Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is an interesting story that connects human lives to bees. The story takes place in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement and fourteen year-old Lily Owens leaves her abusive father and her home in Sylvan, South Carolina to go to Tiburon with hopes to find information on her mother. Throughout the story, Lily struggles with many internal conflicts and also meets several mother figures along the way. In the story, Kidd’s use of characterization successfully reveals the theme that people's lives are more complex than they appear. Kidd demonstrates this theme using the characterization of Lily, T. Ray, May, and Deborah.

The main example in which Kidd used throughout The Secret Life of Bees novel was with the symbolism of Lily by bees. When this book was written its purpose was to represent racism within the US around the civil rights movement. But racism is really just taking two different parties which appear different but are equally smart, can perform the same tasks, and are emotionally equal, Caucasians and African Americans. So the real importance of the way Kidd uses bees as a symbol within the novel is to understand what Kidd is representing at a larger scale, not just within the story itself, racism present within the

Another prevalent literary device in the novel is Kidd’s use of metaphors. As the novel is titled The Secret Life of Bees, unsurprisingly enough, the main metaphor of the novel are bees and their hive. The fact that there is a whole dynamic of jobs and responsibilities that go into running a successful hive is unknown to a lot of people compares to Lily’s life with the Boatwright sisters, since Lily and Rosaleen arrive at the Boatwright sister’s house unknown and unexpected. Lily describes this time as her “secret life,” shown by the quote: “‘Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about.’ I loved the idea of bees having a secret life, just like the

The captivating story of Ponyboy Curtis and the rivalry between the greasers and the socs has been praised and loved by many for years because of its accurate depiction of what it's like to be a teen, unfortunately this novel has been banned by many schools across the country. The Outsiders should not be banned at Astoria High School. This novel should not be banned because teens are mature enough to handle any mature content this book has, it is a classic book that many enjoy and that students should be able to experience, and banning this book is unnecessary censorship and pushes beliefs onto others.

In 1998, McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona assigned students to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The book has long been regarded as a controversial novel, and each generation that comes upon it has found something that rubs against the current societal norms. The mother of a student at McClintock took serious offense to the use of the word, “nigger” throughout the book and protested that it be banned due to the racial discrimination (Source I). Huck Finn is just one of the many pieces of literature that have been labelled “challenging,” and many feel that they do not deserve a place in schools’ curriculum. However, the study of challenging literature introduces students to new ideas and lessons that they can apply

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it”(Lee 30). These are the words of Atticus Finch, the wisest character in the famous novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. He is a fictional man that embodies human traits that all people should strive to emulate. In the novel; narrated by Atticus’ daughter Jean Louise Finch, more often referred to as Scout; Atticus defends a black man, Tom Robinson, who has been accused of raping a white female, Mayella Ewell. The main message of the text is the prominence of racial injustice, specifically in the 1930’s, the era the novel takes place in. Since the publication of the text there has been a lot of controversy about whether or not students should read the text in middle school or high school.

Hello, my name is Zac, and today I will be speaking to you all about why To Kill a Mockingbird should not be banned in schools. To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel written and published by Harper Lee in 1960. The novel takes place during the three years of the great depression in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama. The novel deals with serious issues of rape and racial inequality. To Kill a Mockingbird should not be banned in schools because students such as myself need to exposed to the themes that are in the novel because the novel’s themes have relevance in today’s society. There is a lot of coarse language in the book which has been a reason why some people want the book banned. Harper Lee’s treatment of these subjects (themes and language) for the most part was both realistic and respectful.

