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?
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.
ReplyDeleteThis title is actually a greater theme and symbol for the novel. It says the SECRET lives of bees. Well Lily and Rosaleen are both hiding a secret from the Boatwrite sisters. They are lying about their lives and how they ended up in Tiburon. Lily tells August that she is visiting her aunt and mistskedly happened upon their house. She also says that her mother dies when she was little and her father also died in a tractor accident. When the truth is that her father is alive and well and is freaking out that Lily left and needs to find her. The bees also have to do with the fact that the Boatwrite sisters own a honey making business and they own many colonies of bees. Before Lily even met August, May, and June, she was having visions of bees swarming in her room. Also, the way that bees interact with eachother is similar to how everyone acts in this novel. Lily's mother, Deborah is like the Queen Bee in how Lily is following her footsteps and follows her to Tiburon.
The Secret Life of Bees kind of goes with the story about how they start every chapter with a quote that relates to bees, but that is not all. In Lily's world her mom was the queen bee, in the calender sister's world i guess you can say april was their queen bee because when they lost april, things went terrible for May and that changed everyone. Each family has a queen bee so i think thats how the characters relate to bees.
ReplyDeletebecause the bees had a secret life of there own as did lily and rosaleen do, nobody knew the real life of rosaleen and lily, no one knows a bees feelings just like lilys feelings are hidden. the bees life relate to lilys a lot because lilys feelings are hidden and its like no one understood what she was saying, besides when she moved in with augus,may, and june. they listen to her and what her feelings are.
ReplyDeleteThis title is great for this book because bees are a great symbol or a theme because bees are like Rosaleen and Lily. They travel everywhere to find a great home. They have found one and are very happy because of it. Its a theme more than a title because they have more things in a theme than a title.
ReplyDeleteI believe this title is good for the novel because bees keep to themselves and work hard for what they want. In the novel Lily is working hard to find the place where her mother was. She keeps to herself by not saying much to T-ray while she lives with him. While she is staying at the Boatwrights she starts off the stay by telling them a lie about who she is, where she is from and pretty much her lifes journey to their house. Also, if seen in a dream bees symbolize good wealth and prosperity in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the book actually fits with the story because bees are important and symbolic in the lives of Lily and the Boatwrights. Bees fascinated Lily in her room, and the voice in her head compared her to one of the bees in the jar when it was time to escape from T. Ray. The Boatwrights raise bees and make honey for a living. They have their "hive", but still live humble lives like Lily. Separated from typical life in the real world for different reasons, Lily and Rosaleen and the sisters have obscure lives that could be fascinating close-up, just like the typical worker bee. The song that May taught Lily in Chapter 5 sums up the attitude of the sisters, especially the fact that they hummed the song often. Lily said, "It said everything about living here." She was referring to the atmosphere and mood of the house, how it was all tied in with bees and how they lived and cared for each other, unmistakably similar to the industrious, together environment for bees in a hive. "Bees" could simply not be omitted from the title, and their "secret lives" are their hidden pasts and experiences.
ReplyDeleteWeek 2 Option 2
ReplyDeleteThe title "the Secret Life of Bees," portrays a greater theme and symbol for the story. Although the book is about bees and bee keepers, I believe the bees referred to in the title are the Calender Sisters, Lily, and Rosaleen. Each of them lead secret lives. For example, Lily has lied to the Calender Sisters about her identity and her past. Rosaleen, following Lily's story, has done the same. August has a wild and interesting past that has not yet been fully revealed to us. June is a mystery. She keeps her private life to herself and hardly speaks with anyone. Finally, May, although very open, keeps her feelings bottled up inside. This is a story of love, friendship, and weeving lives that were brought together by fate. "There was no telling what other invivsible creatures I was out here socailizing with..."- Lily had no clue of the past or present secrets that she was in store for- she had no clue what her future held.
The Secret Lifes of Bees is a really good title for this book because it is a great theme for this book. IT really goes with the book because the author describes what bees do in there lifes and these actions are the same as what Lily and Rosealeen are doing.
