An overall summary of chapters 1-6

In Zee Edgell's novel, Beka Lamb,a lot of themes are shown; even on the very first page.The first theme shown is 'Death'.This theme is represented by the 'slapping of a mosquito' and the 'grumbling of frogs'.The passing of Beka's best friend, Toycie shows that Beka,at a very young age has to deal with the issue of death.The success of winning a contest gives her a space to breathe.Her success diminishes her grief.In Beka's eyes,winning this contest was a sign of hope because, at home she was told that these prizes were only won by bakras,panias and expatriates(high class Belizeans).
The 'whining mosquitoes' and the 'grumbling frogs' also gives us clear evidence that everything is not at all perfect.There is a mood of unhappiness and dissatisfaction.They are discontented.
Beka's dream symbolizes what is going on in Beka's mind/life. The bridge symbolizes some kind of transformation for Beka.She sees excitement and hope.The filth and excrement below the bridge represents failure.By the sailors shouting" Jump, nigger gial, jump! We'll ketch you!" shows the racial discrimination in Belize of flat rate Belzie creole people like Beka.
Beka eventually begins to learn that success is a process and that it is not gained and then is relaxed.This is shown by the symbols water,seaside and the landscape.When Beka reminised on the walks she and Toycie use to have every Sunday ,she began to remember "that street"."That street" was the street that she and Toycie use to avoid for that was the street that reminded them of their neighbourhood.Their walk on Sundays was their 'world of fantasy'.It was their method of escaping form their reality.They avoided the street to liven their spirits for their neighbourhood was much less pleasant,noisier and dirtier than these high class Belizeans.
Bill Lamb, Beka's dad, chooses to call her names instead of 'beating her'.The one word that Beka hated the most was "phoney".She had to learn to cease lying for it made the situation even worse.When she lied about passing her exam,her parents were extremely disappointed especially her father.He exclaimed that the amount of money that the entire family spent on both sides could have fed a family for one week.
As we follow this novel, we will see how Beka matures from a'flat rate Belize creole' into a person with 'high mind'.

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Themes from the first six chapters of Beka Lamb

The themes presented in chapter one to six in 'Beka Lamb' are change, honesty and success and failure. Firstly, Beka had a dream that illustrated her confusion and loss of control of her life. The view of success was to cross the bridge. On her way, she saw jeering faces, laughing and mocking her. The bridge started to move away from her and her chance at success was slipping away. She was at the edge of the bridge and realized that she would have to make a leap and attempt to succeed or just stay there and fail. She cried out for help but no one seemed to hear her. This gave the impression that in her life, she was in need of aid but o one seemed to hear her.The sailors represented the people who were there for her to give her the easy way out. The mocking people and the jeering faces are those who knew she failed the exam. She was afraid to make the jump to success. She was even more afraid of the failure. At the end of her dream, she fell into the dirty water, a reward for her failure.

Dishonesty, together with a parent -child relationship was portrayed in 'Beka Lamb' Beka's parents knew of her awful habit of lying. she lied mainly to get out of trouble but also to avoid disappointing her parents with her bad results. She lied to her parents about passing when, in fact, she did indeed fail. She lied about small insignificant things that inevitably led to something of importance when she got caught up in her lies. Her parents were tired and frustrated with her lies, as her mother said, "Beka darling i do wish you would stop lying." She realized that she was going overboard with the dishonesty so she decided to stop. that was the epiphany that changed her outlook and attitude to life.

The parent-child relationship was a very strong bond between Beka and her parents. they sought the best for her in everything that they did. Her father was submissive to Beka's wants but became strict and stern with her when she did wrong. When punishing her, he made sure that she knew what she was being told off for. Beka's mother was

The aspect of change is another main theme in 'Beka Lamb'. Beka's decision to change comes after she told her worst lie about not failing first form. Touched by her father's exasperation, she decided to give up on her horrid habit. To she she was changing and maturing, she did her chores to the best of her ability and thought she handled herself like a woman. A physical change was that Beka hot-combed her hair. this was an act that older people, not teenagers, would be associated with doing. Beka's father thought that this was a way of disregarding and being ashamed of her culture. In fact it was a change to accommodate convenience and the change of fashion.

