One of the underlying and most important ideas I have learned this semester is the idea of perseverance. Perseverance has many forms and it shows up in every single book we have read this semester. I think that this quality is the key to success in both physical and spiritual life. I learned that perseverance was the key to success through my study of The Secret Life of Bees, Maus, and La Linea.
The second book of the year was called The Secret Life of Bees and it was written by Sue Monk Kidd. This is the story of a young girl trying to find the truth about her mother's death and along the way meeting some of the most influential people in her young life. Perseverance was a driving factor in Lily's story. For example, while on her mother's trail, Lily winds up at a store in Tiburon. She see’s the image of a familiar individual on a honey jar “Keep breathing, keep breathing” (Kidd 64) she thinks as she tries to keep herself controlled. In this situation she finds a clue that relates to her mother, her mother is a very emotional topic and it takes all of her mental strength and perseverance…show more content… In The Secret Life of Bees the main character, Lily, shows astounding perseverance by never giving up on her goals of finding the truth about her mother. In Maus, the main character, Vladek, never gives up on his chance for life. Throughout the book Vladek tries his hardest to get a one up on the Nazis, this preemptive action is what keeps him alive time and time again. While studying La linea, we observed a young boy, his sister, and friend trying their hardest to make in northward. We see multiple examples that show, without a sense of perseverance, their success in crossing the border would have been zero. Perseverance without a doubt has to be one of the key reasons why people have success, it allows us to reach and achieve our goals no matter the
