In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd alludes to the first lunar landing to communicate that the mystery of the moon is more intriguing than its discovery. For example, August explains her distress when she hears of Ranger 7’s mission to the moon: “‘Now it won’t ever be the same, not after they’ve landed up there and walked around on her [the moon]. She’ll be just one more big science project’” (114). August further explains that the moon is fascinating because of its ambiguity, and now that humans have access to it, the moon’s mystery is uncovered. Thus, the reality of scientific discoveries replaces the mystical beauty that the previously untouched moon once held. On July 31, 1964, Ranger 7 lands on the moon and sends pictures back to…
Michael Pollen is an authoritative figure in the realm of food that, indeed, has portrayed some very interesting and beneficial perspectives. However, he also has a tendency to use his position of power to infiltrate societal views when it comes to agriculture and eating. In “Visible Farmers/Invisible Workers” by Sarah D. Wald, Pollen is dissected critically for his lack of attention paid to the workers that allow the United States to produce megatons of food each year.…
The movie Antz is just like the American Government today because it has all tips of politics. In the movie it has many government issues like the colony was led by a president. In the colony there was always someone who would decide “who gets what, when, and how.” The purpose for someone to decide something and having a government is to have order of things. The movie Antz shows that it has a queen and in the queen has the power and control over the whole colony. The Antz have to follow the rules and laws that the queen puts and they have no say in it the colony was an indirect democracy.…
For the past month I have been engaging in a literature circle where my group and I have been reading and analyzing the book The Secret Life of Bees. The author Sue Monk Kidd conveyed the message that family is not defined by blood. In the beginning of the book Lily thought that she can only find a mother and daughter bond from her biological mother. She was extremely persistent and her one goal was to learn more about her mother and find out what life would have been like if her mother was still alive. She constantly feels her mother's absence and feels as though no one besides her real mother can fill this whole. As the story progresses we see Lily’s ideas change as she realizes that motherhood is much more than a biological relationship. She opens her heart to the people who love her and accepts them as her own mother-figures. Lily’s views…
Set in the American South in 1964, the year of the Civil Rights Act and intensifying racial unrest, Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees is a powerful story not simply about bees, but of coming-of-age, of the ability of love to transform our lives, and of the often unacknowledged longing for equal women and human rights. Although this novel is not one of a higher reading level, Kidd displays many hidden meanings, ones that require the reader to dig beneath the surface. Addressing the wounds of casualties, betrayal, and the lack of love, Kidd shows the power of women uniting together to treat those wounds, to care about each other and themselves, and to create a community of true family and home.…
Zach Taylor is a character in Sue Monk Kidds novel ‘The Secret Life of Bees’. He is a black boy living with the racist culture that is the norm in South Carolina in 1964. Zach’s story and the challenges that he faces show the reader the theme of discrimination, specifically race discrimination. This conveys to the reader the important message that you can succeed despite your circumstances, and that the colour of your skin does not define your worth.…
some the same as humans. The first quality that is similar to humans, is that the…
Another theme that Kidd would like to share is truth. She understands that hearing the truth isn't what everyone wants at some points, but some people rather hear lies. The emotions are confusing some people would like to hide away then facing the facts. Kidd constructs a flexible and logical life for lily. She applies the love and the past of Lilys mother. She wants the readers to understand no matter how many people lie to you that the truth will always hurt, that the truth is the truth, and there's nothing anybody can do to change it. Kidd’s second idea is that she wants people to adapt to what is real.…
In Octavia Butler’s short story, “Amnesty,” the world has been dramatically and irrevocably changed. Humanity has been invaded by an alien life…
“Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” One of the first examples of the loss of innocence and emergence of a savage culture between the boys is demonstrated in this quote; the initial loss occurring during the killing of the pig, the emergence of savagery in the reenactment of the hunt. The natural degeneration of the order of the inner culture of the boys versus what little democratic opposition they have within that culture is the key symbolic theme of the Lord of the Flies.…
The Sci-Fi novel, The Chrysalids is a very disappointing novel. Many children in Africa have no hope because they have no parents; have little food or water. David from the book, The Chrysalids has a similar fate as John Wyndham sends him and his friends into a world with no hope. The book is about David and his friends who are hunted by the village because of their differences. This novel is very depressing with no hope because violation of human rights; no acceptance of differences and abuse of children.…
Many believe that interactions produce knowledge. This is seen in Cathy Davidson’s “Project Classroom Makeover” and in Steven Johnson’s “The Myth of the Ant Queen.” Davidson discusses the importance of working collaboratively. Johnson explores different systems and the interactions within them. The system is made of many individuals that need to communicate to solve certain problems. Both authors discuss the hierarchies and how it limits individuals from collectively working together. Without a hierarchy, interactions between individuals allow for them to learn.…
It is generally known that human beings have the power and the means to help and love one another as well as the complete opposite in hatred and destruction. These two novels deal with the theme of good vs. evil in their own respective ways. One concentrates on the affect of discrimination and negligence and naivety that allows people to respond in ways that can be interpreted as being evil. Whereas the other focuses on the affect that isolation and deprivation can take toll on the very fragile psyches of children who are unfortunate to live a life set with no boundaries, no knowing the differences between right and wrong.…
Leiningen, an owner of a coffee plantation that meant everything to him in the 1900's goes through a major conflict in the story Leiningen Versus the Ants. Leiningen would go through almost anything, even immolation to save his plantation from the dreaded ants that he was forced to face in this suspenseful novel written by Carl Stephenson.…
I’ve seen it all. The horrible facsimile of reality we live in is beginning to break down. Things aren’t right. I’ve seen things. Things that make me question my sanity.…