Little+Bee

**//Little Bee//** Facilitator: Ms. Sarah Townsend Room Assignment: Student Enrollment:

Hello! I am just about finished reading __Little Bee__ and I, for one, absolutely love it. It can't put it down, and I'm hoping that you feel the same way. I'm so excited to discuss the book with you all in the fall. It would be very helpful if you would do a couple of things while you are reading and then after you finish the book.

**While you are reading,** please mark passages that speak to you for whatever reason. Here are some possible reasons to mark the text:
 * the passage stirs your emotions
 * it makes you pause/think
 * you found a description particularly vivid
 * it reminded you of something else (from another book or movie or from your own personal experiences)
 * you found something confusing
 * there is a line or passage that you just like!

**After you read,** take a look at the possible discussion questions below. You do not have to write down any formal answers; just read through all 11 questions and spend a little time thinking about them. Most of the questions are from the reading group guide on the author's website []

*******SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT READ THE QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED THE BOOK YET!********

__Questions for Discussion__

1. In Britain, //Little Bee// was published under the title //The Other Hand.// Which do you think is a better title for the book? What aspects of the novel does each title highlight? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">2. How did it affect your reading experience to have two narrators? Did you trust one woman more than the other? Did you prefer the voice of one above the other? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">3. “Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, this storyteller is alive” (p. 9). For Little Bee and other asylum seekers, the story of their life thus far is often all they have. What happens to the characters that carry their stories with them, both physically and mentally? What happens when we try to forget our past? How much control over their own stories do the characters in the book seem to have? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">4. Little Bee tells the reader, “We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived” (p. 9). Which characters in the story are left with physical scars? Emotional scars? Do they embrace them as beautiful? Do you have any scars you’ve come to embrace? Did you feel more connected to Little Bee as a narrator after this pact? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">5. Little Bee strives to learn the Queen’s English in order to survive in the detention center. How does her grasp of the language compare with Charlie’s? How does the way each of these two characters handle the English language help to characterize them? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">6. Little Bee credits a small bottle of nail polish for “saving her life” while she was in the detention center (p. 7). Is there any object or act that helps you feel alive and beautiful, even when everything else seems to be falling apart? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">7. Of the English language Little Bee says, “Every word can defend itself. Just when you go to grab it, it can split into two separate meanings so the understanding closes on empty air” (p. 12). What do you think she means by this? Can you think of any examples of English words that defend themselves? Why is language so important to Little Bee? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">8. Little Bee says of horror films, “Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are not suffering from it” (p. 45). Do you agree? Was reading this novel in any way a dose of horror for you? How did it help you reflect on the presence or lack of horror in your own life? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">9. Little Bee figures out the best way to kill herself in any given situation, just in case “the men come suddenly.” How do these plans help Little Bee reclaim some power? Were you disturbed by this, or were you able to find the humor in some of the scenarios she imagines? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">10. “To have an affair, I began to realize, was a relatively minor transgression. But to really escape from Andrew, to really become myself, I had to go the whole way and fall in love” (p. 161-162). Do you agree with Sarah that an affair is a minor transgression? How did falling in love with someone else help Sarah become herself? What role did Andrew play in perpetuating Sarah’s extramarital affair? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">11. Does Sarah's discovery of Andrew's research and possible book redeem him at all in your eyes? Who did you like better, Andrew or Lawrence? Why? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">12. When Little Bee finds that Andrew has hanged himself she thinks, “Of course I must save him, whatever it costs me, because he is a human being.” And then she thinks, “Of course I must save myself, because I am a human being too” (p. 194). How do the characters in the story decide when to put themselves first and when to offer charity? Is one human life ever more valuable than another? What if one of the lives in question is your own?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">13. In what ways are we culpable for the real life Little Bees if we choose to move on after hearing stories like this? <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Additional Resources**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 110%;">Q&A with the author - []

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