POWERFUL+PARAGRAPHS

=POWERFUL PARAGRAPHS= Choose a paragraph that stood out to you as you read either because of concepts ,theme,description or writing style. Explain why you have made this particular choice to discuss .The paragraph should have either great imagery, paint a picture of the mood the author is trying to create, or provide an insight to a character's motives and actions.

" Just put it out of your head, Lily. It was an accident. You didn't mean to do it." This brings up the point that Lily is uncomfortable because she must have done something that killed her mother. Through this paragraph, I believe thaT Sue Monk Kidd, the author, is trying to say that the book deals with grief. p. 3, paragraph 1. (M.A.)
 * __Chapter 1 Paragraph 11-4-08__** The paragraph that caught my attention in chapter 1 can be found at the bottom of page 2, and the top of page 3. The paragraph introduces the fact that Lily's mother had died when she was 4 years old. The topic of her mother's death makes Lily uncomfortable. When the subject comes up in a conversation, the person talking to Lily would suddenlly become interested in something else. This means that the topic in general makes people very uncomfortable. In the other part of the paragraph, it says that some caring people would say to Lily,

There were two paragraphs in chapter two that were very meaningful to me because of the vivid descriptions and because it was a enormous turning point in Lily's life. Page 40, paragraphs five and six, explained Lily's thoughts immediately after her father, T. Ray, told her the story of her mother's death. Lily had always believed that her mother, Deborah, was packing a suitcase when she died. She thought her mom had been panicking because she was going to leave T. Ray. Lily's belief changed when she was in an arguement with T. Ray. While yelling at Lily, T. Ray described his interpretation of what happened that afternoon. "Your sorry mother ran off and left you. The day she died, she'd come back to get her things. That's all!" T. Ray exclaimed. These comments and actions are a reflection of T. Ray's character. He was a cruel man who did not want or love his daughter. I chose these two paragraphs becuause they were a big turning point for Lily. She had always believed her mother loved her and was protecting her by leaving T. Ray. I believe Sue Mon Kidd is trying to prove to the readers that __The Secret Life Bees__ is not going to slowly become happy but will have many conflicts first.
 * __Chapter Two Paragraph 11/4/08__**
 * L.L

__Chapter 3 Paragraph11/5/08__** One paragraph that really stood out to me was on page 60, the last paragraph that carries over to the next page. Lily and Rosaleen have escaped and are headed for Tiburon. Lily is loosing faith, and is in need of a sign. She decides that the next thing she sees is her sign. "//I'll take 9 steps and look up. Whatever my eyes lay on, that's my sign//." She sees a crop duster. What stands out to me in this paragraph is how she is so desprate for something, that she will make up a sign for herself. When she sees the crop duster she tries to understand what it means. Lily decides that it either represents her in the sense that the plants were being saved, or that the bugs were being murdered. I could never really imagine being so down that I would need to create a sign for myself. I think that this shows what kind of person Lily is because she is teaching herself to make the best of a situation, or cover up the truth. This paragraph really shows why Lily acts the way she does, after all the things in her life she is always trying to make the situation better. From this paragraph I think that Sue Monk Kidd is trying to have the reader understand how Lily feels in this paragraph.
 * C.D**

__**Chapter Four Paragraph- 11/5/08**__ I chose this paragraph because it shows Lily happy, and this paragraph makes a vivid picture. It shows her not worried about what is going to happen. Even though she does not have money or a real home, she has a place to stay, food to eat, and people to be with. Lily used to be scared, but now she realizes saying this that she made a right decision running away. She is now safe and I believe she will find out so much about her mother. I believe Lily will become good friends with the Boatwright sisters. Lily is in a life changing experience now and she will remember forever. The paragragh is on page 81 and is the last paragrah in the chapter. I the paragraph is a great way to end the paragraph. "When I put on my shoesand headed back, the light poured down in shafts, and I wanted it to always belike this---no T. Ray, no Mr. Gatson, nobody wanting to beat Rosaleen senseless. Just the rain-cleaned woods and the rising light" I believe the author wans us to feel Lily's happiness in this paragraph. MP


 * Chapter 5 Paragraph- 11/9/08**

The paragraph I chose is on page 82. It is the first paragraph in the chapter. It is a great way to open up the chapter. "The first week at August's was a consolation, a pure relief. The world will give you that once in a while, a brief time out; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where someone dabs mercy on your beat up life." I think that this paragraph really lets you inside Lily's head, and lets you know how she feels deep inside. It creates a picture of Lily and how she is feeling at this point in the story. She is very happy and relieved that she is away from her father, T- Ray, but scared at the same time that the police will find her and take her back to T- Ray. This paragraph also shows that she is happy to be with the Boatwright sisters, and it creates a vivid picture in your mind. (EL)

//November 9, 2008//
 * Chapter 6 Paragraph**

The paragraph that stood out to me the most in chapter 6 was on page 111 in the lower middle of the page. "Drawing it back, I looked around me, and it was like seeing everything through a train's thick window. A blur passed before me. A moving wave of color. //I am not one of you,// I thought." This paragraph stood out to me the most because in this paragraph Lily reilized that she was the "different" one. I think that Lily was used to being the "normal" one and being in a house of all African American people she reilized how out of place she was. This paragraph also shows that Lily suddenly feels self-conscious about living in the honey house. I also liked this paragraph because in only four sentences it said alot about what Lily was feeling and also as you were reading you could picture and feel what Lily was seeing and feeling. AC

