Please complete the packet you received in June. The packet is due on the first day of school. This assignment will be graded. Make sure to show all work for credit. (If you cannot locate your packet there is a copy you can print out below.)
Use either a Google or Word document to fully answer the Discussion Questions listed below. Please bring a hard copy to school on your return in September. ALL Summer assignments will be graded.
1. Read Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar.
2. Please type or print your answers and place neatly in a folder to be collected Week 1 of school. This assignment will be graded.
3. Read any book from the suggested list and just enjoy!
Discussion Questions
1. Carol’s family is Mexican American, but “we never act like the Mexican part,” she says (page 37). How does that change when her family goes to Serge’s ranch? Why does it change?
2. “How am I supposed to know where the dementia ends and Serge begins?” Carol asks herself (page 27). How would you answer her question? Is there a line between Serge’s dementia and his true self? Why or why not?
3. Bees appear throughout this novel, but the book’s title is Hour of the Bees. When do you think that “hour” is? Why?
4. Clocks are just one way to tell time. How do the people in Serge’s stories measure the passage of time? How does Serge? How does Carol? How do you?
5. “Twelve,” says Serge, “is the border between childhood and old” (page 82). Do you agree or disagree? Why?
6. Carol was born on the very day that her grandmother Rosa died. Why is that significant? In what ways does Carol resemble her grandmother? How is she very different?
7. At several points in the novel, Carol recalls her grandfather’s saying: Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them. What are the advantages of believing this? What are the risks?
8. Carol loves Serge’s stories, but she initially believes they are just figments of his imagination. What does she believe about his stories by the end of the novel? What do you believe about his stories? Why?
9. “It’s boring,” Rosa says of her village (page 89). “It’s too safe here. Nothing new ever happens.” Would you want to live in a place without illness or death? Why or why not?
10. Father Alejandro tells his parishioners that the tree in their village is a gift from God, not a temptation from the devil. What do you think? In what ways is it a blessing? How is it also a curse? Why does Father Alejandro venture away from the village? Why is Serge the only villager who stays put?
11. In the biblical account of Adam and Eve, a snake and a tree play prominent roles, just as they do in this novel. Do you see any other connections between these two tales? If so, what are they?
12. Why do you think the bees carried away the water in the lake? Why do you think they return it?
13. After a summer in the desert, Carol sees her life in Albuquerque with new eyes. How have her relationships with her friends changed? What has changed about her relationships with her parents and siblings, especially Alta?
14. The Seville is a high-priced assisted-living facility in a big city. Serge’s dilapidated ranch is in a remote desert. What do these two places have in common? Why is Serge determined to stay in one but longing to leave the other?
15. “Do not be afraid to live,” Serge tells Carol (page 344), “and you will not be afraid to die.” What does he mean? Do you agree? Why or why not? And why do you think Carol switches the order of his words when she recalls them on page 353 (Do not be afraid to die and you will not be afraid to live)?
16. Life and death are at the very heart of this novel. Has reading Hour of the Bees changed your understanding of each? How?
17. Both Rosa and her son, Raúl, hate living on the ranch, yet they keep coming back to it. Why? What do you imagine the next generation will do with the land? Will Carol be as devoted to it as Serge was? Will Alta? Will Luis?
18. “Stories don’t end,” Serge tells Carol (page 123). “They just turn into new beginnings.” How does this novel prove his point?