Welcome back! This is my “Halfway” blog post.
For the last few weeks, I have been doing a novel study for school. I am reading “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, and today I will answer two questions asked by my teacher.
Question one: Describe a problem faced by the main character. Explain how the main character deals with the problem. Make a personal connection to this (either your own experience or that of someone you know).
Lily is a young white girl who doesn’t know much about the world. She had a horrible father and her mother is no longer with her. Lily is still trying to deal with the loss of her mother with the help of Rosaleen, “Lily’s fierce-hearted black, “stand-in-mother.”
Lily removes Rosaleen from the hospital and runs away with her to safety. After a few days of living with the “black beekeeping sisters,” Lily soon realize she is the odd one out. She discovered this for herself on page 111.
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| Picture source |
“I walked toward 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.
Drawing it back, I looked around me, and it was like seeing everything through a train’s thick window. A blur passed before me. A moving wave of color. I am not one of you, I thought.”Lily disregarded the issue of her skin colour. She didn’t know how to deal with it so she buried it deep within herself and excused away the incident.
I have experienced this same feeling many times in my life. I have food allergies and because of them, I was never invited to friends' birthday parties. As a child, I began to believe I was too much trouble to have around. Now since I am older it is still a challenge as I feel people are either continuously forgetting about my allergies or they are leaving me out because they don’t want to deal with the trouble of having to provide safe food.
I also have dyslexia so reading and writing has always been hard for me. I have even lost friends because of this challenge, therefore, I know all too well the feeling that Lily experienced. The painful realization that “I am not one of you.”
Question Two: Write down a passage that appeals to you and describe why? Does it make more of an impact on your understanding of the book or does it make more of a personal impact? What significance does the passage have in the book?
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| Ron Germundson's "Moon Over the Creek" |
I really enjoy this excerpt and when I am reading this I can envision myself in the cool river; the smell of the fresh water, the feeling of the darkness all around with no light but the moon. I can imagine the sound of the stream as it swiftly flows, not stopping, going right on around anyone and anything in its way.
“Thanks to the moon, I could see clear down to the creek bottom, all the way to a carpet of pebbles. I picked one up−reddish, round, smooth water heart. I popped it into my mouth, sucking for whatever marrow was inside it. Leaning back on my elbows, I slid down till the water sealed over my head. I held my breath and listened to the scratch of river against my ears, sinking as far as I could into that shimmering, dark world.”
I do feel that scene of Lily being in the creek is an important part of the book. I think that at this point in time Lily is still discovering herself and trying to figure out life. In this one moment of being in the stream, her life struggles all fell away and nothing else mattered. She was just living in the moment and enjoying the river.
I know this also had an impact on my thoughts and feelings. I enjoy aquatic activities like swimming, floating and paddling in my kayak or on my paddle board. This image of the creek really spoke to me. In the summer when I am stressed out I will go to the lake. The sounds, smells, and calmness of the water seem to really help put everything into perspective and help me to think while enjoying life. I delight in swimming to the bottom of the lake to look around at all the rocks, except I have never thought to put one in my mouth and suck on it, haha. I do truly appreciate this passage as it reminded me of how much I love water and swimming, and it helped to bring that joy and hope back knowing that summer is not far away.
Thanks for reading I look forward to writing the final blog post in this novel study after I have finished reading the book.
Cite:
“black beekeeping sisters.” Synopsis from the back cover of The Secret Life of Bees.
“I walked toward 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. Drawing it back, I looked around me, and it was like seeing everything through a train’s thick window. A blur passed before me. A moving wave of color. I am not one of you, I thought.” Excerpt from page 111 paragraph 3 and paragraph 4
“I am not one of you.” Excerpt for page 111 paragraph 4
“Thanks to the moon, I could see clear down to the creek bottom, all the way to a carpet of pebbles. I picked one up−reddish, round, smooth water heart. I popped it into my mouth, sucking for whatever marrow was inside it. Leaning back on my elbows, I slid down till the water sealed over my head. I held my breath and listened to the scratch of river against my ears, sinking as far as I could into that shimmering, dark world.” Excerpt from page 55 paragraph 8 and page 56 paragraph 1
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