The theme of Little Brother

Little Brother.... Whats there left to say?
I liked the book, in some parts at least. The ending was a little to romantic.. He could as well just writen "and then they lived happely ever after"... But the book is for teens that is why I gues it ended like it did. The theme of the book is very interesting. If you ever have read the book 1984 or seen the movie, u know what the theme is.

survaliance and security is the theme of the particulary book. Plain and simpel. I gues this book tries to not only give people a feeling that this is something to think about, but also makes them do something with it. The books tells us about the thin line between security and violation of once privacy.

In the human rigths its writen "every person has the rigth for respect of his privacy, family life and his home". If u ask me this is excatly that this book is taking up for discustion. Even though this book is written as it happens in the future, you can se many simalarties in that society and this one.

So this will be the last thing i write on this blogg. It has been fun and i hope you guys learned something about the book and its theme.

Best regards Kristian Munter

The Importance of Mothers in the Secret Life of Bees Task 4

A Jewish adage says that God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers. Already from birth children connects with their mother in an own special way. Their bond is almost unbreakable, even tough they might grow up to be different people – the relationship between a mother and a child is something special. Being a mother is a fulltime job with more tasks than any other job; being a psychologist, carpenter, chef, mediator, a cleaner and most importantly a moral support is one of the most important jobs on earth. The fundamental values and morals are being built with the help form a mother. An Arabic adage says that the mother is a school, if she is well reread you are sure to build a nation. A mother is the biggest and most important role model in a Childs life trough out the life.

Lilly is haunted by the fact she is responsible for the killing of her mother. The loss, conscience and emptiness she feels is unbearable throughout the book. However, the book sends mixed signals whether Lilly is responsible for the murder or not. The episode happened when Lilly was four years old, and her memory back to the fateful day is rather dizzy. All she can remember is that her mother and father had a fight, and Deborah (Lilly’s mother) was packing her bags. A gun was lying on the floor, and suddenly a horrible sound went of. This is the official story that neighbors and the citizens of the small town of Sylvan in South Carolina have been told, including Lilly. Deep inside Lilly desperately hopes that this is not the case. Her father T-Ray has never given Lilly the love, compassion or support she needed. Lilly is trying the best she can to please her father, but nothing seems to win him over. Lilly is deeply unhappy with her living condition.

However, during the book we meet especially two important women that give Lilly the love and support she needs. Lilly feels unwanted both by her father and by the people of Sylvan –especially by the girls at her age. After Deborah’s death Rosaleen takes over as Lilly’s stand in mother. Rosaleen is a proud and scarp Afro-American woman. Lilly was eight when she realized Rosaleen cared and loved her. They had been too a marked and Rosaleen bought an Easter-dyed biddy to Lilly. T-Ray did not approve the gift, but Rosaleen could not care less. Rosaleen told T-Ray “There is worse things in this house than chicken shit” – “You ain’t touching that chick”. T-Ray backed down, and let Lilly keep the gift. Not only had Rosaleen stood up for Lilly, but she also bought her a gift – T-Ray had never bought her anything.

Rosaleen and Lilly’s relationship in the book is characterized with love, jealousy, misunderstandings and basic differences. Rosaleen is a scarp woman who stands up for her rights and herself. For instance the time Lilly and Rosaleen was heading into town, because Rosaleen was registering to vote after the civil rights act. On the news they are warning Afro-Americans from going into town, because several people had been killed for registering. On the way to town, they meet a group of the wrong kinds of men, racists. Rosaleen refused to back down and eventually ends up being abused and put into jail. Lilly could not understand why Rosaleen refused to back down or why she would go into town after the warnings on the television. Lilly does not understand why, because she would back down herself. When girls at her school called her names or talked bad to her, she would not stand up for herself. However, she would most likely not find herself in that kind of a situation because she would not dear. These are a few of the differences between Lilly and Rosaleen, but they still love each other like a mother and a daughter would, regardless of their faults and mistakes. Their love is unconditional.

