The Bee Eater is about the transition of the Paleolithic to Neolithic Era. The story of The Bee Eater follows a man named Ur, who lived during the revolution of the Neolithic Era. Ur is firmly against change, but three members of his family start to change. Each change is one step to the Neolithic Era. In The Bee Eater, these three characters represent a different aspect in the Neolithic Era. In The Bee Eater, Ur’s Wife represents agriculture and the sedements in the Neolithic Era. Ur’s Wife used to be part of a different clan, so she had a different way to get food. For example, one day when she was gathering food she noticed a field, and on page 85, she said “Why don’t we make grain grow…?” This showed the first form of agriculture in The Bee Eater. When she started to farm, she kept thinking of ways to make it easier. She later says to Ur on page 86, “We ought to leave the cave and live by the well. There we can watch our grain.” This caused Ur and his family to build a house and because Ur is an elder this caused the rest of the clan to not move making all of them sedementary. Ur’s wife wasn’t the only family member that represents something in the Neolithic Era. …show more content…
In The Bee Eater, Ur’s son represents specialized trade.
The son doesn’t want to hunt which is what all the male do in the clan. The son starts to farm with the mother. One day the son starts to make tools. He is one of the only people in the clan who make them so his father and the rest of the clan are alright with it. The son not only makes weapons but also tools to help his mother with the crops. He invents the sickle which helps cut down wheat. When the storm hits, he builds a wall to protect the crops. He becomes an important asset to the clan even if his father doesn’t see it. Even though a male not hunting is rare, the daughter does something even rarer and
weirder. In The Bee Eater, Ur’s daughter represents the domestication in the Neolithic Era. One day she sees this wild dog, and each day she leaves him food. Over time they start to share a bond. This seems very strange and people don’t know what to think of that. One day a hunter strolls by seeing the wild dog kind of close to the daughter and kills it thinking of it as a threat. Later the daughter marries the hunter but she always has a small resentment toward him because of the dog.
In conclusion, The Bee Eater has each character represents a different aspect in the Neolithic Era. The Bee Eater has the reader go step by step through the transition of man. It starts in the Paleolithic Era and each character slowly evolves to the Neolithic Era. Through these changes, the author shows an accurate example of the transition from the Paleolithic Era to the Neolithic Era.