User:Theo91297/sandbox

Beka Story article
Some Sections that I plan to add to the page are


 * Plot- I will use this link to the book to refer back to the story
 * Themes- Major theme i found was the theme of womanhood, I will use this link to show this Gender and politics also seem to be a theme in the story  To extend on politics, I also found a PDF
 * Style- The style that is used here is to highlight the common social status that affects the poor people of the Caribbean all fiction
 * Background of story - My plan for this section I plan to speak about the background about Zee Edgell
 * Reception- In this section I plan to use a critical essay on the novel itself
 * Model page ;Moby Dick

Plot- Beka's Story
Beka's Story

This novel is set in 1950's Belize, it is told from the perspective of a fourteen year old girl Beka. The story highlights the struggles of a country trying to move away from colonialism to independence.

Starting with three major events, Beka has just won an essay contest at her Catholic school while her childhood friend has just died. But her friend Toycie has not received her nine day wake which is a funeral tradition in the Caribbean, also two members of the Belizean Independent party have been sent to prison for disloyalty to the British Government. All these events are very symbolic to the plot because they emphasize the struggle Beka had with growth and change.

The novel is narrated by flashbacks in the time span of seven months, Beka is devastated about the passing of her friend Toycie so she vows to honor her by "keeping a wake" in her own privacy. As she has flashbacks about the past months it is implied that her life began to change once she decided to stop, her biggest lie was the biggest one as she failed three subjects in school and telling her parents she passed. Beka's parents struggle to pay for her education, she lied to them because she feared their reaction to her failures. A struggle she faces with her parents is telling them the truth, she constantly does not do her chores properly by throwing the trash in the front yard, stealing money from her father, and failing to clean the attic. He mother calls her lazy and tells her husband who then decides that Beka must be properly disciplined. Beka also has a very close relationship with her grandmother who often takes her side especially in her time of mourning.

Although Beka has a complicated relationship with her parents, her parents still give her another chance to prove herself. Beka does ask her father to let her retrun back to school promising that she will pass. Her father decides to give her another chance and lets her return, in her return back to schools she enters an essay contest just like the story began in the beginning. Beka's grandmother is very doubtful about her entering the contest because she believes the winner will go to a lighter girl rather than a Creole girl. The essay is on the history of Belize and due to the political state of the country, her victory in the essay contest really symbolizes the struggle and growth. After winning the contest she grows a lot of confidence about herself.

Toycie’s Story

Toycie and Beka have a very interesting relationship because Toycie is everything that Beka is not and they look up to each other very often. Toycie comes from a broken family is very poor but her aunt works very hard to support her education. Both girls are similar because both are afraid of ending up like other Creole women getting pregnant and husband-less.

Themes- Political and Womanhood
-Political theme- One theme prevalent in this novel is the political state of Belize, the movement from British rule is important to this story. The struggle to pull away is very emphasized in the life of Beka, Beka and her family all face social and political obstacles. The struggle of Toycies family to support her education is a result of the poverty in Belize. The struggle of being a woman in Belize is a result of the social struggles that the society has set on them. The text also wants to emphasize the process of womanhood in a colonial country. Beka Lamb is a story that focuses on the process of womanhood and the development from Childhood to young adulthood. The combinations of colonial expectations, family expectations and educational expectations are all struggles that a young creole girl would face during this time.

Style/Background-
-The style in which this novel was written was in fiction, but Zee Edgell wrote this story off her own experience as a young girl in Belize. Edgell first began working as a writer in the 1960's as a reporter on the Daily Gleaner in Kingston, Jamaica. Later in her life she went to London to study Journalism, she edited a small newspaper in Belize and then later became a teacher at St Catherine Academy. With her passion in writing only increasing, she began to writer novels after her Marriage with Alvin Edgell. She had two children with Alvin and she was very well traveled during her marriage going to Nigeria, Britain, Afghanistan,United States and Bangladesh. She also served as a Director for the Women's Bureau in Belize and now currently serves as an assistant professor at Kent State University. It was important for Edgell to write about the newly formed nation of Belize post colonialism. She highlighted how no written history of Belize is recorded so this novel can give some sort of perspective in the formation of Belize in a fictional way. Set in 1951, the novel cover the years in which Belize experienced Social and Political change. The country of Belize adopted a constitution in 1954 and eventually became independent in 1981. This novel is said to be considered a "literary declaration of independence" for Belize. Edgell used this to her advantage and covered both literature and history, each novel she has written each character is a symbol of insight into Belizean society."'I discovered that by writing I could overcome some of the""obstacles that faced me as a woman, a Belizean, and later on""as someone who was living away from Belize. It helps me to""be. If I don't write - I feel unconnected.'"

Reception-
- After Edgell wrote Beka Lamb it gained positive reception by critics and the people of Belize. Published one year after the independence of Belize it was considered the first novel of the new nation. The novel is considered to present a set of oppositions, "School vs the prison", "Flat rate vs high mind". The Caribbean Exam council chose Beka Lamb as one of the books all high school students should read.