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Welcome to AP Language and Composition! We will be using this blog as a tool, a resource, and hopefully as a source of profound discussions about life. A blog is an excellent medium to explore each other's and our own brilliance and creativity. Class discussions that get cut short by the bell will be continued here, and we will often expand upon ideas we come across in our readings throughout the year. Everything you say here will have value--make it matter!
12 comments:
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/secretbees/section1.html
Hola! Here's the sparknotes! Take a look at them after you're done reading!
Thanks Meg
Okay, I have a few ideas were could talk about:
Do the bess sybolize anything? Lily's freedom? Why did they "disappear" why T. Ray entered the room?
Do you think not having a mother had any psychological effects on lily (besides the guilt). Does it explain show of her odd behavior? Such as the lake scene.
Who is the one in control throughout most of this story? IS there a reason for this?
How would you categorize lily and zach's relationship?
Peaches are mentioned almost as frequently as bees, do they have any significance?
Why does lily seem so unafraid of death? is it becuase she has known it such an early age or is there another reason?
Each of the honey sisters has a distanct personailty, an "gift". do you think that they fit, using the names and other information we know?
Why is their no July?
that's all for now. i'll check back later :)
Oh one more thing, why do you think June seems to dislike lily? is it simply becuase she is lying?
And do you think that August knows the truth about lily's past
Well, found this relating to the symbolism of peaches. First on Google, actually.
http://arthistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/plant_symbols_in_christian_art
Can't confirm it's credibility though. But all the references to Christianity in the book makes it really plausible.
Okay, after reading the book I found the following themes:
Racism- the whole book is centered around racism so this is the obvious theme.
Honesty-I was thinking to pose the question of honesty. Should be honest at all times? Would Lilly have made it anywhere if she didn’t lie? Would the sisters have let her into their house at first?
Soul Searching- Throughout this book I thought that by searching the origins of her mother Lilly was just trying to find herself. I think that she thought that she was T. Ray’s puppet but then when she broke free of him she started to discover herself. And it is necessary to go through a life changing event to know who you are on the inside?
Matt, after you finish the outline can you post it on the blog. Thx.
Um, I won't able to post it but i can email it.
As far as that goes, I am only going to categorize the days and, using what is posted here, organize the questions and ideas everyone comes up with. However, I'm going to need everyone's input and final regards as to what they think is important. I hope to be able to have the outline done tomorrow so we can go over it and discuss how we feel about each day, who wants to "lead" each day. I would like to say though, that just because someone's not the leader, doesn't mean they can't participate. Quite the contrary, everyone should put their two cents in so we have an amazing discussion.
So, if everyone could post their ideas, themes, questions, or topics by tomorrow that'd be great!
Well i think adding on to what Harleen has said some of the other themes or ideas on the book are:
Love or the idea of love whether maternal or romantic is one of the major themes. Lily is trying to fill that void that has been left from not having a mother, and becomes emotionally attached to August who does have the nurturing qualties. She wants to feel loved and welcomed by them since she has never really felt that before. She becomes attached and not wanting to leave, even though it has only been like 8 days or something. With Lily and Zach, she has never had a boy treat her like that so the intense infatuation she feels for him is obvious.
I think bees are definetely without question symbolic. Matt, I liked how you said they symbolize freedom because i was thinking the same thing when T Ray walked into the room and they disappeared. T Ray is the "squasher" of her dreams. He tells her "can't can't can't" when all Lily wants to do is become something in life. The bees, I think, also represent hope and the possibility of the wonders that exist outside of the peach farm.
Religion and the belief in something divine is a theme as well. Lily becomes more and more religious throughout these first few chapters. She is finding herself through the religious teachings of August about the Virgin MAry and the wooden woman from the ship. Lily was not accustomed to following religious tradtiions because she was just so used to the monotonous going every week with T Ray that she did not feel the passion from that church. BEing able to say prayers allows her to be able to depend on something else and gives her more hope that someone is protecting her and keeping her safe.
After reading the rest of the book, it seems the main theme of the book is "rebirth". Not in the zombie popping from grave sense, of course, much to my chagrin. I mean, zombies make everything better! Anyways...
Though it treads into the other group's territory, page 206 is the biggest hint at it. Bees represent Lily's so called "rebirth", where she slowly changes her own life for the better. This just happens to occur on a bee farm.
The bees in the beginning disappear when T-Ray is around, as he is essentially the one keeping her from growing, through his abuse and half-hearted truths. Also note that he never changes throughout the story.
Oh, and lilies represent spirituality. I totally didn't just Google "lily symbolism" for that one. Nope.
I sent a preliminary outline to everyone. So, please check your e-mail :) And if you didn't get it please leave your email and I'll resend it. But hopefully there will be no problems since i didn't get and delivery failure notices. Thanks
I think that the outline is perfect. It isn't too exact so we can brach out in our discussions.
Good job matt!! :)
I got the outline. It's really great matt, harleen's right, it's just broad enough. thanks! =)
alright nice job matt:)!!!
thanks, looks great
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