Banning The Secret Life Of Bees In High Schools

Books can create portals to different life experiences and encourage reading. A few schools and libraries have challenged the educational value of some books, however, therefore leading them to eventually be prohibited in a particular place. Each reason may be different depending on the book and the location of the exclusions. Books are icons of literature, and their value should outshine the occasionally offensive topic. Be that as it may, there are multiple reasons why books should be taught and included in a curriculum. If you want a book not to be read by an adolescent, banning the book will often have an opposite effect. Although it contains sensitive topics and harsh language, The Secret Life of Bees should not be banned in high schools because

The women looked up to Mary because she represented strength and courage and doing what is right. Reacting to this statue in the way she does foreshadows Lily’s eventual transformation. Readers see that Lily has the ability to become a powerful woman because she can recognize and feel magnetically pulled toward images of such a woman. Teaching this book in a classroom can help young girls develop into strong and powerful women.

All females are strong in their own individual ways. August Boatwright, a successful black female beekeeper, teaches Lily about the lives of bees. In teaching her about bees, however, August is actually teaching her about humans in an easier to understand terms. August represents that females are strong because throughout the book Kidd has given her many dominant and powerful characteristics. She is educated, loving, nurturing, and more - she represents a queen bee. “The term "queen bee" is typically used to refer to an adult, mated female that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive” (wiki). “The queen bee must produce some substance that attracts the