Prompt:
Although The Secret Life of Bees sounds like a strange title for a book about a girl and the women she lives with, it's actually "spot on" for the story.
Response Requirement:
In what ways is the title a greater theme and symbol of the novel?
Sunday, March 14, 2010
21 comments:
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The title gives a little background of the things that happen through out the book living in a honey house, finding a room full of bees. Having the book name the Secret Life of Bees was a great decision after reading all the parts of the story above. the title make complete sense.
ReplyDelete-The Secret Life of Bees to me fits as a perfect title to the story. For people who know nothing about the story may think that it is a silly title for a story but actually it makes a lot of sense. In the story a girl Lily and her “stand in mother” Rosaleen, moves into a home with three African American sisters who make honey. To live with them Lily makes up a whole life story to make them let her live there so she is living a secret life. August, eldest of the three sisters asks Lily to help her take care of the bees with her to get the honey and so Lily does it and realizes that bees have their own life in their own hive. The bees mean more that just bees in the book, they resemble Lily in a way. They both have secret lives and they are both lost sometimes in life.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very hard to explain to a person who hasn't read this book why The Secret Life of Bees is a good title for this book. However after reading the first few chapters I realized the secret life of bees is literally describing Lily and Rosaleen. When you think about it they are two hard working bees in a hive who are living a secret life and like bees enjoy honey they both enjoy the simple things in life, watching the stars, reading, enjoying being free. I don't know if Sue Monk Kidd named her novel to literally explain Lily and Rosaleen but that is how I have interperted the first couple chapters of the book
ReplyDeleteThe title gives a little bit of the story how bees are really in the book and also it says a little about the bees, their lives are secret. And also how the people work on the honey house and make honey.
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Life of Bees is a good title for this book. It is odd how much Lily and everyone in the book can relate to bees. For example, in the first chapter, there is a fact about bees saying that bees feel a sense of loneliness without their queen. It’s the same for Lily. She feels lonely without her mother. All throughout the book, at the beginning of each chapter, there are facts about bees that the characters in the story can relate to. Plus, this title is good because obviously, August and her sisters are beekeepers. It’s a secret life because nobody can relate to Lily or the other characters in the book. They all live very unique lives. I don’t know of anyone who can relate to bees, can you? This is why they live a secret life that no one can really understand or relate to. The Secret Life of Bees is a very suitable title for this book.
ReplyDeleteI think that The Secret Life of Bees is a perfect title for this book. Bees are the main symbol for this novel. Lily often focuses on the bees, and how people often think the wrong way about them. By living with the Boatwrights, Lily becomes more familiar with honey keeping and what bees are like. She comes to find that bees really do have a “secret” life. They create perfectly symmetrical honeycomb, work until death is a possibility, and, as Lily describes them, are little “spies.” Lily often relates herself to the bees, as well. They have their own secret lives just as Lily does with Rosaleen and the Calendar sisters. The Secret Life of Bees is “The Secret Life of Lily” in a way.
ReplyDeleteThe title fits well. The book revolves around bees. Maybe as we delve deeper into the book, the bees may save lily and rosaleen from the cops or t. Ray. The bees have been around lily for a long time and they don't seem to bothr her, so maybe she makes a beekeeping house in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Life of Bees is a great title for this book because bees are like people. Many people in this book have secrets just like bees do. This is a good symbol because bees and making honey is a big part of this story. We don’t really know what the bees are thinking and sometimes we don’t know what people are thinking. Everything is a secret no matter what we are.
ReplyDeleteI think that this title is great for this novel and is “spot on”. This title gives a lot of evidence about the book before you even read it. The bees have to do with many things in the novel. When the novel started, when Lily was living at T-Rays their were bees in her room. I think that this was a symbol that her mom was trying to get to her some how. I think that her mom tries to talk to her by bees. When the bees are around Lily, she feels like she is with her mother again. The bees are secret to Lily and her only. When the bees came in her room, and she tried to show T-Ray, they disappeared. Lily can’t show anyone this secret about the bees. The bees have something to do with the family, and Lily knows it. The bees also describe August two. A few chapter in, August in known as the “Queen Bee.” This means that she is in charge of all the bees, and takes care of them. If August is the queen bee, then Lily must be the Princess Bee. She is the one in the second hand, and will take care of the bees if anything happened to August. Even thought he title sounds funny, it has a true meaning to the story.
