LITERARY+DEVICES

=LITERARY DEVICES= An **allusion** is a literary device that stimulates ideas, associations, and extra information in the reader's mind //with only a word or two//. Allusion means 'reference'. It relies on the reader being able to understand the allusion and being familiar with all of the meaning hidden behind the words. (http://www.worsleyschool.net/socialarts/allusion/page) A **metaphor** is a implied comparison between two things without using "as" or "like". A **simile** is a very direct comparsion that includes either the word " like' or "as" A **Motif** is a detail in the story that repeats itself throughout the work and usually symbolizes an idea.It may be a character trait, color, or even an object that has some sort of significance. These are some of the devices that we discussed in class that requred an explantion or reminder. Of course, they are other lierary devices such as foreshadowing and symbolism that you could also discuss.

Chapter 1, November 4th, 2008

A motif for chapter one in "The Secret Life of Bees", is the Black Mary picture, that says "Tiburon, S.C." on the back. This picture is significant to Lily because it is one of the items her mother had left behind. This may be significant to the story because it symbolizes that there may be something in Tiburon, South Carolina that would bring Lily happiness and freedom.

A simile in chapter one is, "...her lips fluted out like a flower". This is when Rosaleen was viewing the bee in the jar and spit into it, explaining to Lily that if she gets stung, she should not come whining to Rosaleen.

Another simile is, "I glided past T. Ray's room in silence, sliding my arms and legs like a skater on ice." This is when Lily was escaping to the orchard in the middle of the night. She was going to the orchard to view her mother's hidden belongings, such as the gloves and the pictures.

-S.H.

November 4, 2008 Metaphors, Similes, and Motifs in Chpt. 2 By. OK

Metaphors in Chapter Two:

1. I heard a voice say, //Lily Melissa Owens your jar is open//. This is another way of showing that it is time for Lily to escape from T-Ray, and her prison – like life.

2. … with a blackberry face… In this statement Lily is saying that the old woman has a very wrinkled and puffy face, like a blackberry.

3. … how everything precious can fall from the hinges when you’ve hung it so careful. This metaphor shows that Lily feels like her life is falling apart.

4. … he has a hole in his so-called-brain. Lily is describing her father T-ray’s brain, this is another way of saying that he is an idiot.

5. … not a stitch of clothes on her body. This is Lily’s way of saying that Rosaleen is naked.

Similes in Chapter Two:

1. … I could almost see it circling in the air like smoke. Lily is describing the strong smell of assorted flowers.

2. … laying into each word like it was sweet potatoes on her tongue. Lily is saying many different words that she forbade herself to say before she was “free.”

3. …shining like drops of milk. Lily is describing some beads of water that are on Rosaleen’s shoulders while she bathes in the lake.

4. The water felt like a glacier melting against my legs. This simile is describing the feeling that Lily gets when she first enters the cold river water.

5. … and kudzu vines draped between pine trees like giant hammocks. This is Lily’s description of the country’s tree life.

Motifs in Chapter Two:

1. Lily’s suitcase is talked about several times in this chapter. Lily’s suitcase shows that Lily will probably never return to T-ray, or she will be gone for a very long time.

November 12, 2008 Chapter 3 Allusions: 1. "In my mind she looked like Eleanor Roosevelt." Page 57. Lily is saying who she thinks Mother Nature looks like.

2. "I dreamed the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., knelt down and painted my toenails with the spit from his mouth, and every nail was red like he'd been sucking on red hots." Page 59. Rosaleen is telling Lily what she dreamt. Similes: 1. "...Dragonflies....darted back and forth like they were stitchin up the air." Page 57 Lily is talking about the dragonflies around her and Rosaleen.

2. "Rosaleen walking like she was on anointed feet." (Page 59). Lily noticed that Rosaleen had been walking differently after she had her dream.

Motifs: 1. The heat, and the lack of food are mentioned many times. This probably symbolizes how the journey will be hard, and there will be problems. R.C.M.

 Literary Devices chapter 4-
A motif in the chapter is the bees. The bees in this story repeat a lot, and I think that they are very symbolic in this story. They represent something that Lily is missing in her life. I think that as she arrives at August’s she will find that missing part. The bees will replace what Lily is missing without a mom and a real father who cares and loves her. A simile in this story is “…I walked over to a drop-leaf table and sniffed a beeswax candle that smelled precisely like the furniture wax” This is when she has just entered the Boatwrights while she is waiting to meet August. S.A.M

Chapter 6 November 9th, 2008 M.M.W

The motif in chapter six is the wooden statue of "Our Lady of Chains." This is signifiant because the three sisters and the Son, and the Daughters of Mary think of the statue as a sing of hope. When they touch the statues heart and when they pray to the statue they believe it will come true. Lily thinks that by praying to Mary and by touching her heart it will help her to find out more about her mother and to help prevent T. Ray from finding her.

Simile: "... it was like seeing everything through a train's thick window" Lily explains what her surroundings look like after she tries to touch Mary but the music stops playing.

November 10, 2008 Chapter 7 A simile in chapter 7 is “…twined together to get warm, our arms and legs like black and white braids.” Lily is daydreaming about Zach and her together. An allusion in chapter 7 is when Zach mentions Miles Davis. Miles Davis was a trumpet player who was highly regarded in the black community at the time, in fact, my parents listen to Miles Davis and are trying to get me to build an appreciation for his music. In this case, Zach knows who Miles Davis is and Lily does not.