ReplyDeleteI think that the title, The Secret Life of Bees, relates to the story because bees don't give up and take time off from doing what they need to do. Lily doesn't give up trying figure out what is going on in her life. She is trying to not give up finding out what happened to her mother. The title of the book also relates to the story because Lily has been lying to May, August and June about her life. Lying about her life has made everything a secret. Bees do not have a way to communicate with humans so their lives are also secretive.
ReplyDeleteThis title "The Secret Life of Bees" is a big part of this book. The Bees in this case would symbolize the people or specificly in this book Lily. She has a secret life of that she hides from everyone. Everything so far has been a lie to which she said. the only people who knows she is lying is the Calender Sisters. They are just waiting for when it is time for Lily to come out and tell them her secret. For example the biggest secret is who they are and why they came.
ReplyDeletethis title is a greater theme and symbol of the novel because A Secret Life of Bees is about Lily, who has the biggest secret, and is always surrounded by bees. Her secret is that her dad would abuse her and that know one knows why she left her home except for Rosaleen. She is always surrounded by bees considering right now she lives on a bee farm .
ReplyDeleteThe Title-
ReplyDeleteThe title is “spot on” to the book. The Secret Life of Bees represents Lily’s life to the Calendar sisters. They have no idea of who she really is or where she comes from. They have no idea where she was going to go or what she was going to do but, they trusted her anyway. It’s just like bees, you never really know what they are going to do in their hives but, you trust they aren’t putting anything you don’t want in your honey. You trust that they will make the honey when they fly into their secret hive to do their work. So, Lily has flown out of her secret hive and hidden it, she is showing the Calendar sisters her fake hive to divert them from the real thing. Lily is living in the way bees work, in secret.
The Secret Life of Bees sounds like a strange title for a book about a girl and a woman living together, but it is actually spot on for the story. This title is spot on for the story because after Lily accidentally killed her mother, she has no encouragement to stay with T.Ray. Lily and Rosaleen take off , and runaway from her house. While in her journey, she carries a box with all of her mother’s belongings. She does this, so she could feel like her mother is still with her. T.Ray does not know about this “Secret Box” she has, so she buries it in the orchard. Also, Lily has a “Secret Life” that T. Ray doesn’t know about. When Lily and Rosaleen ran away, they found a black mary label in the store. I had the name “Boatwright” on it , and an address on it. Lily and Rosaleen went on a journey to find the house. They soon found it. “We stood on the porch in the pink light shining off of the house. June bugs flickered all around, and music notes floated from inside, sounding like a violin, but sadder.” This quote is describing the Boatwrights house, that Lily and Rosaleen were planning to stay at. They knew they wouldn’t get a hotel that will accept blacks and whites, so they thought this was the perfect place. Since they saw the black mary, they thought that they could get some information about her mother, since, she had the black mary picture in her box. Lily and Rosaleen stay in the honey house, and they each have their own cot to sleep on. This is the “Secret Life” Lily and Rosaleen have, that T. Ray doesn’t know about.
ReplyDeleteWhy is the title of the book, "The Secret Life of Bees", both a greater theme and symbol for the novel? Well, first off, you have to consider the content of the novel and the overall plot. You see, the main character, Lily, has a habit of lying. By lying, she fabricates a wonderful and infallible "dream world" (as Rosaleen puts it) for herself. This is her "Secret Life". But how does it relate to bees? In one quote, August Boatwright, while talking to Lily about Bees and their societies, describes to her that bees have a "secret life that nobody knows about". She is referring to lily, the bee, and her world of lies, which August sees right through.
ReplyDeleteBut this is also August's scret life. August, the bee, has a life which Lily doesn't know about, does not know her relation to it, and may not want to know about. The same goes for June, with her mysterious jilted relationship with Neil, and May, who nobody really knows how connected May is to her twin sister, April.
In effect, everyone in the Secret life of Bees is a bee. and each and every one of them have thei own secret lives to boot.