In addition, Beka deals with death at a young age. That theme seems to be the cause of a lot of her turmoil in her life. The loss of friendship aches her and she is afraid to move on. She deals with the death of Toycie by being ignorant to the fact that she really is gone. She still talks to her as if she is present with her. She isn't quite ready yet to accept the truth. The first six chapters show a preview of the changes yet to come.

Themes of chapters 1-6

In the first six chapters of the novel many themes were present. Such themes were death, racial discrimination and change. However, the theme of change was developed throughout these six chapters as we saw social changes, political changes and personality changes shown by Beka. The thematic changes that occurred so far related to the lives of the Belizeans some way or the other.

In the first chapter the theme of death is clearly evident as the author, Zee Edgell creates a dismal mood which denotes death. We see that Beka has to cope with the death of two major persons in her life Gran and her best friend Toycie. However, Beka’s success of winning the contest diminished her grief. Beka was soon able to find comfort in her memories.

In Belize, gaining education successfully was the means by which people could attain social, political and economical betterment. Beka was one of the few persons to achieve this “transformation”. Her family sees her transformation as a ‘flat rate Belize Creole’ into someone with a ‘high mind’. Beka also decides to stop lying, which she thinks of as a change. This change is symbolised where Mr. Lamb cuts down the bougainvillea plant.

The main political change is the issue of colonial dependence to national independence. Trade unions were developed to protest the rights of workers and soon the people of Belize would have the authority to vote.

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.

Main Themes of Beka Lamb in the first six Chapters.

One of the main themes of the first six chapters of 'Beka Lamb' is change. This is seen when Beka begins to mature and decides to stop her bad habit of lying. "It was only a small beginning but Beka felt she had handled the job like a woman and in Belize, to be able to work like a woman was an honorable thing." This shows that she was beginning to realize her responsibilities when she decided to do her chores properly and with an extra effort in order to show her family that she could be different. She even further realizes that atonement requires more than just dusting and polishing and that she had to find a way to atone, as stated in the novel.

Another main theme is success. The writer shows that success is a process. Beka went from failing subjects in school to winning an essay contest. She changed from what her mother called a 'flat-rate Belize creole' into a person with 'high-mind' which also goes to show that education raises people's status. The writer also shows that success diminishes grief and pain as the novel stated, "It was only today, with a small success of her own, and the panic and fright subsiding... But the past surprised her, the pain wasn't so bad anymore!"

In addition, the writer uses one of Beka's dreams as a technique to show that she had a fear of failure. If she didn't cross the bridge, she would fall into the filth and excrement under it, which represented the failure. This showed that she was overcoming obstacles.

Another theme in this novel is about the depression, poverty, hopelessness, death and harsh living conditions of the society in Belize. The writer used various symbols to portray this negativity, such as the slop bucket, the shrilling of every cricket, the whining mosquito and the grumblings of frogs. She also used the Polar bear as a symbol which showed that nothing lasted in Belize. Most people preferred foreign ideals, products and services and wanted to migrate just as Dr. Lyban did instead of staying at the Belize hospital.

challenges and themes met in the first six chapters

The first page of the Novel introduces us to the theme of death. Death is symbolized by some of these phrases, ‘slapping at a mosquito’ and ‘insistent grumblings of frogs.’ We see now that Beka deals with two death, the death of her gran and the death of her dear friend Toycie. It shows a state of drepression for Beka. She was eventually able to surpass her pain when she was proud of winning an essay contest which was know to only be won by the high class Belizeans, such as the baraks, panias and expatriates. Success buries her pain and grief because she really did miss Toycie because they did so much together. This also paves way to racial discrimination because the novel states that there were clubs for the different types of people in Belize.
Another theme depicted from these few chapters is the transformation in the country and Beka’s attitude towards life. Beka seemed to be maintaining her success because it brought her status. Zee Edgell mentions that Beka wasn’t always brilliant but she seems to be taking more interest in politics. Maturity seems to play a big part in these chapters due to the fact that Beka has decided to stop her lying habits and flips through the news papers and tried hard to be on top of her work to prove to gain respect n attention form her father. The change in politics occurs when the ability to vote and protest arises. Even Bill, Beka’s father, notices that Belize is becoming a place not easy or comfortable to live in and a lot of migration taking place will eventually lead to more poverty, depression and harsh living conditions but Beka contradicts what he says.