preview

Racism In The Secret Life Of Bees

Decent Essays

In the novel The Secret Life of Bees written by sue Monk Kidd, it discusses the big idea of taking risks and the overall picture of racism in a certain community. It all begins with Lily; the main character, being told by her father that she killed her mother when she was just a little kid. This is something that she has had to live with all her life. As a “fill-in mother” she has their house maid. She is an African-American woman known as Rosaleen. She has become Lily’s mother and has helped her to grow and become who she really is. Along with that, she doesn’t feel comfortable calling her father “dad,” so she calls him T. Ray. All that he has to give to Lily is a picture that her mother once had, this is what gives her the idea to run away to find this place. Meanwhile, when Rosaleen had insulted some white men, she got thrown in jail and Lily had to go home to figure out what she was going to do next. She came up with a plan. This is what she did, she went to the jail and snuck Rosaleen out, then the both of them ran. They were …show more content…

The African American women that run it are known as the Boatwright sisters. They spend much of their time with the bees and collecting their honey. Lily just knows that this is the right place based on the only picture she has. So she decides to stay. While she is there she makes many friends and starts to have feelings towards an African American boy by the name of Zach. But while all these feelings are being passed around Zach is with a group of friends that come across a group of whites and one of Zach’s friends throws a glass bottle at a white man and they then also go to jail. Because of this happening, one of the Boatwright sisters commits suicide. After all of these incidents, Lily’s father finds her. He tries to bring her home but she tells him that she is staying with her new family. So this is where she builds her new life

Get Access