10/25 The secret life of Bees (Background info/

terms to know)
I. Author Bio Overview
Sue Monk Kidd grew up in Sylvester, Georgia. She experienced the Civil
Rights Movement in the 1960s, events which are central to the novel.
Similar to the protagonist, Lily, Sue Monk Kidd had a black nanny and
attended high school at the very start of integration. Kidd was inspired
to write because of the love of reading her father instilled in her. The
Secret Life of Bees, is Kidd's first novel.
II. Warning to Students
The characters in the novel practice a variation of Catholicism (this
occurs in the pink house and is centered on a Mary statue), which
some might find offensive. You can agree to disagree.
III. Terms to Know (you must look these terms up!!!)
*When one reads literature, he/she is going beyond the superficial so
that they can find a deeper meaning on a more allegorical level. In
doing so, many authors use literary devices/literary techniques, in
order to convey this theme. Below, I will list some common literary
devices that authors include within their writing. Please look them up.
They will be used as points of references later on. The terms are as
follows and should be placed on INDEX CARDS with definitions on the
back of the card:
1. Allusion: a passing or casual reference; an incidental mention of
something, either directly or by implication
2. Comic Relief: an amusing scene, incident, or speech introduced into
serious or tragic elements, as in a play, in order to provide temporary
relief from tension, or to intensify the dramatic action.
3. Coming of Age: reaching maturity, respectability, or prominence
4. Exposition: writing or speech primarily intended to convey
information or to explain; a detailed statement or explanation;
explanatory treatise
5. Foil: to prevent the success of; frustrate
6. Foreshadowing: To present an indication or a suggestion of
beforehand; presage.
7. Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to
something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a
resemblance,
8. Motif: a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., esp. in a literary,
artistic, or musical work.
9. Narrator: to give an account or tell the story of (events, experiences,
etc.).
10. Author: a person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the
composer of a literary work, as distinguished from a compiler,
translator, editor, or copyist.
11. Personification: A figure of speech in which an inanimate object or
abstract idea is represented as animated, or endowed with personality;
as, the floods clap their hands.
12. Plot: Also called storyline. the plan, scheme, or main story of a
literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.
13. Point of View (all three types): Types of Point of View

Objective Point of View

With the objective point of view, the writer tells what happens without
stating more than can be inferred from the story's action and dialogue.
The narrator never discloses anything about what the characters think
or feel, remaining a detached observer.

Third Person Point of View

Here the narrator does not participate in the action of the story as one
of the characters, but lets us know exactly how the characters feel. We
learn about the characters through this outside voice.

First Person Point of View

In the first person point of view, the narrator does participate in the
action of the story. When reading stories in the first person, we need to
realize that what the narrator is recounting might not be the objective
truth. We should question the trustworthiness of the accounting.

Omniscient and Limited Omniscient Points of View

A narrator who knows everything about all the characters is all
knowing, or omniscient.

A narrator whose knowledge is limited to one character, either major or

minor, has a limited omniscient point of view.

As you read a piece of fiction think about these things:

How does the point of view affect your responses to the characters?
How is your response influenced by how much the narrator knows and
how objective he or she is? First person narrators are not always
trustworthy. It is up to you to determine what is the truth and what is
not.

14. Protagonist: the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or

other literary work.
15. Setting: the surroundings or environment of anything: The garden
was a perfect setting for the house.
16. Simile: a figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly
compared, as in “she is like a rose.”
17. Symbol (you might also want to print that chart I created on
symbolism in the Word document section)
18. Theme: a unifying or dominant idea
IV. OBJECTIVES
**This will be given to you in class. You must look up the terms first in
order for the objectives to make sense.