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.