The book The Secret Life of Bees takes place in the 1960s in the rural Southern United States. I think the fact that this story takes place in the South is extremely important to the plot. This is because people are shaped by where they are raised and this is very evident in Lily. Throughout the first part of the book there are examples of this such as , when she said she did not think black people were dumb, but they could not be smarter than her.
Another important part of the setting is when this story took place. It takes place in the 1960s right in the middle of the civil rights movement. Many people were racist at this time and the fact that this story takes place in the South means that racism is much worse. There are many examples of this extreme racism in this book, for example Rosaleen is nearly killed when she goes into town to register to vote. Also, when the reverend starts to get uncomfortable when he sees Rosaleen in the church.
1 comment:
Cory, there is a lot of great commentary in your post. I would like to see you zero in more closely on one point and say more about that. For instance the idea of whether blacks or whites are more intelligent is a really rich topic. Also the reverend's discomfort. Instead of writing so much about the overall setting, move more quickly to one central idea and really think about what it means to the story.
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