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Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

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Sue Monk Kidd once said, "In a way, humans are not made of skin and bones as such, as we're made of stories" ("Sue Monk Kidd Quotes"). Through her novels, Sue Monk Kidd tells people's stories. She writes realistic accounts of every day people and the hardships they encounter. Of course, many people have stories that include mature content, but the purpose of telling them is all the same; she wants to make others aware of issues that are present in today's society. The Secret Life of Bees is the story of a girl who runs away from her life along with her black "stand-in mother". Including this in school curriculum is a good decision that would bring many positive effects. Although this novel expresses controversial themes related to religion …show more content…

Sue Monk Kidd actually wrote this realistic story on account of her personal experiences, meaning this book expresses issues that students still encounter today. Students, especially in high school, tend to be more drawn in to a book that they can connect to. In an interview with the author, she told the world her exact motives of The Secret Life of Bees. She stated, "I must tell a true story that comes out of my own depths... It will be true to life, true to the deep human pathos we all experience... If you write your most authentic story... It does weave together your own experiences and ideas" (Schlumpf). This book draws in a diverse audience around the world because of the personal account of an issue that so many endure. The Secret Life of Bees itself said, "Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here" (Kidd 107). While it is understandable that some people view these issues as ones that school curriculum should leave unspoken, doing so would ignore the realities of so many who have chosen to follow a different religion or were born with a different skin pigment. The Secret Life of Bees is a story that lets people know that they are not the only ones who are different; furthermore, by reading this novel, they know that others understand their situation. In other, more …show more content…

Students should be educated of conflicts involving race and religion because it will help them make a more knowledge-based decision on how they should act towards others different from themselves. Furthermore, this is a very relatable novel that students will enjoy reading more so than traditional pieces of literature. When students are more drawn in, they will learn more from the piece of writing. There are many books once could argue for exclusion, but The Secret Life of Bees is undoubtedly an amazing story that should be shared throughout high school

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Different types of literature open new doors through which students’ can explore the unknown and expand their knowledge of controversial topics. The great examples found in literature have been the subject of much debate, as school boards wrestle with whether children should be allowed to read such difficult, harsh topics, as said in the article “How Banning Books Marginalizes Children” (Source F). There are so many brilliant works of literature spanning a wide variety of genres and topics, and a single school board should not determine what students learn. No one is proposing that second graders read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, but rather that we intentionally choose literature that will expand, rather than limit, children’s options and minds. Not only do these great works lay the groundwork for our future generation, but they also serve to diversify students’ writing and analysis skills.

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Statements like these along with other topics discussed in the novel, are important for teens to know the reality of. The book has been banned for its portrayal of subjects like drugs, drinking, and violence, but banning the book because of these topics pushes the belief that if kids don’t know about something, they won’t try it. This belief is not shared by everyone though, banning the book for that reason pushes political ideals onto people who may not support

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Throughout The Secret Life of Bees bees play a recurring role in the novel, repeatably being mentioned during the novel in epigrams before the start of each chapter and within the story itself. Unfortunately, on certain occasions the reason why bees are included in a certain part of the story can be unclear and confusing to readers, causing them to occasionally misinterpret the importance of bees throughout the novel. Regardless, the bees throughout play a very important role in understanding many of the themes and symbolism that Kidd included within the novel. In The Secret Life of Bees Kidd symbolizes Lily’s experiences and situations through the bees frequently present in the novel to show that seemingly different things can function in the same way.

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The Secret Lives of People The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is an interesting story that connects human lives to bees. The story takes place in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement and fourteen year-old Lily Owens leaves her abusive father and her home in Sylvan, South Carolina to go to Tiburon with hopes to find information on her mother. Throughout the story, Lily struggles with many internal conflicts and also meets several mother figures along the way.

