We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

Secet Life of Bees

essay
The whole doc is available only for registered users
  • Pages: 9
  • Word count: 2162
  • Category: Life

A limited time offer! Get a custom sample essay written according to your requirements urgent 3h delivery guaranteed

Order Now

“The Queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community; if she is re moved from the hive the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakeable signs of queenlessness”(1) The Secret Life of Bees author, Sue Monk Kidd chose this specific quote for this chapter most likely because it resembles Lily’s situation. Lily lost her mother when she was little from an accident, the author uses imagery in this chapter to show the pain Lily has for the loss of her mother. The quote states.“my first and only memory of my mother was the day she died. I tried for a long time to conjure up an image of her before that, just a sliver of something, like her tucking me into bed, reading the adventures of Uncle Wiggly, or hanging my under clothes near the space heater on ice-cold mornings. Even picking the forsythia bush and stinging my legs would have been welcome.”(5). The reader is given specific detail so they can imagine the things Lily can see.

So the author uses the quote in this chapter so that the reader can understand the was Lily feels using the bees in the quote to symbolize Lily’s guide Quote Analysis for Chapter Two: “On leaving the old nest, the swarm normally flies only a few meters and settles. Scout bees look for a suitable place to start the new colony. Eventually, one location wins favor and the whole swarm takes to the air”(34) Sue Monk Kidd chose this quote for chapter two because Lily feels like she doesn’t fit in her town, so she scouts for a new home were she would feel more welcome. Lily decides to go to Tiburon when she finds out it might have something to do with her mother. Kidd uses symbolism when she writes this quote, “I pulled the black marry picture out of my bag and handed it to her. “It belonged to my mother. On the back is says Tiburon, South Carolina.”… I said “ she must have been there some time in her life to have owned this picture. And if she was, a person might remember her, you never know”(51).

The reader is given the clue that the black Mary picture symbolizes Lily’s guide. Lily trys to find a place where she would be accepted, because she feel that her mother must have gone to Tiburon for a reason Katrin Schwender English 9H Period 8 Mrs. Catandella September 25, 2012 Summer Reading Assignment Quote Analysis for Chapter Three “New beekeepers are told that the way to find the elusive queen is by first locating her circle of attendants…..”(57) Sue Monk Kidd chose this quote for chapter three because it relates to Lily’s quest to find her mother, Which she believes is still alive. Lily uses clues just like the bees do. Lily uses her black Mary picture to lead her to the pink house. Kidd uses a metaphor when writing this chapter and this quote; “What I needed was a sign. I needed a voice speaking to me like I heard yesterday in my room saying, Lily Owens, your jar is open. I’ll take nine steps and look up. What ever my eyes light on, that’s my sign.”(60) Kidd uses this quote in this chapter so the reader can see the connection between the quote about bees and the chapter. What the two quotes have in common is that both the bees and Lily are looking for a sign that would lead them to the queen and in Lily’s case her mother.

Lily finds the “circle of attendants” which are the three sisters later. Katrin Schwender English 9H Period 8 Mrs. Catandella September 25, 2012 Summer Reading Assignment Quote Analysis for Chapter Four “Honey bees are social insects and live in colonies. Each colony is a family unit, a single egg-laying female or queen and her many sterile daughters called workers. The workers cooperate in the food-gathering, nest-building and rearing the offspring. Males are reared only at the time of year when their presence is required.”(67) Sue Monk Kidd chose this quote for chapter four to help the reader understand that the pink house is mostly made up of strong women who are successful and men are only there when they need to be, just like the bees. Sue Monk Kidd uses foreshadowing in this chapter to give the reader a hint to whats to come.

This quote states “Some people have a sixths sense, and some are duds at it. I believe I must have it, because the moment I stepped into the house I felt a trembling along my skin, a traveling current that moved up my spine, down my arms, pulsing out from my fingertips. I was practically radiating. The body knows things a long time before the mind catches up to them.”(69). Kidd uses this quote to show the sad and important things that will happen in the pink house in the next chapters. Because of the way Lily feels the reader will remember further down the plot that even if Lily’s life seems to be ok there will be some kind of tragedy, because of the way she felt walking into that house. Katrin Schwender English 9H Period 8 Mrs. Catandella September 25, 2012 Summer Reading Assignment Quote Analysis for Chapter Six “the queen must produce some substance that attracts the workers and that can be obtained from her only by direct contact. This substance evidently stimulates the normal working behavior in the hive. The chemical messenger has been called “queen substance.” experiments have shown that the bees obtain it directly from the body of the queen.”(102) Sue Monk Kidd uses this quote for chapter six to give the reader a sense of how Lily feels and how she needs some sort of “chemical messenger” to know which way to go next.

Kidd uses conflict to show how badly Lily needs that “chemical messenger”. In this quote it tells the reader how “I wanted to touch her vanishing red heart, too, as much as any thing I ever wanted. As I rose from my chair, my head was still swimming some. I walked towards black Mary with my hand lifted. But just as I was about to reach her, June stopped playing. She stopped right in the middle of the song, and I was left in the silence with my hand stretched out.”(111). Kidd uses this quote in the chapter to relate to the bee quote and the conflict between June and Lily. Kidd also uses this quote to show that black Mary’s heart is Lily’s “chemical messenger” to find her normal self and stability again. Quote Analysis for chapter Seven: “How did bees ever become equated with sex? They do not live a riotous sex life themselves. A hive suggests cloister more than bordello.”(115) Sue Monk Kidd chose this quote about bees for chapter seven because it relates to Lily’s relationship with Zach. Lily experiences feelings she never had before which symbolizes her becoming of a woman. Kidd used this quote to help the reader relate the chapter to the quote about bees.

