Akeelah and the Bee

Essay by sabubwayJunior High, 7th gradeA+, December 2008

download word file, 4 pages 0.0

Downloaded 8678 times

Akeelah Anderson is a young, eleven year old schoolchild who is a littlemature and learns at the school of Crenshaw Middle School. She hasdeveloped many new changes from the beginning of the movie until the end.

Towards the beginning of this story, Akeelah was just a normal schoolgirl.

Well, normal meaning that she went to school just like everybody. Although,she wasn't doing quite well in her studies. First of all, she hardly ever turnedin half of her homework! The teachers at Crenshaw certainly didn't have acrave at all for Akeelah's ridiculous study habits. Next, she was accused ofskipping classes which of course, she did but claimed she only skipped thephysical education, or PE classes. True, on her tests she would excel everytime. Akeelah would never miss a spelling word and would constantly get a big,red A+ marked on her paper. Unfortunately, her attendance wasn't desired,as she was tardy almost every day.

Akeelah Anderson was not a very polite girl towards her classmates orfamily members. It was her way whether you liked it or not. If it was hard,Akeelah wouldn't want to do it; if it was easy, she'd take it into consideration.

She had an attitude that wasn't proper and was disliked. The way she talked,slang and all, made the teachers around her get second thoughts about her.

She was always described as having potential but not having any desire ineducation. She failed, at the beginning, to learn that school should alwayscome up first before winning any spelling bee. Akeelah Anderson, in myopinion, gave up too many times even though the people who fought for herto win cheered her on.

During the spelling bee at her school, Akeelah would easily get distractedfrom people who would tease her. She didn't know how to stand up forherself but just fought instead of solving the conflict with good manners.

She learns how to stand up for herself when her brother says to her, "C'monAkeelah, do the spelling bee for Dad." Akeelah first refuses to compete inthe spelling bee but when she hears that she should do it for her deadfather, she immediately wants to compete.

Akeelah Anderson barely is positive at the beginning of the story. Shebarely smiled or laughed at people. When she finally meets Dr. Larabee, andhe commands her to stop speaking slang, Akeelah's answer is," Whatever."Akeelah hasn't yet learned how to behave with proper manners to an adultespecially one who lost a loved one. He calls her an insolent child, andAkeelah hates to be called like that. She suddenly becomes rude and talksback to Mr. Larabee. There is a point where Akeelah says her sorry but shedidn't really mean it as she stomps away off to her house.

When it comes to the Los Angeles School District Spelling Bee, she is stillshy within her surroundings. She hasn't learned yet how to overcome herfears though eventually, Dr. Larabee will. The fact that has been bugging herparents and school staff is that Akeelah only worries and cares about thespelling bee. Studies come after spelling bees is Akeelah's way of looking atthings.

The people who inspired Akeelah to change her style and personality wereseveral characters. One of them was Mr. Larabee who helps her to beconfident and not to let anything get in her way. She starts promising not tospeak anymore slang, and this is the time when she truly apologizes for theinsult incident that she had created days before. Mr. Larabee could bedescribed like another father for Akeelah Anderson because he never lether to think that she was an unemployed loser. It was always positive for him.

Georgia, Javier, and Dylan contributed a lot to making Akeelah change hermanners and behavior. Javier, a spelling bee friend of Akeelah's, helps her toconcentrate more on her studies, and he really puts a bright light in front ofher meaning that he always makes her smile. In the beginning of the story,she would hardly smile and believe in herself but with the true faith of herbee friend, Javier, she learned self-respect. In addition, the way thatJavier stalled during the spelling bee just to wait for Akeelah to come backfrom the lecture by her mom was just outstanding work. I mean, Javierdidn't even win the spelling bee, and he was the one who could havemotivated Akeelah into being the shining star for everyone and winning thebee, alongside with Dylan.

Dylan, the person who was the other competitor of the spelling bee,contributed lots to Akeelah's change of personality. He gave her confidenceto shine in the spelling bee since he was her opponent. Since he knew morewords, he gave Akeelah the confidence to learn five-thousand words byherself to win the spelling bee. Now, Akeelah's best friend Georgia was ahuge impact to Akeelah. She was that best friend who would always motivateAkeelah by telling her that she can do things even when Akeelah herselfthought she couldn't. Georgia allowed Akeelah to build more self-confidenceand to win the spelling bee by her positive remarks.

Yes, Akeelah the Bee was still an inquisitive and buzzing child throughoutthe movie, but that was natural. The people who stood beside Akeelahallowed her to gain many things such as confidence and motivation. Whetherit was her coach Mr. Larabee, her best friends, Georgia, Javier, Dylan or hermom and dad, she always knew how to shine and do what was best for her.

Many times Akeelah refused to do things in the beginning and gave up manytoo times, but her friends stood by her side whether it was Akeelah's toughmoments or easy ones. They inspired her to go through all the way for thespelling bee, and her mom even motivated her to win the spelling bee. Thisspelling bee was Akeelah's only chance to win it, as she was almost going todrop out since she did not obey her mother. Akeelah changed her personalityand manners so that everyone around her would love her, and that was true.

Akeelah never stopped buzzing like a true spelling champion bee.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Akeelah and the Bee