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The book was challenged by a middle school in Brentwood, Tennessee in 2006 because the book contains “profanity” and “contains adult themes such as rape and incest.” The complaints also say that the book promotes “racial hatred, racial division, racial separation, and promotes white supremacy.” The people that say that are people that are trying to ‘protect’ other people from knowing and understanding what happened in the past because they believe that if they do know and understand what happened in the past then they will become racist and believe in white supremacy. These kinds of people are like the Holocaust deniers who believe that six million Jews where not murdered despite all of the evidence against that. George Santayana once said “Those who cannot remember the past are bound to repeat it.”

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If you really 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 students are not only mature enough to handle these issues but should, in fact, be exposed to them in an educational environment to help in the development of their maturing minds. Being exposed to course language at too early an age can often have negative effects on adolescent development. Profanity is inappropriate in a school setting so why should students be assigned to read a book that contains it? Most learn curse words at a very young age, and the foul language displayed is not used to promote vulgarity but rather to add a sense of realism to the narrative.

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Censorship is an extremely debated topic in America, with people saying it contradicts with what the Bill of Rights has allowed the American people and how it may deny people use the Freedom of Speech. Yet, the censorship of books in American public schools is one of the most controversial topics today because of the use of racial slurs in classic literature, this is the case with To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Opinions on this topic vary, with some of them being: schools should have the right to censor books because they have racial slurs in them, schools should have teachers open up a conversation about race and the use of racial slurs with these books, or schools should not have the right to censor any book. I firmly believe that schools

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Life is overfilled with messages, like weeds in a sea in unmaintained grass. Whether it’s warning a person, or pointing out a flaw; these little lessons are there to further grow the positive parts of that person’s personality. A simple demonstration of this is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. An old, children’s book serving no meaningingful purpose is what it may seem, nevertheless, it actually is a novel that offers a unique outtake on all aspects of human life. In the book, two children Jem and Scout, who learn about equality, racism, and social class through court cases, tea parties and more.

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Banned Books?? This passage is why books shouldn’t be banned and why it's important for parents and/or the school board to not ban books. Prohibited books are unlawful and not helpful schools. Books are an entryway to various beneficial encounters and perusing supports sympathy and social-passionate advancement.

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Since the publication of the text there has been a lot of controversy about whether or not students should read the text in middle school or high school.

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Censorship Censorship in schools may not be the best choice for enriching the future minds of the United States of America. Children of the United States of America should have the right to learn about anything for it is there amended right. Taking knowledge away from them and censoring it should not be the answer to keeping our Children pure it should be what we teach our kids. We need to teach them right and wrong that is what will keep our child’s mind pure. Many books are being taken off shelves every day in student libraries because a couple people do not think that the book is suitable for children.

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Also, some say that you should not be exposing bad behavior or language to students but in reality they hear and see these things everyday, and by banning a book, that is not protecting them. Writers have the freedom to write whatever they want and that is a part of the First Amendment, so why banned their book? “The First Amendment allows individuals to speak, publish, read and view what they wish, worship (or not worship) as they wish, associate with

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Students can use books to grow their knowledge about our everyday day life. “It is important to help students see that everyone 's view counts” (Scales). By allowing students to see different points of views they’re able to experience situations unfamiliar to them and learn about different cultures and societies. If they don’t have the opportunity to read these books then they might miss out on these vital lessons. Children need to know about sensitive topics and strong ideas.

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“A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love” (Connie May Fowler). This quote reflects the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd because the protagonist in the story, Lily Owens, her mother have died when she was four years old and she didn’t feel loved by her abusive father, T. Ray Owens, until she met the Boatwrights family with the housekeeper, Rosaleen, and stayed with them. The Boatwrights family are the three black sisters who are August, May, and June. This novel took place in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily grew up and where she found the answer to her questions.

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These lessons are not only vital in childhood but are needed throughout life. ‘‘Inclusion, multicultural, and non-sexist children’s literature also gives students in the "majority" an understanding of their "minority" peers struggles, triumphs, and contribution to our culture and society’’(Pirofski). Being exposed to people from different parts of the world or have special needs is very important in child development, hand in hand with them grasping new concepts. Children's literature gives students an understanding of what struggles and issues that goes in their society. This helps children know the full spectrum growing up and now growing up to be ignorant or misinformed of situations around them that are not hardcore taught in society.

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