3Prompt: Writers use symbolism and cross-curricular connections to bridge themes and content.
Response Requirement:
a. How does Sue Monk Kidd use the chapter introductory quotes, the bee hive, and Our Lady of Chains to develop themes?
b. How does symbolism deepen meaning and develop themes?
When completing open-ended responses, remember to use RATE.
Taylor Davis
ReplyDeleteMs. Drosdick
Period 4
3/28/14
Journal #4
Sue Monk Kidd develops themes by using chapter introductory quotes, the bee hive, and Our Lady of Chains. For example, in the chapter 6 introductory quote, “The queen must produce some substance that attracts the workers and that can be obtained from her only by direct contact. This substance evidently stimulates the normal working behavior in the hive. This chemical messenger has been called “queen substance.” Experiments have shown that the bees obtain it directly from the body of the queen” the quote expresses the importance of the theme of honey. In the story, the person that represents the queen with substance is August Boatwright and everything about her is connected to honey. The bee hive is used to express the theme of the Boatwright’s safe house where everybody has their jobs and duties. Just like the different bees in the hive. Our Lady of Chains develops the themes of loving, caring and hoping. Our Lady of Chains is a hero to all of the women in the story. August explains when she says, “They called her Our Lady of Chains because she broke them.” The chains symbolize everything bad that’s happened to the women. Kidd’s successful use of chapter introductory quotes, the bee hive, and Our Lady of Chains to develop themes makes reading the book more interesting.
The rich symbolism in the story works along with the three strategies mentioned above. From the beginning of the book we find out how important the Black Madonna and Our Lady of Chains is to Lily. The Black Madonna picture is part of a collection of items that Lily keeps to remind her of her mother. She even hopes that this collection would lead her back to where her mother had been. On page 15, after describing the collection that includes the Black Madonna, Lily says, “I always promised myself one day, when I was grown-up enough, I would take the bus over there. I wanted to go everyplace she had ever been.” Ironically, it is the picture of the Black Madonna that led her to August Boatwright and Our Lady of Chains. Honey is another symbol in the story. It represents life in the book. On page 84, Lily ponders the importance of honey and says, “We lived for honey.” Honey is used for everything. It is a Cure-All. It is also their way to make a living. As stated above, the bee hive is a symbol of the Boatwright safe house. Symbols are woven throughout the book. They deepen the meaning and develop the themes.
Sue Monk Kidd uses introductory quotes about bees in the beginning of each chapter to set the theme of the chapter. In the beginning of chapter 7, on page 115, Sue Monk Kidd’s quote is” How did bees ever become equated with sex? They do not have a riotous sex life themselves. A hive suggests cloister more than bordello.” On page 126, paragraph 7, Lily says, “The sheerest smile brushed his lips and heat rushed up my body, he bent towards me. I wanted him to lift back my veil and kiss me, and I knew he wanted to do it too.” Sue Monk Kidd foreshadows what is going to happen in Chapter 7 by putting a quote about a hive being more like a cloister in the beginning and then having Lily and Zach have feeling for each other and not acting on it. This quote alone in the beginning of the chapter seems unusual at first, but as you read on into the chapter, it develops to go along with the quote. As an effect of this, the quote, going along with the theme of it foreshadowing what is going to happen, foreshadows May dying in chapter ten by talking about bees short lifespans.
ReplyDeleteOne example of Sue Monk Kidd using symbolism to develop and deepen meaning and themes in her book is the black Virgin Mary. On page 14, paragraph 2, Lily says, “It looked like someone had cut the black Virgin Mary from a book. On the back an unknown hand had written Tiburon, S.C.” August and her sisters used these very same black Virgin Mary pictures to put onto their jars of honey. The black Virgin Mary picture her mother had was the reason she ran away to Tiburon leading her to August who is like her black Virgin Mary and savior. It appears that Lily and August both having the black Virgin Mary picture is not coincidental, it symbolizes that Lily belongs in Tiburon. I predict that the reason that Lily’s mom had a black Virgin Mary photo signed Tiburon S.C. is because she had a connection with the bee sisters and Lily will find the answers she is searching for.
4musketeers4