After Lilly helps Rosaleen out of jail, they escape to Tiburon South Carolina. Lilly’s emptiness after her mothers loss is the reason. In her own private box, were she has a few belongings after her mother – she has a picture of a black Mary, written Tiburon S.C on the back. However, this is only one of the reasons that brings Lilly and Rosaleen to Tiburon in South Carolina. They soon find the people behind the black Mary photo; May, June and August and August is the person being the black Mary. They ask the sisters if they can stay for a while, because they are passing threw to Virginia. They are allowed to stay and work.

Lilly’s other mother figure in the book is in my opinion August. August makes Lilly feel safe, but also loved, accepted and also a peace in mind. August shows Lilly trust for the first time in her life. Lilly and Rosaleen lied when they asked to stay with the sisters. Lilly told them that both her father and mother were dead (Rosaleen was their maid), and that they only needed a place to stay for few days. Both June and August knew this was a lie, but they still let them stay. June behaved differently towards Lilly than August. June does not trust her, while August does. August believes that Lilly will tell her the truth when she is ready herself to it. Lilly has never experienced this kind of trust and love before. Even from Rosaleen, Lilly is still meet with some criticism and disbelief. The relationship between Lilly and August is influenced by unconditional love.

August and Rosaleen is however to very different people. Rosaleen does not believe in the goodness in people, in my impression. Rosaleen has probably had a tough life with discrimination and experienced harsh life lessons; within trust, love and sorrow. While August on the other side, believes in the benefit of the doubt. Personally I think August has experienced a tough life as well, but handles her disappointments differently. August still gives people a second chance, something Rosaleen does not in my opinion. For instance, in the way Rosaleen treats T-Ray, although maybe August would treat him the same after years of disappointment.

One of the questions I had in the beginning of the book was; will Lilly ever heal after the loss of her mother? And yes, I think she will! To run away from T-Ray was the best thing Lilly ever did for herself in my opinion. Although I fear she might have too many expectations about finding more about her mother, the trip to Tiburon S.C will never be something Lilly will regret I believe. I think Lilly learned that she actually matters, and that people care about her in a way she never expected. She is about to be completed as a person. Soon, she will not accept people taking badly to her, or her father’s sarcasm. Her confidence is growing. What a beautiful story.

The Book VS The Movie - The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees is a book however it is also a movie who is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and the book is written by Sue Monk Kidd. The book was published in 2003 and the movie in October 2008.
As known the book is about a girl who is 14 years old, she is named Lily Melissa Owens, she lost her mother when she was 4. She shot her mother by accident as her mother Deborah and her Father T.Ray where fighting. Anyways, the book goes on and we get to meet different people and get to read about Rosaleen (T.Ray and Lily’s housekeeper) and Lily’s journey and how they get through tough problems in their life.

I like the book and the movie in different ways, the book is very well written and it contains a lot of different feelings and emotions. In the book you can create the looks of the characters as you wish and after the descriptions in the book, however in the movie the people are picked out and it might not be as you imagined still I like the people they picked out for the different characters, and the actors play their part well. This is one of the reasons I like the movie very much, the feeling you get and the connection you have with the characters after reading the book gets more alive while watching the movie. I feel that the actor Dekoda Fanning who plays Lily in the movie plays her part excellent I really imaged Lily looking and acting like her. Many people will not agree with me but this is my point of view and I’m very satisfied with her part in the movie and as mentioned the other actors.
Even though many scenes are cut out in the movie we can see the whole picture and the meaning of the book. As most times there are things that happens in the book that we think is important that aren’t in the movie, still the movie would either be to long or messy if it was line by line. However, after you have read a book you get close to the characters as I mentioned I did. You get to read about their thoughts, their emotions and their view of things in daily life bases. So, when the movie is made and you know almost everything about the characters and the story you set your expectations on a level, it might be high or even low, still they are expectations. This makes it hard for whoever is producing the movie to fur fill every single expectation. People view the movie and the book in different ways and thinks of the different people in different ways and these are the reasons to why some might love the movie and hate the book or opposite.