In this case, it teaches students about racism, how it’s still a part of society today, and how it’s so deeply rooted in our country’s history. It’s necessary to talk to our students about slavery’s roots in the United States and how recent African-Americans only got their equal rights and treatment with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Act of 1965. John Schwetman, an assistant professor teaching American literature at the University of Minnesota Duluth, explained about a “conversation about literature… acknowledging changing reading tastes, changing values, changing concerns of readers.” (Louwagie) Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird, wrote of her experience with racism in mind. It teaches the importance of morality and resonates with the white students. Scout herself learns from Atticus, her father, that “[y]ou never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” (Lee 39) Throughout the novel, Scouts truly learns about racism, how it affects everyone, and how unfair it was toward the African community. We still have much to learn because there is very much still racism in today’s society. By using books like To

Censorship in schools may not be the best choice for enriching the future minds of the United States of America. Children of the United States of America should have the right to learn about anything for it is there amended right. Taking knowledge away from them and censoring it should not be the answer to keeping our Children pure it should be what we teach our kids. We need to teach them right and wrong that is what will keep our child’s mind pure. Many books are being taken off shelves every day in student libraries because a couple people do not think that the book is suitable for children. Children just like us have a mind of their own and should be able to make their own decisions by themselves to either pick up the book or to leave it alone. Censorship does not exist in public places such as stores even though children enter stores everyday these kids have learned the decency of what they should or should not do they learned what they want and what they do not want what they like and what they do not like that should be a reason that children should be able to make censorship their choice.

This passage is why books shouldn’t be banned and why it's important for parents and/or the school board to not ban books. Prohibited books are unlawful and not helpful schools. Books are an entryway to various beneficial encounters and perusing supports sympathy and social-passionate advancement. It denies individuals of finding out about their general surroundings. Books should not be banned because of what they appear to be.

What if your young child is looking through a book at your public library and comes across a topic that was way too mature for their mind set. Would you be okay with it? A big controversial issue that has been going on in the past year is if books should be banned. Now, no one is trying to banish libraries across the globe but people have requested to ban books that are inappropriate. This matter has grown to be worse because everyone has an opinion. In some cases books were banned from schools because parents believed there kids should not be opened to certain topic in the stories. Another issue is students have been sent home to read books for certain classes that talk about touchy subjects. For example, religion and magic. Parents

Books can create portals to different life experiences and encourage reading. A few schools and libraries have challenged the educational value of some books, however, therefore leading them to eventually be prohibited in a particular place. Each reason may be different depending on the book and the location of the exclusions. Books are icons of literature and their value should outshine the occasionally offensive topic. Be that as it may, there are multiple reasons why books should be taught and included in a curriculum. If you really want a book not to be read by an adolescent, banning the book will often have an opposite effect. Although it contains sensitive topics and harsh language, The Secret Life of Bees should not be banned in high schools because students are not only mature enough to handle these issues but should, in fact, be exposed to them in an educational environment to help in the development of their maturing minds.

Banned Books are books that are prohibited by law or to which free access is not permitted by other means. Banning books is against the writers right for freedom of speech, which is the first amendment. Students have the right to read, reading is not illegal, so why ban books? If a reader is mature enough to handle some curse words or bad behavior then they should be able to read banned books. Some people believe books should not be banned in schools/libraries but just because you do not like it does not mean it should be taken away, that is the authors freedom of speech. Also, some say that you should not be exposing bad behavior or language to students but in reality they hear and see these things everyday, and by banning a book, that is not protecting them.

Life is overfilled with messages, like weeds in a sea in unmaintained grass. Whether it’s warning a person, or pointing out a flaw; these little lessons are there to further grow the positive parts of that person’s personality. A simple demonstration of this is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. An old, children’s book serving no meaningingful purpose is what it may seem, nevertheless, it actually is a novel that offers a unique outtake on all aspects of human life. In the book, two children Jem and Scout, who learn about equality, racism, and social class through court cases, tea parties and more. The story offers many ideals, whether to improve upon something that is exist, or throw a new concept into the the air with various techniques,

Children literature is important for youth to understand diversity and cultural differences. Diversity is often a difficult topic for young children to grasp due to most of the time when they are younger only being around people that look like them. Frazier says diversity in literature exposed kids to different types of people in a safe place where they can ask questions and learns (Hawkins). Diversity in children's literature can introduce young children to cultural differences and even similarities. Grasping these concepts at a young age can give children to look around and notice their surroundings and the people and things around them. Children noticing their surroundings helps them acknowledge the differences in the people that make up their everyday lives.