Story Context and Voice of Minority Characters

Why is it important not to “dip your pen in somebody else’s blood”? Do you agree or disagree with this statement? And how do you think The Civil Rights Movement or American Civil War influenced their writing?

Why is it important not to “dip your pen in somebody else’s blood”? Many minority groups struggled with getting rights. Many of them struggled with their own history. Many of them fought for freedom and equality. And all of them take pride in their fight, their history, and their new found freedom. But when people in the “superior” group start to culturally appropriate, it's taking all their history, all their culture, all their traditions and throwing it in the trash, deeming them insignificant. To the “superior” group of people, don't “dip your pen in somebody’s else’s blood”, because you are the ones who caused them to bleed.

“Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.”

-- Sue Monk Kidd

How does Location and Time Affect Writting

Considering what was said above, How do you think The Civil Rights Movement or American Civil War influenced Writers’ writing? Our focus will be on Sue Monk Kidd’s Book, The Secret Life of Bees.

Sue Monk Kidd was born August 12, 1948, in Sylvester, Georgia, and she lived on land that had belonged to her family for more than 200 years. She lived her childhood in Sylvester, a town described as a safe, small, rural town. But, the town was the site of racial injustice very predominant in the South during the 1950s. As a child, She observed segregation between black and white southerners. In spite of that, she listened to the stories of the African American women that worked in her home. When she was a teenager, she witnessed the beginnings of desegregation during the civil rights movement of the american civil war, and the injustice she saw left a long lasting impression on her. Another thing that left an impression on her were two books she read at the time: Henry David Thoreau’s Walden; or Life in the Woods (1854) and Kate Chopin’s novel The Awakening (1899). Those books would provide her with the foundation for her writing career.

The Secret Life of Bees uses Kidd’s personal experience as a child, growing up in the segregated south and on American history. Even though slavery was outlawed in the United States in 1865, laws like the Jim Crow laws, were authorized to limit the liberties of the newly freed black people in the South. They ensured that blacks were treated as second-class citizens, even as the “separate but equal” doctrine was invoked. Under the Jim Crow laws, blacks and whites were forced to attend separate schools, were not allowed to use the same textbook, were not allowed to marry one another, were not allowed to use the same restrooms and water fountains among other things.

Since she used elements from her childhood that took place during the civil rights movement, It influenced Sue Monk Kidd’s books. Long story short, things like where you grew up and when can affect your writing, and when writing, it's best not to write what you do not understand, especially when it comes to other cultures.

Tune in for the next blog :)

---

References:

“The Secret Life of Bees: Sue Monk Kidd and The Secret Life of Bees Background | SparkNotes.” SparkNotes, www.sparknotes.com, https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/secretbees/context/#:~:text=The%20Secret%20Life%20of%20Bees%20draws%20on%20both%20Kidd’s%20personal,that%20helped%20shape%20the%20novel. Accessed 6 June 2022.