Akeelah and the Bee Essay

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a book discussing the internal strife of a young white girl, in a very racist 1960’s south. The main character, Lily Owens, faces many problems she must overcome, including her personal dilemma of killing her own mother in an accident. Sue Monk Kidd accurately displays the irrationality of racism in the South during mid- 1960's not only by using beautiful language, but very thoroughly developed plot and character development. Kidd shows the irrationality of racism through the characters in her book, The Secret Life of Bees and shows that even during that time period, some unique people, were able to see beyond the heavy curtain of racism that separated people from each

“I'm tired of carrying around the weight of the world. I'm just going to lay it down now. It's my time to die, and it's your time to live. Don't mess it up” (210). Feminist theory is an extension of feminism in which literary pieces are examined to understand the nature of gender inequality and social norms. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees examined through a feminist lens demonstrates the patriarchy found in Owens household, shows the advantages of all female community, distinguish that mothers play a major factor in any young female’s life, and the variety of roles women take on in the community.

The film “Akeelah and the Bee” delves into the life of an 11-year-old African American girl who appears to have a natural knack for spelling. Akeelah’s sociocultural environment proves to be an impediment to the development of her skill, due to it forcing her to attend a school that does not have sufficient funding’s. Furthermore, being intellectually inclined makes her out to be an outcast. However, through various mentors and new-found determination, Akeelah can harness her formidable spelling abilities, while experiencing joy and victory during the process. This analysis will explore the youth in Akeelah and the Bee, from a developmental perspective while applying the theories of Vygotsky and Ainsworth to further defend my observations. These observations will include the seemingly vital role of an adult during child maturation, the child’s connection to said adult, their response to restrictions and the benefits of play-based learning.

If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.

Every family has parents and maybe some siblings too, it is what makes the family a family. Some kids are adopted and some are not and some like Lily Owens in The Secret Life of Bees got to choose her family. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, the theme that appears a lot is how much family means, even if it is chosen.

In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, a young girl named Lily struggles with growing up with only a harsh father and a housemaid while trying to find her own place in the world. At the age of four, Lily accidentally shoots her mother while trying to help her in a fight against Lily’s dad. Ever since that day, Lily has a difficult time trying to be a lady and trying to cope with her somewhat abusive father. One day, when Lily is fourteen, the housemaid Rosaleen is sent to jail for pouring dip spit on white men’s shoes but later gets assaulted by the men and is taken to the hospital where Lily goes to sneak her out. In order to help incorporate the story’s title into the story, the author has written epigraphs, that are about bees, for every chapter in the book. Chapter two’s epigraph says “ On leaving the old nest, the swarm normally flies only a few metres and settles. Scout bees look for a suitable place to start the new colony. Eventually, one location wins favor and the whole swarm takes to the air”(34). This epigraph parallels the story because of the similarities in how bees move on and look for somewhere to start their new lives and how Lily and Rosaleen try to start their new

To progress in society, one needs knowledge to further themselves. If one does not gain a good foundation for that knowledge, society will leave them behind. There are certain obstacles that prevent others from pursuing an education such as an inability to access a place of learning, not getting good education from teachers, or just flat out quitting school to make easy money by joining a gang. In Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool,” seven delinquents quit school to engage in rebellious behavior and in Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” a teacher takes several underprivileged children to a high-class toy shop. By using point of view, diction, and symbolism, Gwendolyn Brooks and Tone Cade Bambara show the reader why it is important to learn

The Sixties, in America, was famously known as the years of the Cultural Revolution. It was a socially and politically chaotic period for America. In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “The Lesson”, she exposes the injustices and inequalities imposed on African Americans of that time. “…she’s boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make… and how money ain’t divided up right in this country. And then… about we all poor and live in the slums” (Bambara 137).

The film Akeelah and the Bee is about an eleven-year-old African American girl living in a low-income area in South Los Angeles. Akeelah and the people around her discover she has a talent for spelling which ultimately leads her to the National Spelling Bee. Despite her mother’s objections about the Bee, Akeelah doesn’t give up her goal in wanting to win the National Spelling Bee. She finds help in her community and the many people around her including a mysterious teacher named Dr. Larabee. As the whole community cheers her on Akeelah makes it to the National Spelling Bee and completes her goal by winning the Bee but not without overcoming her insecurities and the many negative obstacles in her way (Atchison, Akeelah and the Bee). Throughout the movie Akeelah is able to overcome all the challenges put in her way with the help of the relationships she makes within her community, her capabilities and willingness and her determination in reaching her goals, Akeelah becomes a figure for her community that positive things can happen in tough situations if you remain focused and determined.

Through out the movie you see difficulties that the students are trying to finally fit to be part of the system but they still may not be accepted because of their classes. With low achieving school, have a suspicious amount of high test scores the reliability and dependability are questioned. Conflict theory is used that the struggle in society and schools between the haves and have nots. For example, not funding for computer, not having computers, no air conditioning for summer and less opportunities for students in general. The school is portrayed as a place where students do not want to be or care about being in school. The staff don’t care about the students especially they gave up on them. There is a quote that I got from the movie, that Mr. Escalante was asking the math department for calculus

"It is not fair that other kids have a garden and new things. But we don't have," said Elizabeth. I wish that this school was the most beautiful school in the whole why world." This letter was written by Elizabeth to Jonathan Kozol, explaining to him that her school did not have a pleasing appearance and low resources. These are one of the few things Kozol addresses in his article, "Still Separate, Still Unequal: America's Education Apartheid" that affect students with their education. I agree with Kozol that due to poor financial resources and educational opportunities the American education system challenges the core belief of the American dream by not giving everyone equal opportunity.

Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” introduces us to Miss Moore, a college educated African American women who takes it upon herself to offer educational sessions to children living in a New York City slum. While there are no familial relationships with the children, she “said it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education” (paragraph 2). The traditional subject of math allows her to creatively introduce the complex topic of income inequality, which becomes apparent during a field trip to F.A.O. Schwartz in Manhattan. Seeing a handcrafted sailboat with a $1,195 price tag jars her young students - even our reluctant narrator, Sylvia, exclaims, “unbelievable” (paragraph 27). Painfully aware they are poor,

Mireya, the student particularly interested in pursuing a successful life, questioned the school’s actions when she asked “Why is it [...] that students who do not need what we need get so much more? And we who need it so much more get so much less?” (Kozol 208). Students like Mireya do not get to experience the variety of challenging preparatory classes that many others take for granted. A classroom full of hopefuls should have the chance to experience the liberation that knowledge provides for them, but because the school they attend doesn’t cater towards their needs, they are stuck in a perpetual confinement void of education and success that manages to extend to the generations below them as

The Civil Right Act occurred in 1960 which allowed African-Americans more rights. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees many characters challenges and uncover the meaning of accepting taboo ideas. Set in 1964, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees suggests that accepting taboo actions does not necessarily compromises a person’s moral compass and can lead to an awareness and understanding of the world.

For this assignment, we were required to read Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane. This book goes in depth about an African boy’s coming of age. It goes over a lot of what Mark has gone through and how he overcomes the cruel behavior of the apartheid system. He also describes the racism and stereotypes the black children dealt with. From this book out of the three parts, I decided to go over part two of the book, “Passport to Knowledge.” I picked this section because a few of the aspect in here interested me more such as the allure and harsh realities of gangs, classroom regulations, and parents disagreeing over the worth of formal education. By embracing education, he is able to rise out of despair and destitution and make something of himself.