, which shows us her growth and how she truly isn't as prejudice as others.

No matter how horrible May's death is, it definitely is important to the story in giving us some lessons, and showing that Lily and Rosaleen truly have found a new home, which is much more loving than the house of T. Ray.

Sarah S
May 25th, 2014

Discussion Questions

1. What do you think about T. Ray's parenting? Do you think that Lily deserves better?
2. Describe the small town of Sylvan, South Carolina.
3. How do you think Lily's life would be different if her mother was still alive?
4. What do you think about the book so far as a whole?
5. Would you recommend this book to anyone?
6. If so, to whom would you recommend it?
7. Do you think that Lily was right in lying to be able to work on the honey farm?
8. Describe the characters of August, May, and June.
9. What happened to April?
10. If you were Lily running away, would you want T. Ray to come looking for you?

1.  I think that T. Ray's parenting is cruel and unusual. HE abuses her not only physically (walking on gritts) but also psychologically (when she does something bad he tells her lies like that her mother left her and T. Ray)

2. It's a sleepy town in Alabama where Lily grew up. It is usually hot in the summer, and also very humid. It has a school, Nochurchs, and a peach stand where Lily spends entire afternoons waiting.

3. If Lily's mother was still alive, her life would be exponentially better. First of all, she would have someone to protect her from T. Ray's cruel punishments and his harsh rules. Secondly, she would be able to have a female role model in her life that would look after her and be able to comfort her when she needs it. 

4. I think of this book in a positive light. I think the book is going to focus a lot on Lily and her journey of running away from her father.

5. Yes, I would recommend this book to other people, it has a good story and well-developed characters. 

6. I would recommend this book to people who enjoyed To Kill A Mockingbird since it deals with a young(ish) girl growing up in the southern United States. Both books also deal with racism against blacks during the 20th century. Although this book does contain some mature language and subject matter, it does not distract from the plot that much.

7. Yes. I think that Lily should be able to to anything in her power to be able to get away from her wreck of a father, including lying to strangers about her past.

8. They are 3 black sisters who work at a honey farm. They are willing to take on Lily and Rosaleen to work for them.

9. April was May's sister who died when she was very young. June has since become very emotional

10. No, since I would not want to tolerate the abuse for 1 more nanosecond.

BEE-utiful Jokes #4

What did the bee to the other bee in summer?

Swarm here isn't it?

BEE-utiful Jokes #3

Why did the bee go to the dermatologist? 

It had hives!!!

All Abuzz About Bees!

BEE-utiful Jokes #2

Why did the bee get married?

Because he found his honey!

Section 2 Pages 76-150

I have read the second quarter of the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, making me half-way through the book. This book is really starting to grow on me. At first I was completely shocked at this book, disgusted by T. Ray's personality towards Lily. The first quarter was truly dark and had a sinking feeling over me as I read about this horrible life of Lily. Now we have a feeling of happiness and joy, as she has run away with Rosaleen to live with three black women, August, May and June.

Each of these women have such different personalities. Firstly there is August, who is such a kindred spirit that you have to fall in love with her. She cares so much for Lily, who she just met, her sisters, especially an emotional May, and her bees.She is passionate for her life and is a perfect role model for Lily. She even senses that Lily is lying to her about why she is there, but isn't pestering her for an answer, but just waiting for when Lily sees fit to share.

May is similar to August as she is a kindred spirit, yet a lot more innocent. May is easily bothered by any unpleasant situation. She will start crying and need to leave to her wailing wall, where she writes all of her unpleasant thoughts to try to let them go. I am very interested by May, it really shows how she over empathizes with everyone and everything, so much that it pains her. I hope she finds a way to overcome this with the help of Lily and Rosaleen, as I predict she will, but emotional trauma like she has gone through is hard to do. It will take lots of help and I feel will only be solved by Lily talking about her mom and T. Ray.

Finally there is June. She is the hardest to understand as she is closed off and cynical compared to her two kindred sisters. June hates Lily very openly, yet I think this is more because of what happened to April. Her sister had committed suicide after learning how horrible the world is to black people. I think this event caused a hatred towards all whites, so Lily coming to live with them carrying an obvious lie, would be difficult. Eventually she will come around, but right now I understand her pain and anger towards Lily. 

Lastly I want to briefly mention the new bond between Lily and Zach. It is obvious that they have strong feelings for each other, yet can't act upon them because of racial differences. It is horrible that they have to ignore their feelings just because it is frowned upon by the community. I hope that they end up together, yet the fact that it could be dangerous, as a white man sees it horrible for a black man to go for a white girl, and will beat him. Also I am curious to know how he will react once he finds out about all off Lily's lies and why she is truly there. I don't see it as a big problem, yet Zach may feel deceived and be indifferent towards her for a bit. 

This second quarter has a lot more information shared and as we wait for Lily to share her secrets, I think we all have that feeling of dread as we wait for the impending arrival of T. Ray. This second half of the book will be very interesting to see it all enfold. 

Sarah S.