ReplyDeleteThe title has a lot of meanings. The title isn’t really focusing on the bees but on Lily. Since Lily ran away from T-ray, Lily had to make up a new story about why she is alone with only Rosaleen. Lily’s story was that her mother left her and that her father died from a tractor accident. The Boatwrights are not sure if this story is true but they must take the girls in because the girls need a home. The real life of Lily must stay a secret and the Boatwrights must never find out about it. That’s why the real secret isn’t all about bees but about Lily and Rosaleen.
ReplyDeleteSome ways that the title represents a bigger theme and symbol of this novel is because every quote said before every chapter gives an overlook of life itself in the story. It also always has something to do with bees, which is very witty and creative of Sue Monk Kidd. It is very interesting to read the quote and have to really look deeper into the meaning of it to figure out what is going to happen. It really adds something special to the book that is unlike any other. Also, it almost describes what is going on with the bees and the honey making. The title and quotes really help foreshadow the whole entire book without giving anything away.
ReplyDeleteThe title for the novel we are currently reading is perfect for the type of book it is. As the reading progresses, one can begin to visualize the symbolic meaning of the story. The events in the novel go way beyond the cover and even the title. For example, everyone has a way to relate to bees. A bee cannot function without the queen bee just as Lily cannot seem to function without her mother. It’s like that missing puzzle piece that just cannot be figured out. Also, Lily’s entire life is shaped around a secret-the secret of her mother’s death. The key to finding the truth is a picture of black Mary, which is found on a honey jar in Tiburon, South Carolina. When Lily and Rosaleen go to the beekeeper’s home, they bring all the secrets with them. They know nothing about Rosaleen being a fugitive, or Lily’s abusive father. Lily’s new life with the beekeepers is secretive because she is living a huge lie. Also, the story is full of quotes about bees that relate to the characters and the events that occur in each chapter. That is how the title can be a symbol for the novel.
ReplyDeleteAnswer: The title The Secret Life of Bees is a perfect title for this book for the following reasons. The whole reason Lily realized she should run away from home was when she was catching bees in a jar. While doing this she felt guilty that the bees where dying in the jar so she opened it and let the bees out. But suddenly she heard a voice that said that her jar was open. Living by that quote Lily decided to run away and made up many secrets and lies to get a place to stay. In a bigger picture Lily symbolizes the bee leaving the jar and finding a whole new life. But in Lily’s new life she didn’t tell any one her real life story so she is living a secret life in a dream world (as Rosaleen would say). Therefore Lily is a bee that is living a secret life, which makes The Secret Life of Bees a perfect title.
ReplyDeleteAnswer: The title The Secret Life of Bees is a perfect title for this book for the following reasons. The whole reason Lily realized she should run away from home was when she was catching bees in a jar. While doing this she felt guilty that the bees where dying in the jar so she opened it and let the bees out. But suddenly she heard a voice that said that her jar was open. Living by that quote Lily decided to run away and made up many secrets and lies to get a place to stay. In a bigger picture Lily symbolizes the bee leaving the jar and finding a whole new life. But in Lily’s new life she didn’t tell any one her real life story so she is living a secret life in a dream world (as Rosaleen would say). Therefore Lily is a bee that is living a secret life, which makes The Secret Life of Bees a perfect title.
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Life of Bees might be a strange title about women living together but it actually makes a lot more sense then you think. The Boatwright’s, Lily, and Rosaleen are just like bees in their own secret lives. Bees are a lot like humans in how they live their lives. For example, there is always a queen bee in a hive which is the leader of the whole hive. The queen bee of the Boatwright household would be August because she is the head of the whole house. The title is a symbol of the novel because their whole lives are basically wrapped around the bee’s production. The Secret Life of Bees is a spot on title for this story.
