Wild Bees by James K. Baxter

As people, we naturally “size people up,” or rather determine their value and treat them

accordingly. If we come across someone with money or someone well known, we tend to

determine that they have a higher value and place them on a high pedestal. Whereas, when we

come across someone with noticeably less money seen in the way they dress, the type of house

they live in, or what job they possess, and automatically assume their value is less, deeming them

not as important as someone more well off. We essentially treat the wealthier better than the less

fortunate. But what gives us the right to treat people differently? I ask the same questions while

reading the “Wild Bees” by James K. Baxter. The poem addresses a group of boys attacking a

beehive in a horrific way, reminiscent to that of genocide. Similar to people devaluing one

another, the boys devalue the bees and wind up destroying the beehive. In the poem, Baxter uses

the scenario to address people’s tendency to define another individual’s worth and how the

affects may lead to violence.

Baxter addresses the negative side effects of determining someone else’s value by

referencing Ophelia from the Shakespearean play Hamlet. In Hamlet, Ophelia was the love

interest of Hamlet, but is driven crazy by Hamlet’s sudden disregard of Ophelia and her feelings.

As a result, she drowns herself in a river. One may argue that Ophelia drowned herself because

Hamlet devalued her and deemed her unimportant and useless to himself, therefore, causing her

to see herself as unimportant and useless. The poem states, “Often in a summer… downstream

between willows, a safe Ophelia drifting / In a rented boat” (line 1-3) which may be hinting

towards the noti...

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...rst devalued

them, assumed themselves more superior and acted in destroying them. Violence occurred for

the boy’s enjoyment and they were able to kill them successfully because the bees were smaller

than them. The bees were not less important than the boys, similar to how no person is less

important than another person. In today’s society though, we often place each other in categories

whether by stereotype, or significance, or based upon wealth. The overall message Baxter sends,

though, is that we do not have the right to place a value on another person (whether increasing

their value or lessening it), and that the violence that often occurs from doing so is senseless and

achieves nothing.

Works Cited Page

Baxter, James K. “Wild Bees” The Norton Anthology of Poetry. 5th ed. Ferguson, Margaret.

New York: Norton 2005. 1701. Print.