May 18th, 2014

Journal #1 - Nick

   After the first quarter of the novel The Secret Life of Bees, there are many things to question and discuss. I enjoyed the first quarter of the book for many reasons including the mystery of the bees that swarmed above her in the night. Later in the quarter they discussed the way and reason Lily’s mom died, but even thought the book gave the scenario it took place, it was still very confusing on what happened. I hope later in the book this problem gets addressed once more and reveals who had killed Lily’s mom.

    The beginning of the book mainly focused on Lily’s struggle with her maid rosaleen. I thought this problem in the book was a nice way to introduce a semi-main character to develop the main character Lily.

     I wish that the beginning of the book had made more sense to me and jumped around less. They introduced different problems but I couldn't follow all of them and couldn't follow the ones that are going to be the most important or the most important.

     The book had introduced her father as an abusive and strict father. I like this role because this shows how the setting makes more dominance for men than women. Not that it is a good thing, but to establish this in the book might play a big role in what is to come.

     The first quarter of the book had introduced significant characters to help the story. I liked how they introduced each character in different problems for each character. I think that the other characters to come will not be introduced in their own problem but along the way of resolving Lily’s problems.

     When the book had introduced a fight between Lily and Rosaleen, I didn’t think that they would find each other once a again and makeup.

-   Nick W

BEE-utiful Jokes #1

Why did the bee cross the road?

Just BEE-cause!!!

All Abuzz About Bees!

The worker bees are all female and they do all the work for the hive. Workers perform the following tasks inside the hive as a House Bee: Cleaning, feeding the baby bees, feeding and taking care of the queen, packing pollen and nectar into cells, capping cells, building and repairing honeycombs, fanning to cool the hive and guarding the hive.

Section 1 Pages 1-75

Let me start off by saying that I am very much enjoying this book. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd has humour, emotion, and depth, especially in the characters.

Lily is the main character in this story. She is a 14-year old girl who lives with her father in South Carolina during the mid-1960's. Her father, T-Ray is just a complete toolbag. He treats her like crap, making up cruel and unusual punishments, like making her kneel across the kitchen on RAW GRITS.

In case you were wondering, these are raw grits:

Imagine kneeling across 30 feet of those every time you didn't eat your veggies. T-Ray is almost too evil to be real. He openly hates books, which are one of the few things that Lily actually enjoys, he is against Lily getting a proper education, not to mention the physical and psychological abuse through which he put Lily and her mother. I am utterly shocked at the character of T-Ray.

One of the major themes in this novel is race and racism. Throughout the novel, we hear about real life events that are happening in the novel. For example, the novel makes reference to the signing of the Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2nd, 1964. We also quickly hear about Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and other events highlighted during the Civil Rights Movement.

Finally, if I could use 1 word to describe the tone of this book; it would be desperate.  How Lily is just so desperate to be like other girls, or to know what really happened to her mother, or even how desperate she is to get away from her father. Later on in the section, she is so desperate for a place to live, she lies to June, May and August about the real reason she is on the road.

Daniel
May 11th, 2014

Section 1 page 1-75

I have just completed the first 75 pages of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. From what I have read, this is definitely not what I was expecting. Reading about the horrible relationship between Lily and her father, T. Ray, is heart wrenching. Through the book you can tell he truly does not care for her, and just treats her as a nuisance. She is unable to do anything and if she makes a simple mistake, she is physically punished. When she had slept outside one night and her father found her without her shirt undone, he immediately assumed she was with a boy and refused to hear her side of the story. She was then forced to kneel on grits for about an hour. I find it truly disgusting that her father treats her with so little respect. The names he calls her are horrible and how he emotionally punishes her too is unbelievable.

We also learnt about Lily possibly killing her mother. When I first read it, I assumed I had read it incorrectly and immediately reread the passage to find out she truly believes she accidentally killed her mother. During the story we can tell that her mother is packing up to leave when her father finds her. Her father claims it is to leave both he and Lily, but I believe that her mother just wants to escape the emotional and physically abusive father. The fact that she had a gun shows that she felt very unsafe in the house and by turning it on him, it shows how scared she was of him that she would resort to killing him to protect herself.

Another confusing thing we learn about is the Black Mary picture that once belonged to Lily's mother. This picture is obviously a big symbol throughout this book, as it leads Lily out of T. Ray's house and off to Tiburon, South Carolina. There is obviously lots of mystery with this picture and I'm not sure what I think it means. As she finds August, I assume that her mother was friends with her, which may give Lily some hope that at least one of her parents wasn't prejudiced and was friends with a black women.

Finally, I want to write about Rosaleen. She is about the only role model for Lily, besides her teacher. Rosaleen shows how to truly care for someone, as she sometimes shows her compassion for Lily. Rosaleen still has some flaws though as she refuses to back down to racial behaviour. Although it is good that she stood up to the men who were insulting her, she should have thought thoroughly about the consequences. If she could have just ignored the men, then she wouldn't have ended up in jail and with a man ready to kill her. Rosaleen still is the best role model for Lily and truly helps her out with her hard life, and now on her adventure in Tiburon.

This book is very adventurous, yet heart-breaking as Lily goes through so much. Now with August, she is in for an exciting time, where I am sure her lies will all fall apart soon.

Sarah S.
May 10th, 2014