Racism In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of a 14-year-old white girl, Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of her mother's death. Lily meets new people and they help her realize who she is and how the world is around her. Throughout the novel Kidd uses Lily’s various situations to express the theme. Kidd uses imagery, symbolism and similes to express the overall theme which is forgiveness and love.

When Lily finally decides to run away from T.Ray to Tiburon with Rosaleen, the housemaid, in the movie this act is shown more as her wanting to get away from him and not so much as her being curious about what really is in Tiburon, South Carolina. Also, while at the Boatwrights house Lily did not act in a curious manner, but was mostly doing what she could to blend in so she was accepted, and not kicked out. When T.Ray tells Lily that her mother left her as a child, Lily refuses to believe so. She knows that it was just another punishment he uses to torment her, and only seeks to find the real truth at the very end of the movie. When he tries to take her away from the Boatwrights, she asks him before he leaves, “Did you lie about my mother leaving me.” The quality of Lily’s curiosity is lost in the movie. Lily’s life is represented more as a drama than her being curious and seeking answers about her mother, and the black Madonna. Because the movie lacks the value of curiosity it takes away from what the true story

In the book The Secret Life of Bees the author brings to light the Jim Crow era in which Lily, the main character, lives in and is influenced by the world around her.

Lily grew up subjected to strange punishments from her father. Since she was raised by T.Ray without her mother around she never got to experience normal childhood things or motherly love, except from Rosaleen. This caused her to feel as though her life was normal because she didn’t know of any other way of life, yet she still feared T.Ray and his punishments

Ray lying to Lily about her mom is a very big scene in the book, because this is mentioned quite often throughout the novel and it appears in about almost every chapter. This connects to Lily coming of age because when T. Ray is lying to her throughout the book, she starts to catch onto it, because she is getting older and she is starting to mature more. She also starts to figure out more things about her mother through Rosaleen and the Boatwright sisters: “My mother died when I was 4 years old” (Kidd 4). Lily is coming of age because she now understands that what she did wasn’t good and she wants to take it back. It also relates because Lily is starting to realize that her father is not trustworthy and he might be lying: “My first and only memory of my mother was the day she died” (5). Lily then had to figure out how to survive without her in her life. Lily never really knew anything about her mother because she shot her, but she always remembered what happened on that day. After this happened she always bugged T. Ray to tell her about her mom: “The day she died was December 3rd 1954” (5). Lily is coming of age during this because she has to learn to live without a mom. This part connects to the thesis because Lily starts to think that some of the things he say’s might not be true. She starts to realize right from

Living in an abusive relationship can be really hard. In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel “The Secret Life of Bees”, the main character Lily, goes through a tough time in life and has to make many hard decisions in life after her mother’s “death”. Symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities, for example bees symbolize Lily and her mother in numerous instances throughout the novel. Lily’s life relates to a bees life in multiple ways.

Acceptance is the glue that holds humanity together. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees has sold more than 6 million copies, but what grabbed the public's attention was the strong foundations of family expressed in this novel. This book follows the life of Lily, a 14-year-old girl who longs for more details about her mother’s mysterious death, and to escape her abusive father, T-Ray. Lily soon finds herself on an adventure with her black housemaid Rosaleen, where together they traverse the territories of South Carolina.

For one, since her mother Deborah's death, T. Ray has become very impulsive, even more, angry and in some ways feckless. T.Ray rampages around the house bossing Lily around and turning her life into a whirlwind. She has to start working at her peach farm, she can't talk about girl things with her mother

The novel, The Secret Life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd, takes place in 1964 in Southern Carolina, where the action is occurring in the novel. The Civil Rights Movement is the underlying historical background in the story, which introduces the readers to racism in the very beginning. Kidd presents a strong message about racism through the setting of the story and the roles of the characters. This setting addresses many conflicts that will arise in the novel.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a book discussing the internal strife of a young white girl, in a very racist 1960’s south. The main character, Lily Owens, faces many problems she must overcome, including her personal dilemma of killing her own mother in an accident. Sue Monk Kidd accurately displays the irrationality of racism in the South during mid- 1960's not only by using beautiful language, but very thoroughly developed plot and character development. Kidd shows the irrationality of racism through the characters in her book, The Secret Life of Bees and shows that even during that time period, some unique people, were able to see beyond the heavy curtain of racism that separated people from each

Even 100 years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in southern states still lived in an unequal world full of segregation and various forms of oppression. Sue Monk Kidd is an American novelist who personally witnessed the brutal cruelty of racism while growing up in the south in 1964. She explains that her novel, “The Secret Life of Bees,” was a way to “give redemption” towards the African Americans she grew up with. The protagonist of the novel, Lily is a 14 year old girl who struggles between following the stereotypes of the south, and listening to her own moral compass. Growing up in South Carolina in 1964, Lily is exposed to racism and ignorance, which cause her to question the social standings

The novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd has an important storyline, it teaches about attitudes and ways of coping with things from the past all while keeping the reader hooked and thinking about what will happen next. These qualities won it a People’s Choice Award in the category ‘favorite drama’. Contemporary Literary Criticism said “Honey-sweet but never cloying, this debut features a hive's worth of appealing female characters, an off-beat plot and a lovely style.” (Zaleski). The plot isn’t a standard plot as most books are its twisted and touches on sensitive topics, Kidd constantly brings in new ideas and ways to make the book more arousing.

The Secret Life of Bees includes many issues that were going on during the 1960’s. Some issues stated were more sought after than others depending where in the country one was located. In the book, Lily lives in the heart of the south, South Carolina, which makes it easy to point out specific, debatable topics. With this, The Secret Life of Bees portrays many of the movements and issues prevalent in the 1960s like Gender Issues, the Women’s Rights Movement, and the Civil Rights movement.

In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd’s focuses on prejudice through descriptive comparison and a shift in tone to reveal the harsh and racist standards of the society in the book. In doing so, Kidd describes the racial prejudice that those of a minority has faced due to the majority’s biases and ignorance. In the novel, our main character, Lily Owens, runs away from home with Rosaleen and lives with the Boatwright sisters in Tiburon, South Carolina. The Boatwright sisters, however, are colored women and Lily is a young, white female. One of the sisters, August, sparks her interest and Lily describes her as “so intelligent [and is] so cultured” (Kidd 78). As Lily thinks to herself, she explains her father’s prejudice against colored women

May is an interesting character in the secret life of bees. She displays several qualities which make her an interesting character. May is Depressed. This is evident when she goes out to her wall. May is also traumatized. We witness this because her sister died when she was young which has affected her greatly. Lastly, May is naive because she automatically trusted lily when her and Rosaleen arrived. This essay will show how the events just mentioned show unique qualities.