the bee 3
Author’s Name
Summary of Mark Twain’s “”
Mark Twain’s article, the Bee, offers his analysis of the lives,culture, and tradition of Bees in their lifetime. According to thewriter, he credits his first understanding of the bee to Maeterlinck.Through the poet, Twain has formed his own opinion of the bee in aphysical and poetic way. In the article, the bee is commonly dubbedas she owing to the significant role of the female bee in protectingthe community. In this case, the Queen bee is the most important inthe community owing to her role as mother and wife during herlifetime (Twain& Blaisdell, 2013).
Like human beings, bees have a system of governance, which placesthe queen at the top of the hierarchy. However, she has to exercisethe right judgment when handling important matters such as layingeggs, selecting the suitable heirs to the throne, and providing foodfor the young ones. Mark Twain mentions that the queen has fiftythousand children. Moreover, out of the thousands of bees only onehundred of the bees as men. Hence, the disproportion between femaleand male bees explains the political organization of the community.For example, all the females remain virgins given that the queentakes one of her sons as her husband. In turn, she uses her husbandto give birth to approximately 300 hundred eggs a day (Twain& Blaisdell, 2013).
There is a difference between commoners and royalty in thecommunity. For instance, the queen has royal daughters groomed totake over her responsibilities in the event that she grows old. Whenthe queen becomes incapable of managing the hives, one of herdaughters challenges her to a dual whereby all members are present towitness the dual. It is at this moment that a new queen is crowned(Twain &Blaisdell, 2013).
Reference
Twain, M., &Blaisdell, R. (2013). Thewit and wisdom of Mark Twain.Mineola, New York : Dover Publications, Inc.