ReplyDeleteThe title, The Secret Life of Bees, makes sense now that I have read the first eight chapters. When I had first heard of the book, I thought that the book was about bees, and how they saw life, but when I had read the first couple of pages, I found out that it had to do with a girl who lived through the time of segregation. This had confused me, because I only remember the part when bees came into Lily’s room. As I read the next couple of chapters, I saw how she basically knew nothing about her mother, and she had the black Mary, so I saw where the “Secret” part of the title came from. I was still wasn’t sure where the “Bee” part came from. I had then realized that the Beekeeping estate, and then it made sense why the book was called “The Secret Life of Bees” because she had gone to the beekeeping estate to learn about her mother and her past. This is what I think the symbol of this book is. I think the title is a greater theme because no symbol can state what the title states. The bees can represent her moving around, but the there would never be a secret involved with it. This is one reason why I think the title is a greater theme of the novel.
ReplyDeleteThe title “The Secret Life of Bees” suits the story completely. All of the characters who work on the farm are like bees. They care and tend to the honey and manufacture it. Lily and Rosaleen seem like the only people that are living a secret life though, because T-Ray has no idea where they are. They are hiding from T-Ray and starting a new life with the calendar sisters. The calendar sisters don’t even know the real reason why Lily and Rosaleen are living with them so therefore their past life is not known by the calendar sisters and their present life is not known by T-Ray. Both of them are living one huge secret life!
ReplyDeleteThe title is actually significant to the overall scheme of the novel. The title “Secret Life of Bees,” pertains to the fact that Lily and Rosaleen are secretly initiating an entirely new life that is isolated from all the appalling experiences in their old lives. The one thing that the title actually formulates is the fact that once you’ve read the first few chapters the understanding of the title and why it is so is explained in its entirety by just going through the novel. The one vital thought to be conscious of is that later in the book Lily and Rosaleen enter a whole new vibe in the Beekeeping Estate. This establishes the title in its factually accurate meaning that Lily and Rosaleen are new workers at a Beekeeping estate in Tiburon, SC. The “secret” part is relevant to the fact that Rosaleen and Lily are completely ignoring their original ego and establishing a different personality with a whole new identity. Overall, the title “Secret Life of Bees,” is actually the ideal title for the novel itself.
ReplyDeleteThe title is a greater theme and symbol of the novel because as referring to the Calendar sisters as bees, you are taking a secret tour of their lives because nobody really knows about them too much. Also Lily has a secret life that she is not telling anybody about except for Rosaleen who already knows.
ReplyDeleteThe title “The Secret Life of Bees” is actually a perfect title for this book, although it may not seem so. “The Secret Life of Bees” is metaphorical to the events and plot of this book, just as “Of Mice and Men” was. “Of Mice and Men” is stating how mice and humans can be very similar and vulnerable even if it doesn’t seem so. This is pretty much the same thing with “The Secret Life of Bees.” Sue Monk Kidd is relating bees with humans, and comparing how both species can have secret lives. Lily Owens, the main character, has a secret identity along with Rosaleen after they run away from T. Ray. They then find a bed to sleep in when they meet the Boatwright Sisters, August, June, and May. Lily and Rosaleen live secret lives there with almost no one outside of the beekeeping estate knowing that they are there. Also, the quotes at the beginnings of each chapter state a fact about bees, but it pertains to Lily as well. Like in chapter one, the quote states that bees will show signs of queenlessness once their queen is dead. Lily, after her mother died, was a lot lonelier and more depressed and pessimistic. The chapter two quote talks about the swarm leaving its old nest. Lily and Rosaleen, the “swarm,” ran away from their home, or their “hive.” The quote in chapter three says how new beekeepers are told that the way to find the elusive queen is by first locating her circle of attendants. Lily’s mother is the queen, the Boatwright Sisters are the circle of attendants, and Lily is the new beekeeper that is searching for the queen. As you can see, the lives of bees and the life of Lily are very alike, which is why I think ‘The Secret Life of Bees” is the perfect title for this book.
ReplyDeleteThe title is definitely a symbol in this book which is one thing I don’t believe I have seen before. It shows that you have to follow the rest of the bees into the hive. Just like with Lily and Rosaleen, Lily hears June talking to August to let Lily go. She hopes that August makes Lily stay forever. Rosaleen expresses her jealousy that Lily is spending so much time with August. It shows that Rosaleen wants to stay there too and wants to get as close to August as Lily has.
ReplyDeleteGentleGiant