Akeelah and the Bee is the story of a girl caught between two worlds, her home life and the academic world of school and spelling bees . The story contains diverse and intertwined issues for the heroine, many of which are reminiscent of the trials of the "scholarship" described by Richard Hoggart in "A Scholarship Boy," and recounted as the experiences of Richard Rodriguez in his "The Achievement of Desire." Each tells of a young intellectual who comes from a modest background and struggles to excel academically and also to maintain familial ties with family and friends. One of the main themes characteristic of all three works is alienation from family and friends as studies require more effort. and allow less time for more enjoyable activities. Akeelah's character is introduced to us in the film with the sense that she may already be feeling alienated from segments of her peers, as the camera hovers over her teacher's shoulder as she passes a spelling test, showing that Akeelah is the only one who knows Do. receive one hundred percent. Later, a scene is shown where the older girls call Akeelah "exhibition" and attempt to force her to "take care of their English homework" (Akeelah and the Bee). Her brother, catching her watching a tape of the national spelling bee, tells her, "you're going to go up against a bunch of rich white boys. They're going to beat your black ass" (Akeelah and the Bee). These apparent feelings are both justified and intensified for her after she wins the regional spelling contest and becomes something of a local celebrity. When he returns home after winning, he finds his mother scolding his brother, who has just been dropped off by a police officer. The wind is taken out of his sails as his mother, attempting to impress a point on her son rather than appreciating the accomplishment of her daughter going to the state spelling bee, says, “while you do that I will identify your brother here at the morgue.” (Akeelah and the Bee). On the one hand, his achievements are praised by his principal, the media and some of his classmates. On the other hand, the divide begins to distance her and those to whom she had been close. She finds herself forced to lie to her mother in order to continue her studies, forging the signature of a consent form to allow her to compete in the next bee competition..