Ms.+Marrocco's+Readers+Notebook

After the meeting we had the last day of school, I was already 150 pages into Little Bee. In order to make this an authentic readers notebook, I forced myself to start from the beginning and take notes. I learned that I hate rereading books and therefore procrastinated starting over. Once I caught up to where I was, I could not put the book down. Since I read while I was away from the computer, I wrote sticky notes, that I will now revisit and write longer reading responses.

__Little Bee__ by Chris Cleave

Page 1:

Little Bee starts with a beautiful metaphor. The main character compares herself to a British pound coin. For her this coin symbolizes safety. I wonder what happened in her past to make her value safety so much?

Page 3:

Little Bee states that, “Learning the Queen’s English is like scrubbing off the bright red varnish from your toenails.” This is an interesting perspective that makes me think that she feels like by learning how to speak “proper English” she feels like she is taking away some beauty of her own past.

Page 5:

The author gives us insight into Little Bee’s background and home country by pretend conversations that she would have with people from her home country. This type of writing allows the author to mention cultural differences, understandings and misconceptions. This is a very interesting way to gather information about a character.

Page 7:

In order to adapt to being in a detention center, Little Bee covers her body and refuses to wash. She believes that this behavior will protect her from the men in the center. It shows how adaptable she is and leaves the reader wondering what happened to make her react this way?

Page 9:

Little Bee mentions that she has some of Andrew O’Rourke’s belongings. This makes me think he is an important character and influence of her. I wonder how they know each other.

On this page, she also mentions that scars are beautiful because it means that you survived. I can only imagine the horror and brutality that she has been through.

Page 11:

Little Bee mentions that most women from her country have the same story, “the men came and they…” This makes me wonder, what is happening in her country, why are the men taking over villages with such brutality?

Page 21:

Each chapter the book switches between Little Bee’s story and Sarah’s story. This reminds me of the book Color of Water, where the story switches between the mother and her oldest son. I think this is a very creative way to tell a story of intertwining lives.

Page 40:

The author’s use of flashbacks is very creative and spirals you to where you forget the original scene, but somehow makes it connect back smoothly.

Page 42:

Charlie realizes that his father’s body is in the casket and jumps down into the hole he is being lowered into. I can’t imagine how devastating it would be to explain such loss to such a young child. He thought the box was heaven, what a difficult concept for a grieving mother to try to explain. My heart goes to Sarah.

Page 44:

Little Bee jumps down and helps Charlie out of the hole the casket is being lowered into. Sarah is struggling to deal with the death of her husband and her child’s understanding of what is happening. Sarah must feel relived that Little Bee is helping to take care of Charlie. It seems like they are beginning to form a strong bond.

Page 47:

Little Bee talks about always finding ways to kill herself, this mentality is so she can save herself from horror. It is the opposite mentality from what suicide looks like in a developed country. For example, Andrew killed himself because he was depressed, his on mental horror, not because he was escaping physical horror.

Page 49:

Although Little Bee is constantly making plans or looking for ways to kill herself if the men come, she seems determined to survive even though she is not afraid of death. She makes sure she is unattractive for men, she wants to eat foods that make her strong, and she teaches herself the Queen’s English.

Page 54:

Little Bee describes what she needs from her ideal man. This makes me think that this is a commonality all females have, no matter which culture we’re in. What we need and look for comes from our own life experiences.

Page 61:

The girls are let out of the detention center because Yvette gave one of the guards’ sexual favors. The girl with all her documents in order must be devastated, she would have had a free pass and a green card if she had waited out her time properly… now things have changed for her. She must be feeling extremely unhappy right now.

Page 73:

The girls are now in a barn together. Yvette and Little Bee are discussing future plans, what are these girls going to do without papers? Will they stick together or separate?

Page 79:

The girl with all her papers in order commits suicide. Little Bee decides to just leave the scene and start her journey. How would anyone who hasn’t witnessed violence react? I probably would be screaming and crying. Is it normal that she can stay quiet? Is it that she knows if she does not, she won’t survive?

Page 88:

Little Bee called a few days before Andrew’s death, and then suddenly he commits suicide. Does Sarah displace any anger on Little Bee or blame for her husbands death?

Page 93:

Sarah keeps mentioning her relationship with Andrew before Africa. Something in Africa changed Sarah and Andrew’s relationship… Does it have to do with her finger? Did she start cheating before or after Africa and why?

Page 97:

“Charlie wanted crisps. I demurred. He insisted. I acquiesced.” - Acquiesced in this sentence, I think means agreed.

Page 99:

The text mentions that there is an oil war in Nigeria… does this have to do with the men that raided Little Bee’s village?