“He fished out a dog-tag suspended on a chain under his shirt and held it up to my nose. “see right there. Zachary Lincoln Taylor.” he smiled then, and I saw he had a one-side dimple. It’s a feature that has always gotten to me.” (116) Kidd show how Lily relationship with Zach is a key point in the plot because it shows Lily evolving into a new person and understanding her place in the world. It also becomes a potential conflict in the plot when lily becomes equated with Zach, It becomes a problem because of the racial issues in the 1960’s. Katrin Schwender English 9H Period 8 Mrs. Catandella September 25, 2012 Summer Reading Assignment Quote Analysis for Chapter Eight: “Honeybees depend not only on physical contact with the colony, but also require its social companionship and support. Isolate a honeybee form her sister and she will soon die.”(136) Sue Monk Kidd chose this quote for chapter eight to show the reader the relationship the Boatwright sisters need to keep going, for example May needs her sisters August and June to help support her when she gets sad with out them she couldn’t survive the pain and sadness.

Kidd uses a metaphor when she writes,“Since coming here, I’ve learned to love bees and honey. And you, I love you, but I felt to awkward.”(140). This quote explains the relationship the author wants to show the reader with August and Lily, so the connection to the society resembling the hive and human resembling the bees, It shows use while reading the book just how much we don’t know about bees and how much we have in common with them. Quote Analysis for Chapter Nine: “The whole fabric of honey bee society depends on communication on an innate ability to send and receive messages, to encode and decode information”(165) Sue Monk Kidd chose this quote for chapter nine because, It describes the conditions in the pink house for example June refusing to serve Lily because she doesn’t want to surrender to the expected which is for the black to serve the white, Also later in the chapter the decision not to tell May what happened to Zack will ultimately end in tragedy.

Kidd uses characterization when writing this quote. “when may stepped back into the room a few minutes later, her eyes zigzagged from face to face.”that was Zach’s mother,” she said. “why didn’t you tell me about him getting put in jail?”…..“In the silence I heard May breathing grow loud and a little ragged. She took several steps backward, until she came to the wall. Then she slid down onto the floor not making a sound.”(186). This quote refers to the quote about bees because with communication Mays well-being could have bin protected, just like the bees need communication to maintain there well-being. Katrin Schwender English 9H Period 8 Mrs. Catandella September 25, 2012 Summer Reading Assignment Quote Analysis Chapter Ten “A bees life is but short. During spring and summer the most strenuous periods of foraging a worker bee, as a rule, does not live more than four or five weeks ….Threatened by all kinds of dangers during their foraging fights, many workers die before they have reached even that age.”(189) Sue Monk Kidd chose this quote for chapter ten because it describes May, if it wasn’t for her condition she might have lived longer just like the bees.

Kidd uses a simile when writing this quote. “It seems odd to me now how we went on standing there another minute, me waiting for August to say something, but she didn’t speak, just stood, soaking up that last moment. A wind rose up, raking its sound along the tree branches, hitting our faces like an oven blast, like he sudden breeze of hell.” ….. “May lay in two feet of water with a huge river stone on top of her chest. It weighed her body, holding it on the bottom.”(192). This quote is compared to the quote about bees, and explains that life isn’t forever. It also explains why later on June decides that her “half-living” isn’t good because she realizes that life isn’t forever. Katrin Schwender English 9H Period 8 Mrs. Catandella September 25, 2012 Summer Reading Assignment Quote Analysis for Chapter Fourteen “A queenless colony is a pitiful and melancholy community; there may be a mournful wail or lament from within…. without intervention, the colony will die. But introduce a new queen and the most extravagant change takes place.”(277)

Sue Monk Kidd choose this quote for chapter fourteen because it perfectly described lily’s situation which is being mother less, and her story of finding a new mom, August and the others. Kidd uses allusion so the reader knows what the out come is before the sentence is even completed like in this quote: “That day my mother died, you said when I picked up the gun, it went off.” my eyes were on his eyes. “I need to know,” I said. “Did I do it?” When he spoke the roughness of his voice was gone. “I could tell you I did it. That’s what you wanna hear. I could tell you she did it to herself, but both ways I’d be lying. It was you who did it Lily. You didn’t mean it, but it was you.”(299) this quote means that because Lily found out that she killed her mother and that she decides to live without her father that she can now anew her life. In other words Lily is trying to find out the woman she wants to be without the guidance of a mother, Just like a bee walking senselessly without a queen.

Related Topics

We can write a custom essay

According to Your Specific Requirements

Order an essay
icon
300+
Materials Daily
icon
100,000+ Subjects
2000+ Topics
icon
Free Plagiarism
Checker
icon
All Materials
are Cataloged Well

Sorry, but copying text is forbidden on this website. If you need this or any other sample, we can send it to you via email.

By clicking "SEND", you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy. We'll occasionally send you account related and promo emails.
Sorry, but only registered users have full access

How about getting this access
immediately?

Your Answer Is Very Helpful For Us
Thank You A Lot!

logo

Emma Taylor

online

Hi there!
Would you like to get such a paper?
How about getting a customized one?

Can't find What you were Looking for?

Get access to our huge, continuously updated knowledge base

The next update will be in:
14 : 59 : 59