Although The Secret Life of Bees sounds like a strange title for a book about a girl and the women she lives with, it is really a perfect title for the story. Bees have secret lives that most people look over, just the way people look over Lily and Rosaleen. They both are in a way frowned upon because of they're appearance, Rosaleen being black and Lily being a sort of dirty girl, and bee's being notorious for stinging. Only the Bostwrights look beyond these differences and accept them both for who they really are. For example, Lily lives a life full of secrets from her loved ones and friends, and is also full of lies. Just the same, bee's live an unappreciated life of secret,and most people don't know much about bees and how much our world truly relies on them.
ReplyDeleteThe title, The Secret Life of Bees, is a greater theme and symbol of the novel because even though we all have friends and family that know everything about us, we all have a secret life that nobody knows about. Even bees. I feel like every single character in this book has a secret life because nobody knows every single thing about someone. You may think you do, but you don't. For example, the Calendar sisters don't know that Lily is really trying to find where her mother could have been. They don't know that her father is still alive and didn't get run over by a tractor.
ReplyDeleteThe title secret life of bees is a great symbol and theme to the story in many ways. For example each bee is different in its hive and lily and roseleen are different from eachother. Next people do not know that much about bees and how they feel or think. This is very similar to how the calader sisters are not to familier with Lily and roseleens backround. Hence the name secret life of bees showing that there are secrets within the hive. that not everyone in the house knows about but are suspicios about. This is how the title smybolises the book it shows how even if you live in the hive everyone has secrets.
ReplyDeleteThe title of this book sound odd but it is actually perfect for it. This book is about Lily- she is leading a secret life on a bee farm. She keeps her past a secret from her new friends so she doesn't get caught by the police and so she won't have to go back to her father. Nobody knows the about the lives of bees, like how no one knows about the secret lives of Lily Owens and Rosaleen.
ReplyDeleteThe Secret Life of Bees is a perfect title for the novel. One of the themes of the book is secrecy. Lily has many secrets, and isn't exactly the person she comes off as to the Boatwright sisters. They know this, but they have yet to really say anything about it to Rosaleen or Lily. They are actually fugitives, and are not visiting Lily's Aunt in Richmond. And Lily's father most definitely did not die in a tractor accident. T Ray also has secrets, ones we haven't uncovered yet. I'm pretty sure he is lying to Lily about Deborah's death. The bees too, are more complex than they seem.
ReplyDeleteThe secret life of bees is not only reffering to actual bees, but it is also talking about the people in the book. Like how nobody knows whats going on in the hive at that moment. Nobody can tell what goes on inside the Boatwright sisters house or T-rays house. Also when bees lose their queen "they show signs of queenlessness in hours. That relates to how Lily and T-ray acted when they lost Lily's mother. I'm sure there are many more examples to come as well. That is why it's not just the secret life of bees , but of everything.
ReplyDeleteThe title is a great symbol/theme for the book because Lily went to go live her "secret life" with the Boatwright's who have their own honey farm. The honey comes from the bees. This makes the title sound right now because Lily's secret life is on a bee farm. That is ironic to the book's title.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the back cover of The Secret Life of Bees, I thought it was an extremely strange name. I couldn’t understand the connection between “a story of Lily Owns, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed” and “the secret life of bees”. After reading, I have come to realize that the name is actually spot on for the story. Bees act as Lily’s guide throughout the novel. In the beginning, they come into her room and “tell her” that she needs to escape from T. Ray. A voice tells Lily that her jar is open. Lily and Rosaleen use the picture of black Mary and the honey label to lead them to the Boatwright sisters. Lily, Rosaleen and the Calendar Sisters live on a bee farm. Tending bees is their occupation. August tells Lily that female bees make up the community about 90% of the time. This symbolizes the independence of the Boatwright sisters and the power of the female community. The SECRET Life of Bees also refers to the fact that Lily is keeping all these secrets from the world. She lies and keeps the truth hidden. For all these reasons, The Secret Life of Bees is a spot-on name for the novel.
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