Themes mentioned from chapters 1-6 in Beka Lamb

Some of the themes mentioned in these chapters are poverty, success, education and maturity.

Poverty is a key theme in these chapters. the writer shows the hard times that Beka, her family and the rest of the village experience in living in Belize. Some things which show this is when Toycie died, they were not able to have a wake for her because they did not possess the resources to do it. This caused Beka to have her own personal wake for Toycie which involved reminiscing on the times they spent together. Another situation which shows how poverty was affecting the village was that Bill Lamb's workers would purposely drop or damage things so that when they were being sold, they would be sold at a cheaper price and they would be able to purchase it. It was also mentioned that all wages at that time were low so this clearly shows the theme of poverty.

Success is another important theme that is brought to our attention in Beka Lamb. This is shown when Beka wins the contest in the first chapter. Her grandmother is very proud of her and Beka is also pleased with herself. Also by Beka being successful, it eases Beka's pain of the loss of her best friend, Toycie. It does not completely irradictae the pain but it allows it to subside a little and this shows that success diminishes grief and pain. Beka also experiences the fear of failing and disappointing others and herself and is afraid to take the necessary steps in order to be successful. This also shows us the many tasks and many varying emotions we face in becoming successful.

Education is another theme that is shown in Beka Lamb. It is shown when Beka wins the competition. Also too, its importance is shown when Beka is under pressure in terms of passing the final term examination. This theme is also seen when Beka continuously fails in the past and her family is disappointed because they put so much effort into her education. Her father also said that the money they spent on her education could have supported a poor family for six months. This shows how much her parents want her to excel and how important her education is to them. Education is also displayed as the key thing that one needs in order to develop, be successful and not remain stagnated.

Maturity is also highlighted as one of the many themes in Beka Lamb. Beka shows her maturity in this book as she more interested in the happenings of her country and is very curious about the politics and government. She shows this when she asks her father questions, wants to attend village meetings and also reads the newspapers. Beka's maturity is also shown as she chooses to stop lying to her parents so that they would stop being so disappointed in her and so changes her lifestyle to being a very honest young lady and one that her parents could be proud of. This theme can also be seen as Beka wins the competition because it shows her determination to do well, excel and be successful and not be a failure or a 'phoney' as her father mentioned.

Beka Lamb is a book which so far shows some of the challenges which teens face in their life and how they respond to those challenges. I think that it will be a great book for us, adolescents.