Response to Literature: The Secret Life of Bees (Book Review Sample)

Response to Literature: The Secret Life of Bees Student’s Name Department, Institution Course Name Professor Date of Submission Response to Literature: The Secret Life of Bees Through the voice of Sue Monk Kidd in her novel The Secret Life of Bees, the theme of racial prejudice is dominant. In the thoughts of Lily, the main character, Kidd portrays how Blacks were segregated from the whites. There were separate hospital wings and churches for Blacks. Even after the laws were passed allowing the Blacks to vote, they were never permitted to do so. One citizen, Rosaleen Daise opted to register as a voter but remembered a television broadcast of “a man in Mississippi was killed for registering to vote.” Rosaleen was also severely beaten by her white neighbors. Similarly, Lily was trapped in a love affair with Zack, and she is branded a "nigger lover.” However, later, she realizes the impact of racial prejudice and becomes immune to slander and discrimination. Kidd sets her story in Sylvan, South Carolina, Lily's hometown, before moving to the neighboring town of Tiburon. The place was not as lively as the Sylvan. Lily describes a doomed courthouse in Tiburon where "someone had stuck a Confederate flag in the mouth of their public cannon… you could not get the pride of Fort Sumter out of us if you tried.” The place was a reference for the Civil War and racial discrimination. Also, the author uses symbolism by drawing an analogy of bees trapped in a jar with that her life. She is stuck believing that Blacks are inferior to whites when she does not want to reconcile with Rosaleen. Despite being taught about race by Zach, Lily feels like they will ever be together – trapped in the jar of racism even when freed: "but the bees remained there, like planes on a runway not knowing they'd been cleared for takeoff.” Kidd’s use of codes and conventions such as the setting and symbolism in conveys her meaning to the intended audience. This novel by Kidd reminds me of Starr Carter of the book The Hate You Give by Aggie Thomas because it depicts racism. Kidd and Thomas demonstrate the suffering the Blacks undergo under the hands of the whites, surprisingly under the watch of police. Carter, a sixteen-year-old girl witnesses the horrible shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. He is labeled a drug dealer and a thug because he is Black. A similar case is narrated by Lilly on how the Blacks, like Rosaleen, were beaten up. That feeling of losing a loved one was so overwhelming that I had to pause for a moment and visualize the scenario. Even today, some people suffer, albeit silently. Racial equality has seemed to be an elus...