A motif is the touching of “Our Lady’s heart”. August says that Lily can touch “Our Lady’s heart,” but Lily doesn’t possibly because she’s still ashamed from her previous attempt to touch “Our Lady’s heart”. Maybe, closer to the end of the book, Lily will touch “Our Lady’s heart.” I think this ritual symbolizes acceptance. R.C.M.

Chapter 8- Literary Devices A motif in this chapter is the song that August and her sisters sing, that their mother sang to them. //Place a beehive on my grave and let the honey soak through.// In this chapter August is singing this right after she was talking about her mother with Lily. Lily realizes that they had a great mother, because of how well they were raised, and how they seemed to talk about her in such positive ways. This repeats itself a lot in the story, because many times they talk about their mother, and they begin to sing this song. This song also comes up a lot, because of the bees, and honey.

A metaphor in this chapter is //I loved the idea of the bees having a secret life, just like the one I was living.// Lily says this when August is explaining to her about all of the bees jobs, and how they live their own secret lives inside the beehive. Lily is comparing this to her life, and how she has not been telling the truth, and she has been living a life that nobody really knows about. She has a different secret life, just like the bees.

S.M.

Chapter Nine, November 12th, 2008 An allusion in chapter 9 is "... all four of us turned into water nymphs..." Lily talking about the water fight she had with the three sisters and Rosaleen. Another is"...but if you lie down now and then and get as still as you can, it will slide open like elevator doors, letting in all the secret thoughts that had been standing around so patiently, pushing the button for a ride to the top." Lily is talking about ideas.

One motif would be going to jail. As we saw in chapter one Rosaleen goes to jail and as we see in chapter nine Zach goes to jail. Lily frees Rosaleen from being in jail. When Zach is put in jail I think that he was put in jail unfairly just like Rosaleen was, because the are black. -T.S. Chapter 10, November 12th, 2008: One motif in chapter 10 would be May’s suicide letter. In this letter, she says, “It’s my time to die, and it’s your time to live. Don’t mess it up. Love, May.” That symbolizes that everyone has a life, and the way they live it is up to them. If you choose to live life by being scared of whT might happen, you will never find the good that //will// happen. An example of this is that June is scared to marry Neil because a man names Melvin Edwards did not go through with his marriage to June the first time. If she never marries Neil- or any other man- she will never know what good may or may not come out of it. One simile is on page 192 when Lily is describing a gust of wind that, “hit our faces like an oven blast, like the sudden breezes of hell.” They felt a hard gust of wind, but it was not an oven blast, and they were not in hell, so it could not be a sudden breeze from there. Lily is saying that because it was so strong, it felt like an oven blast or a breeze from hell. -A.I.S.

Chapter 11 November 18, 2008 A Motif in chapter 11 of "The Secret Life of Bees" would be the chains that were wrapped around Mary's statue. These chains symbolized the strength of Mary. The story behind the chains had said that Mary broke out of them each time she was chained. This symbolizes an act of courage that each character should put forth. For instance, June decided to marry Neil which showed courage of being able to love someone again. I believe that this is a sign to show Lily not to be afraid of anything. Not to be afraid of telling August the truth, and not being afraid of life. A similie in chapter 11 would be "Coming into his presence was like stpping on a gas heater, to a row of blue fire burning in the dark, wet curve of his eyes. This similie was Lily talking about Zach. A metaphor in this chapter would be "he kissed me gently, but at the same time hungrily, and I liked how he tasted, the scent of his skin, the way his lips opened and closed."

-R.L

Chapter 11 One of the Motifs in Chapter 11 was lonleiness and feeling seperated. She felt dividedfrom the rest of the family, because of her race, her lie, and where she slept. A simile was "Coming into his presence was like stepping on a gas heater, to a row of blue fire burning in the dark, wet curve of his eyes." I wanted to let the water lick my skin is the metaphor- -FC

Chapter 12 November 18,2008 One of the moifs in chapter 12, Lily kept saying that she was "unloveable". Lily kept saying this because she felt like no one loved her. Then August told her all the people that love her. Maybe at the end of the book Lily will see that she is not unlovedable. A simile that I recognized was “The feeling rose up in me like a column of wind.” Lily was comparing her feeling to a column of wind. Another simile in the chapter was "She was like a spnge,absorbing what I couldn't hold anymore." Lily is descibing how August was listening to all the terible things that had happened in her life. A metaphor that I found was " A wall of class broke in my chest" Lily said this when she relized that T-Ray might be telling the truth about her mother. B.T.

Chapter 14, November 19, 2008 One of the motifs in chapter fourteen is new beginnings. After Lily hears August tell June " Regrets don't help anything, you know that." (280) Lily realizes that she's correct, and feels like she is spending too much time regretting the death of her mother. Another new beginning is the marriage of Neil and June, after all this time. And after all the time that's gone by, Rosaleen is able to register as an active voter. The ending of the book is a celebration of Lily's new life. T. Ray realizes that Lily is much happier and better off staying in Tiburon without him. One simile is "I sat like an ice sculpture in the center of my chest. Nothing could touch it." (277) This simile is Lily reflecting on the hazy days of August. -J.D.