The feelings and the emotions that are in the book are so deep and clean and well explained, and while watching the movie we can see them personally and not just read about them. After telling you about how much I think that the actors play their parts well you can guess that they also carry the emotions over on the screen perfectly. I cant decide what the main topic is in the book or even in the movie, there are so many themes. Love, forgiveness, courage, hate. The hole movie and the book is filled with love, the love they have for one another like Lily for Rosaleen, August, May and even June and opposite. And then there is forgiveness, Lily who needs to forgive T. Ray for being such and awful father toward her. August, May and June needing to forgive Rosaleen and Lily for lying about why they needed a place to stay. Neil forgiving June for not wanting to marry him, August, June, Rosaleen and Lily needed to forgive May for her suicide etc. Courage is also a big part in both the movie and the book, Rosaleen shows courage when she stands up against the white men when they make fun of her, Lily having the courage to break Rosaleen out of jail and the courage to run away from T. Ray. June who at the end has courage to marry Neil etc. Then we have hate, hate witch is shown in the scene where both Rosaleen and Zack gets beaten up from white men. The hate that Lily often feels toward her father etc.
I personally cant pick one of these themes or even other themes that I haven’t mentioned like racism and many others. So, I cant make myself pick witch one of these has the biggest impact in the movie or in the book. They all play so big parts to me.

I love reading books so when I heard we where going to read a book I didn’t mind reading any book at all. I’m happy with my choice and I loved the book and also the movie. I had a great experience writing on a blogg and learning how it works. It was a little stressful because this is all new to me and I didn’t know how much and how often we where suppose to write but it was great to use another learning method and doing something new. All in all I loved reading and writing about the book and seeing others opinions and reading about the other books that other students in our class read about.

The book versus the movie + the whole bloging experience

To begin with, I'd just like to say that I'm positively surprised! My expectations on the movie were neither high nor low. It was better than I thought it would be, considering the fact that the book is always better than the movie. But this time, I'm not that sure what I think.
The reason may be that I expected so much from the book (after all, it was the New York Times best seller), but from the movie on the other hand, I didn't expect much at all.

I'll try not te repeat what all the others have already written.
To sum my opinions up in an easily read way, these are my reflections on the adaption, both positive and negative.

First of all, this is what I though about the actors, and also how I think the characters were portrayed in the movie in comparison to the book:

-Rosaleen (played by Jennifer Hudson): Rosaleen was very similar to how I had imagined her, reading the book. However, I think she was more of a mother figure in the book. I also think she seemed more energetic and outgoing in the book than what she did in the movie. In the movie I found her a bit more calm and quiet.




-Lily (played by Dakota Fanning): My view on Lily is that she comes across as more tough and brave in the movie than what she does in the book. Reading the novel, I got the impression that she was very vulnerable. She is of course vulnerable in the movie as well, but not as much I think. Other than that, she was just like I had expected reading the book.




- June (played by Alicia Keys): June was great! Although I thought she was a bit of a bitch to start with, I really liked her. She was Alicia Keys did a good job!
I pictured June to be tough, honest and perhaps a bit angry. Watching the movie, my view on her didn't change.


-May (played by Sophie Okonedo): May is wonderful, and not to mention, interesting and fascinating. She was my favourite character in the book, so she was the one I was the most excited about seeing. And she did not disappoint me one bit. She was ust as delighful in the movie! (But just to mention it, I think she appeared more "normal" in the movie, and a bit more "crazy" in the novel) But still, you have got to love May!












- August (played by Queen Latifah): I have nothing much to say about August. She was exaaactly like I had imagined her; sweet, warm, loving and also very wise. Queen Latifah played the part of August very well.








