Themes from Beka Lamb

Zee Edgell presented a number of themes in chapters one to six. Such themes are death, change-Education and Maturity, Politics, Race and discrimination. In chapter one of the book there is an introduction to the theme of change as stated in the line 'Beka changed from a 'flat rate Belize Creole' into a person with 'high mind'." We can say that education provides opportunity shown by the line” your education will help you reach a clearing." Education is of great importance in Beka's town since most of the people are poor and most the educated people are leaving and as a result a” brain drain” is occurring. Beka does not realize how fortunate she is to be attending school even her father told her in the lines,"we gave you a better start than anyone in the family". Lying was one of the things about Beka that her parents detested most. Beka wanted to stop being dishonest and she felt utmost guilt and an uneasiness that pushed her into a state of wanting to change. This showed Beka's aspiration to become a mature and educated young woman as seen in chapter four, when she tries to stop her lying. Due to her constant lying and inability to do her schoolwork properly, Beka’s father compares her to the bougainvillea vine to him she was ‘All flash but no substance’ as Beka’s father said comparing her to the bougainvillea that grew wild. Her father's decision to cut down the vine suggested a removal of her 'phoney’ actions, her feeling of superiority and her habitual lies. There is also a comparison between Beka's change and the changes in politics occurring in Belize. In chapter five, there is contrast between the time of Beka's great-grandmother and the present. Political issues seem to be of interest to Beka. This is displayed in the line "You're right, Beka, but why you always bring politics into everything?" The fact that Beka wants to know what is going on in her country shows that she is on the verge of maturity.
Death is another major theme seen in this novel. We see the different ways in which characters deal with Death. Beka deals with the death of Toycie by keeping her own personal vigil in which she recaps and copes with the death of her very close friend slowly. Then there is the example of the death of the polar bear that shows us the despair in the town and in addition the fact that nothing lasted too long in Belize. This is shown in chapter three where granny Ivy says, “I know but nothing lasts here, Beka, tings bruk down” In this chapter the death of Lilla's roses and the polar bear are symbolic. Lilla tries to gain status by planting roses similar to what she sees in the European magazines and their death probably symbolizes that her attempts are futile since roses are not a local flower grown in Belize.
Lastly, the book also shows the theme of racial prejudice. In chapter one, Lilla called National Vellor a "half-crazy coolie woman" and in chapter two, the sailors in Beka's dream called her a "nigger" as stated in the line “Jump nigger gial jump! We’ll catch you”. Also the line” Still, in the town and in the country, as people will do everywhere, each race held varying degrees of prejudice concerning the others" which gives a clear indication that the different racial groups in the city definitely didn’t mix socially as expressed in chapter three where it was stated that there were different clubs for different races.