Page 111:

Sarah cut off her middle finger with a machete, after Andrew refused. Oh my goodness! What would I do in this situation? I would like to believe I could act as courageous as Sarah… but could I?

Page 115:

Sarah chopped of her finger to save Little Bee’s life. This makes me think that she is a very strong woman to know that her significant other didn’t have the strength and she did it herself. Little Bee must feel forever in debt to Sarah.

Page 122:

In Sarah and Lawrence’s conversation we learn that she doesn’t take advice. This makes me think that she is stubborn, but wants other peoples opinions, but that does not mean it will influence her choice.

Page 124:

Sarah talks about her disappointments from marrying Andrew. I hope that by helping Little Bee, not only is she saving Little Bee’s life, but her own and they will use each other to get through life’s journey.

Page 134:

Little Bee’s sister was brutally raped and murdered and she had to listen to the whole thing. How completely horrible. I can’t even imagine the helplessness, terrified feeling she must have had. Now she is all alone in the world after hearing her sister’s death.

Page 138:

Little Bee is thinking about her Cassava growing in her home country. I think it is important for her to make connections to her past; it is the only thing that gives her comfort.

Page 145:

Little Bee has a heart felt conversation with Charlie about the death of his dad and her parents and why he refuses to take off her costume. Sometimes adults don’t take the time to understand why children act the way they do and its important for us to pause and find out what’s at the heart of the matter instead of just disciplining a child.

Page 146:

Sarah and Little Bee are talking about flowers and Little Bee’s country. Finally Sarah is allowing herself to cry, I think Little Bee is helping her get in touch with her emotions.

Page 150:

Sarah discusses how when people are young in their careers they have a lot of passion and want to change the world. This reminded me of a conversation I had with a veteran teacher. I seemed idealistic and wanted to change the world, but her argument was that as soon as you start to have your own family, your goals and values change. I wonder if this is a common feeling in many professions?

Page 152:

Sarah is describing an argument with Andrew and how he hurt her. This makes me think that the people we love are the only ones that can hurt us badly.

Page 162:

Sarah’s relationship with Lawrence depresses me. I always wondered how it could be possible for someone to cheat and lie about it so easily, perhaps because this is something that I’ve had to deal with in my life. Sarah seems to be in denial of her own unhappiness and feels like she deserves this affair.

Page 172:

“I thought about throwing them away, and I found that I couldn’t. How duplicitous grief is,” I think that duplicitous means two sided, or lingering.

Page 181:

Sarah’s car needs gas and Little Bee is reminded of the war for oil in her country. It’s amazing that one thing can mean something totally different to two people.

Page 184:

Knowing that Little Bee is a refugee orphan, why can’t Sarah adopt her? Wouldn’t that solve all the problems?

Page 185:

Little Bee stands up to Lawrence, saying that he’s detrimental to her mental health. I just want to say, “You go Little Bee!”

Page 194:

Little Bee tells Lawrence that she was there when Andrew died and she ran off because she didn’t want to look involved or get caught. I think anyone in her position would have done the same. Human instinct means you try to save yourself. I’m angry with Lawrence for not being empathetic and understanding.

Page 202:

It seems like Sarah tells Clarissa everything that’s going on in her life and all her ideas for the magazine. Clarissa is always willing to help her in a time of need; this makes me think they are very close friends.

Page 215:

Everyone is on a train to London, its super crowded and nobody is looking at anyone else. This connects to me, because in New York my commute every day was similar. Nobody looked at anyone and everyone was in his or her own world, but you were still surrounded by a ton of people.

Page 222:

Is Little Bee going to run away? The beginning of this chapter said something life changing happened to her this day. Is it the name change or something bigger?

Page 228:

Sarah found out that Andrew was researching to write a book about Nigerian Refugees. It’s weird that couples can keep such huge secrets from each other. In death, she seems to be getting closer to Andrew. This reminds me of the movie the Constant Gardner. After the wife died, the husband found a lot of her research about drug companies in Africa.

Page 239:

Sarah almost lost Charlie and then realizes how important he is to her. In times of tragedy we are enlightened to what is really important to us.

Page 250:

Sarah and Charlie are on the same plane Little Bee is on going to Nigeria. This is a huge turning point in the novel. What is Sarah’s plan once they get there?

Page 266:

The message of this novel is to enjoy life’s small glimpses of beauty. Here Little Bee is being arrested and who knows what will happen to her life, but she is watching Charlie be happy with his friends and is taking in that moment as long as she can. What a strong character, we can all learn to take a step back from our busy schedules and reevaluate what is important to us and to start enjoying simple pleasures.