-T. Ray (played by Paul Bettany): Fiiinally it's time to talk about T.Ray. I remember that a lot of us thought that T.Ray was just a mean, horrible man with nothing but hatred and anger inside of him. Others thought that he had something good in him. Deep, deep down, there had to be something other than just hate and bitterness, and that he did love Lily, he just didn't show it. Reading the book, you couldn't really know, you could only assume. In the movie on the other hand, you get to see the soft side of T.Ray. Well, maybe not exactly soft, but at least the more sympathetic side of him. I felt more sorry for him in the movie than what I did reading the book. I considered him more of a violent and aggressive person than what was shown in the movie. So of course, I liked him better in the movie.





When it comes to the story, I liked how the story was quite similar , even though some parts were left out (I think that's completely normal though. A book covers a lot more, so including every event, would probably make the movie about 3 hours long).



Some parts were also very different.
-In the movie Zach doesn't get thrown into jail, he gets beat up after taking Lily to the cinema, and then he disappears. Personally, I liked the movie version better.
I'm not going to sum up every event that was different, but what I can say, is that I thought that the movie producers managed to find another way which really worked.

I agree with those of you who have written that the theme is courage. Lily is very brave to run away from home, and trying to find the truth about her mother, while the black women (and Zach) are brave in the way they do not bow down for the white race, they are proud and courages people.


Over all, I liked both the book, and the movie. I enjoyed watching the movie more than reading the book. If I were to rate both of them I would give the book a 6 or a 7 out of 10, and the movie an 8 out of 10.

I do not regret my choice about reading The Secret Life of Bees at all, it was a cute and charming story with interesting characters.
I would recommend The Secret Life of Bees to people (mostly girls) who like warm and loving stories with a message. It doesn't really matter whether you're 90 or 9.

Bloging about the book, wasn't actually all that bad. It was interesting to see what the others who read the book, thought. What their reflections and opinions were, and comparing them to mine. Reading about the other books was interesting too, and how the readers experienced them. It was a more fun way to do it, than just talking about it. I think the combination of both bloging about it and talking about it, made it a lot more fun and it probably also made it easier for Tor to evaluate us and our work. The fact that reading a novel is part of the curriculum, is great, I think. So I definitely wouldn't mind doing this again!

Secret life of bees

Apparently all the girls are reading the secret life of bees, so you have to be nice with me. I realized I should have been one of the first people to post this post, cause when I read true the other posts, and I must say I agree with most of them. Anyways, her are my opinions.

I have never experienced liking a movie better than the original book. Never. (Not even twilight). In the book - secret life of bees we get to know Lilly in a different way, than in the movie. This is off course because we hear her inner thoughts and emotions, and honestly I really missed this in the movie. Many senses were missing in the movie. Especially when Lilly was laying in bed home in Sylvan, South Carolina were she was upset and sad. Even in the beginning of the movie, I was annoyed by the changed scenes from the book. I remember especially the scene were Lilly wants to show T-Ray all the bees in her room. This was after a long describstion about previous events between T-Ray and Lilly, which gave us a good understanding about the relationship between them. She also stud up for T-Ray so early in the movie that it just seemed like she was a rebellion child in my opinion. Moments that are important for us to understand Lilly were gone in the movie, and I thought that was a shame!

I guess I am the only one who thinks Lilly was a different person in the book compared to the movie. In the movie I got the impression that she was brave, strong and fearless - which is not the impression I got from the book. In the book I taught Lilly was so vulnerable, full out of guilt and had little confidence and belief in her self. Off course people act differently than what they really feel inside - but this was not the Lilly I knew form the book, not how she appeared to people either in my impression. So I was surprised over how brave she was in the movie.

Most people liked T-Ray after seeing the movie. I still hate him! Sorry guys, but he is full of crap. I liked the ending in the movie better than the book off course - cause of the last scene, but I still don't like him. Lilly wanted him to fight more for her, even though she didn't want to leave with him, she wanted him to finally show his care and love for her. And guess what.. HE FAILED AGAIN! Just cause a guy shows a "little" emotions doesn't mean he's okay. However, I get why people "forgive" him in the movie. Just that small talk about his feelings was a break trough for Lilly, but I think Lilly deserves better and the small break trough isn't enough for me!