The paragraph that was most significant to me was on page 116, paragraph 11. “There was nothing white about Zachary Lincoln Taylor. Even the white of his eyes weren’t exactly white. He had broad shoulders and a narrow waist and short-cropped hair like most of the Negro boys wore, but it was his face I couldn’t help staring at. If he was shocked over me being white, I was shocked over him being handsome.” The paragraph shows how much Lily is out of her comfort zone, and how segregated life is between white people and Negro people. I like this paragraph because it shows how much people’s views of things can change so fast. I also enjoyed it, because it shows how much Lily has opened her mind to things. Zachary Taylor, I believe, will play a significant part in Lily’s life through out the story, just from reading the paragraph. E.M    November 12, 2008 __**Chapter 8 Paragraph**__ The paragraph that I chose is on page 164 and is the italicised writing. "Fix me, please fix me. Help me know what to do. Forgive me. Is my mother all right up there with God? Don't let them find us. If they find us, don't let them take me back. If they find us, keep Rosaleen from being killed. Let June love me. Let T. Ray love me. Help me stop lying. Make the world better. Take the meanness out of people's hearts." In this paragraph, Lily is praying to the Lady of Chains. Lily had just woken up and was walking toward the kitchen when she hears a sigh, and sees the candle still burning by the Mary statue. She looks at the Mary statue and is able to see the heart on her chest and Lily traces it with her finger. Lily is feeling love toward the black Mary because she thens says, "I live in a hive of darkness, and you are my mother. You are the mother of thousands."
 * Chapter 7 Paragraph**

November 12 2008 "A true beekeeper. the words caused a fullness in me, and right at that moment an explosion of blackbirds lifted off the ground in a clearing a short distance away and filled up the whole sky. I said to myself, will wonders never cease? I would add that to my list of careers. A writer, and English teacher, and a beekeeper. -Lily page 167 This paragraph is about Lily thinking about her future. She is an ambitious person and plans to be a famous writer. She writes stories about people in her everyday life and shares them with Zack. She plans to be a teacher, and also a beekeeper. Lily enjoys keeping bees and when August tells her that she is a true beekeeper, she is very surprised. In fifth grade her teacher told her that she is very smart and that lily could make something of herself in the world and that placed the thought in Lily's head about what she was going to be. Lily has big plans for the future, and believes she can fulfill them if she tries hard enough. -EAB
 * __Chapter 9 Paragraph__**

November 13, 2008 The paragraph that was meaningful to me was the last sentence on page 192 and the first paragraph on page 193. "The only parts of her not submerged were her hands. They floated, her palms little ragged cups bobbing on the surface, the water weaving in and out of her fingers. Even now that's the picture that will wake me up in the night, not May's eyes, open and staring, or the stone resting on her like a grave slab. Her hands." In this paragraph, August, Lily, June, and Rosaleen have just discovered May's corpse. She was lying in the riverbank with a large rock holding her down in the water and her eyes were wide open. The part of May that stood out to Lily were her hands. Lily describes them as "...little ragged cups bobbing on the surface..." This was meaningful to me because of the description of how her hands will wake Lily up at night, not her eyes or the stone. I also liked the description of how the water "weaved in and out of her fingers." In the paragraph before, nobody wants to believe that May commited suicide, but in this paragraph, they start to see the truth. MJ
 * __Chapter 10 Paragraph__**

__**Chapter 11**__ The paragraph that stood out to me was on page 215. "//Sometimes I didn't even feel like getting out of bed. I took to wearing my days of the weeks panties out of order. It could be Monday and I'd have on underwear saying Thursday. I just didn't care."// May has just died and Lily feels that everything has changed in the house. And now Lily wants to know everything about her mother from August, and August is mourning from May's death. She says that all this time she has been trying to avoid the subject of her mother with August and now that she feels she can not wait any longer to know about her mother and August will not talk to her. Lily also explains in this paragraph that during the time she has spent with the Boatwrights she has changed and after May's death she occasionally feels like there is nothing to care about anymore. The detail Lily gives, even as trivial as it is, shows in a way that something as simple as wearing the correct underwear is too much for her anymore. It gives us a deep understanding of Lily's feelings during this difficult period of time.

AF

Chapter 12 11/16/08

Page 242. "Probably one or two moments in your whole life you will hear a dark whispering spirit, a voice coming from the center of things. It will have blades for lips and will not stop until it speaks the one secret thing at the heart of it all. Kneeling on the floor, unable to stop shuddering, I heard it plainly. It said, //You are unlovable, Lily Owens. Unlovable. Who could love you? Who in this world could ever love you?//

The context of this paragraph is when Lily is finally telling August the story of how she came to Tiburon, and how she accidentally killed her mother. She is in despair, and thinks that no one could ever love her because of who she is and what she has done. This paragraph stood out to me because it helped me feel some of Lily's pain, even though she is fictional. I think Sue Monk Kidd used beautiful imagery in this paragraph, and solidified the pain and desperation all of us can feel. mms 

Chapter 14 12/2/08

page 298. "I could tell you that I did it . That's what you wanna hear. I could tell you she did it to herself, but both ways I'd be lying. It was you who did it, Lily. You didn't mean it, but it was you."

The context of this paragraph is T-Ray telling the true story of Lily's mom's death. Lily asked T-Ray if it was true that Lily actually did kill her mom. In this quote T-Ray also tells Lily that he could lie and say that her mom did it to herself, he could also say he did it, but the truth is that Lily did kill her mom. This quote kind of shows the softer side of T-Ray, and eventhough he is sometimes mean to Lily he does care for her, and love her. He tell Lily that it was an accident and she to young to know what she was doing. JML