I was happy with May, June and August! They were more what I imagined form the book, especially May - I really liked her part in the movie.

When it comes to the theme in the book, I think it is about forgiveness, courage and hope and faith. Forgiveness is central in the book in my opinion. Lilly for instance needs to forgive herself for what happened with her mother when she was four. I also think she needs to forgive T-Ray for treating her the way he did, and I believe she does in the ending (well in the movie) in order to move on with her life. All the sisters; May, June and August, Rosaleen and even Zack needs to forgive. Lilly said something beautiful in the movie before she and Zack kissed. She said that all the white men who bated him had anger, and therfore he needed to let go his anger towards them so he wouldn't end up to be just as bad as them! This was a beautiful quote by Lilly - and gets me to my point. They need to forgive the white people for there "sins". Faith is also a central theme in book I think. Faith and hope in yourself, faith to God, faith and hope for having a better future. Lilly, Rosaleen and Zack especially had faith about a better future, but than again also May and June. Courage for the way Rosaleen stud up for the white men back in Sylvan, courage for the fact that Lilly ran away form T-Ray.

Personally I think the story can tell us that we have the possibility to change our "faith" in life. If we are unhappy about something, we can change it. It might be tough and hard, but you we still have the opportunity. It is our own faith, and we can decide the course of it! If we are feeling unrighteous treated, we can fight - and win! I think the message in the book is to never give up and keep on fighting so off course the book is still current today.

Its too late for me to care about my writing spells!

Final Entry

MY FINAL POST


The Secret LIve of Bees

First I have to say, that I’m happy I chose the book. In the beginning I figured that all of the books would be pretty boring. And that I would have to force my self to read. But “The Secret Life of Bees” really was a good book, and I really enjoyed reading it! For a book to catch my attention, it has to tell a good story. That’s exactly what “The Secret Life of Bees” did. Reading about, racism, segregated love, Lily’s search for a mother and more, opened my eyes to how it was for many back in the days.

Before I started to read the book, I knew about the movie. I had already seen the trailer for it, and really looked forward to watch it. When I turned the last page in the book, I was even more exited to watch the movie. During reading the book, I realized that the movie had to be really good to match up with the book. After seeing the movie, I have to conclude with the book being better than the movie. It’s always that way with books and movies. Books always seems to be the better part of a film adaption. I don’t know why it always is that way, but I guess it’s because after reading a book you look forward to see your favourite part in the movie, and then suddenly that part is not there. There is so much that brings a book into a movie, the actors, the story, the setting, actually everything. This makes the chance to make mistakes even bigger. There are so many things to remember. And by making a movie based on a book, people have expectations to how it should be. I think this was the problem with the movie, The Secret Life of Bees. After reading the book my expectations were huge, and I hoped the movie would be exactly like I had imagined the story myself. Of course the movie was different from what I imagined it to be.

If I had seen the movie without reading the book, I think I would have found it better. The thing I really looked forward to see was when T Ray told Lily that she shot her mom. I imagined Lily’s face my self, when T Ray rubs it in her face, that it was her that shot Deborah. He makes it clear, that it was Lily, and that there is nothing more to it. In the movie, they only talk about if her mom was coming back to get Lily or not. This really bugged me, and kind of ruined the movie for me.
One more thing that irritated me was the way the movie showed T Ray. The book showed him as a terrible person. Of course I felt sorry for him in the end, but the book was still pretty harsh. The movie on the other hand, put him as a vulnerable person. He still does terrible things, but the movie makes you feel sorry for him.

After all, I think the book was great, and that the movie was alright.

Kind Regards
Solmøy Austbø =)

Secret Life of Bees, final entry

Now I’ve read the book and watched the movie, and I actually think that the book was better than the movie. There have been some changes from the book to the movie. Some things have been left out and some things have been changed on. For example when Rosaleen and Lily is on their way to Tiburon, they take a swim when they are having a stop in the woods in the book but they don’t do that in the movie. And the episode when Zack is being arrested has been changed on, because Lily and Zack were never at the movie theater in the book.
I feel that if you haven’t read the book before you watch movie it might be difficult to understand everything that is happening. In the book you are more inside of Lilys head and know how she feels and what she thinks, which is a little difficult in the movie.
The themes in the story, like Nadia wrote, are courage, hope and racism. All these three are relevant in the society today, and everyone is infected by one or another somehow. Always remember to appreciate others around you and the ones you love. You never know what you have until its gone.

Theme and Relevance

When i started reading Down and Out in Paris and London I did not expect the narrator to express his thoughts very explicitly. I expected a more +neutral+ descriptive prose. In my first post in this blog (introduction), I wrote that my main reason for choosing this book was the author (Orwell). It was therefore a pleasant surprise to find some chapters dedicated exclusively to impressions and reflections. The first theme I can find is probably the notion of meaningless work. It is not just unproductive, but some of it «makes thought impossible». To me, this is the most interesting part of the book. Reading about the working conditions should perhaps make me ashamed to complain about a «heavy» workload. The connotation is perhaps physical. But I suppose there are several ways to constrict and limit thought. This is obviously a very broad theme, and how it is done today does not necessarily relate to absorbing and pointless work. The narrator seems to think that many workers really have the strength to improve their position, but a worker cannot do much with a «blank resourceless mind». Perhaps they are unable to see their own situation.

In London, the +problem+ of tramps is not adressed, it is merely moved somewhere else. The tramps can only stay at the same «spike» once a month (casual wards in London where the poor and homeless can get an insufficient meal and a place to «sleep», often on the floor with a thin blanket). They are not wanted in the spikes, they become burdens. The vagrancy laws described by the narrator force the tramps to constantly be on the move. Often they cannot even sit down; the police might arrest them. The laws are fairly absurd in my opinion. Outright begging is prohibited, so the +beggars+ must pretend to have a +profession+ of some kind. It tells us something about perception and respectability. Charity, and perhaps compassion is discouraged by these laws. Why tramps are «despised» is also discussed. According to the narrator, the tramps are not respected because not only are they poor, but they will stay poor. They have basically no chance, i. e. they cannot become rich and make alot of money. The circle cannot be broken. Tramps become docile and pathetic, they are not aggressive stereotypes, but miserable and weak. The author seems to criticize what might be called +capitalist values+, although somewhat implicitly. The relationship beetween status and +wealth+ (in the material sense) is not unknown in many western cultures. If the narrator is correct, there were atleast some fairly simple ways to improve (perhaps drastically) the living conditions of the poor in London in his time, but there seemed to be little political support. This idea is not exactly unfamiliar today. The narrator seems to think that the poor are not +different+ from the rich. He looks at the enviroment and how it affects behaviour. People are just people, tables can turn very quickly, gloating and arrogance becomes pointless.

" Lord of the flies", differences between the book and the film

Today it is normal to make a film with inspiration from a book. I think thatthe book is always better than the movie, except "The lord of the rings". The film leaves out many of the scenes and changes them, and that can destroy some of the functionof the book. I think that "The lord of the flies" is a good example on this. The principal characters where different from the book description. In the book Ralph is described with fair hair, but in the movie his hair is brown. Jack has black hair in the book and in the movie it is red/brown. This destroys some of the points Golding us trying to make. Ralph's hair is suposed to be a sign to the goodness his character symbolize and Jack's hair is a description on the evil he represent. I think Piggy is a bit different to because in the movie he is always wiping his glasses, which is a symbol, but this does not happen very often in the film.

Golding describes the nature around very clearly, but it is difficult for the film to create the same effect. The nature has many symbols and therefore it is impossible to connect this to the plot.

In the end of the book Ralph is talking to the officer about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, this does not happen in the movie. In the movie they barely speak to each other.

The Secret Life of Bees, from book too film

The secret life of Bees is a beautiful, humorous and loving book written by Sue Monk Kidd. The book is about a girl who loses her mom but ends getting more mothers than she could wish for. Through this story we follow a teenager named Lily who goes through many hard times, but while she does she also grows by the help of three wonderful sisters and many other amusing characters.

First, I must say that I loved the movie. It was a great movie and it moved me in almost the same way as the book, but the two are very different. I loved the book, the description and all the moments Lily shared with August, Zack and the other girls, they seem more real in the book. The book is more descriptive, you see more, and you feel more from time to time. In the movie, you are dragged from a feeling of happiness to a feeling of sadness. In the book, there is a subtle change whenever the moods or occasions change. You read and feel everything Lily thinks and feels, it’s almost like the reader and Lily is one person. You get more depth into Lily's thoughts, and all the scenes come together in the end in a big, giant puzzle. Every scene is needed to make a complete characterization of Lily and the other characters. Films can’t do that, not in the same way books can. Books can drag you into the moment, I am sure films can have that effect too, but when words, lines of words do it, it doubles the effect.

The book pictured the characters different than I pictured them. I saw T Ray as a mean beating machine, but in the movie he had more feeling, he seemed more emotional. Not as depicted in the book. Rosaleen did not "clash" with the movie character, they were not the same. I always saw Rosaleen as stubborn and clumsy. The movie version of Rosaleen depicted her as a soft, non strict woman, non clumsy. I must say though, they recreated the characters of May, June and Lily perfectly.

In the movie, scenes are skipped. Important scenes, like all those moments when Lily lies alone on her bed thinking about her mother and hurting over the fact that she now is a run-away. All of those moments when August and Lily have conversations, those conversations taught Lily a lot about life and they helped heal her, heal the wounds T Ray had left. The book is slow and gentle, you may say predictable but it is beautiful and as is the movie, but in a different way. Scenes that are important for understanding Lily and her life get lost or get gathered up in one whole scene.

One thing that I hate that they changed is the ending. Well, I like the fact that they changed Lily’s final question for T Ray. Instead of asking if it really was her, that Lily really killed her mother, she asked if Deborah was intending to take Lily with her when she left. That was a marvelous move. The thing I resented though was the big detail of the “mothers on the porch”. I have pictured what Lily must have seen standing there in the driveway looking up towards the porch and seeing all of her mother’s: Rosaleen, August, June and the fellowship. That was a perfect ending for Lily, she lost one mother and she found so many. In the movie, the mothers are June, August and Rosaleen. This is beautiful too, but what moved me in the book and what I think took Lily’s breath away was the view, the view of all the women standing there. They had hurried to the pink house when they heard Lily was in trouble, they protected her like she was their own child. They stood up for her and they would do anything for her. That feeling, that feeling of love made the story perfect and I missed that in the movie.

The theme in this book, by my opinion, is courage. Courage to hope that something good will come along. Courage to make sure things happen, and hope to stand by your courage. Lily showed courage when she left T Ray, when she left in the hope of a better future someplace else. Rosaleen showed courage when she stood up to those racists on her way to town. Rosaleen hoped and knew that someday things would be different for her and her brothers and sisters. Justice would come to them, and she would fight until that change came. August put hope in Lily by making her realize that the world wasn’t a bad place just because Lily had experienced bad things.

This book is relevant today in so many ways. It shows us that courage to do something about our life can change it. Many children are put in the situation Lily is put in, verbally or physically abused by their parent. So the book can function in a direct way, it can show them, give the children hope that if they just reach out for help their situation can change. Not everybody is bad in this world; there are a lot of good guys too. This is just one of the explanations I have for the books relevance. The other one is more general. People suffer, people face hard times. The book encourages people to look forward, take their minds out of the past and focus on what the future might bring. It is important to search your past, but you have to be ready for what you might find.