Secret Life Of Bees Book Report

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

Sue Monk Kidd is a writer from Southern Georgia. She is best known for her most influential piece of writing, The Secret Life of Bees, which has found its way into many classrooms across the country. Many of her fiction novels have tackled controversial and well known issues and themes of the South over the course of history.

In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd alludes to the Cold War to demonstrate the tension of the Civil Rights Era. For instance, “‘What happened?’ I asked. “Did they drop the atom bomb?’ Ever since we’d started bomb drills at school, I couldn't help but thinking my days were numbered” (19). Lily uttered this statement because the news broadcast on the television agitated Rosaleen. Alternatively, what Lily thought was the start of another war, was actually the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As for the Cold War, this was a time of great tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from around 1947 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In fact, most Americans worried that the Soviet Union would drop

In Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, T. Ray is a frustrated and unloving character who makes an enormous impact on Lily’s character by making her feel self-conscious about herself and not worthy of being loved. T. Ray evokes hatred and disappointment in the reader by permitting this abusive and unfair treatment towards Lily. With his rough and furious exterior that is represented by grits on the hat, he is also proven to be filled with grief and hurt by his wife’s leaving and future death. To hide his heart-break and depression, he lashes out on Lily to build himself up.

In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees there is a psychological allegory present, which is proven by the characters in the story. The psychological allegory is based on the theory by Sigmund Freud, this theory states that in the human brain there is three major psychological portions, the id, the ego, and the super ego. The id is the portion that induces selfishness and hatred and other “bad” actions, the super ego is the opposite of the id, putting others before ones self and caring for others, the ego is the perfect balance between the two and is almost always the psyche portrayed be the protagonist. In this novel it is T. Ray who illustrates the id, through his bad treatment of Lily, his lack of

In Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bees, an open jar symbolizes Lily’s opportunity to escape T. Ray’s repression. For instance, after a fight with her father, Lily noticed the bee jar was empty and she “...heard a voice say, Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open” (41). In this example, the jar represents her situation, and Lily is the bee that escaped. Previously, T. Ray restrained Lily like a jar imprisoning a bee. When the jar opened, a new opportunity presented itself and Lily grasped the chance at freedom. She decided to run away similarly to the bee leaving the jar. Soon after this realization, Lily escaped from T. Ray and the yoke he forced upon her. This author provides Lily with an alternative to enduring her father, thus advancing

With it the U.S government finally defended African Americans legal and societal rights:blacks could eat in reastursnts, use public bathrooms, vote, and drive without fear of legal discrimination.(Jackson 1). The author makes it clear in this story that black people's challenges didn't end in 1964. This book is read through the eyes of a teenage white girl named lily who sees it as “African Americans being victims of an endless series of tragedies( Jackson 1). The result ends with lily seeing both sides of racism and accepting African Americans for just people and not what many try to discriminate them as. Just like in the time period of the 1960s racism would always happen and be a thing but it only takes one such as Martin luther king to make people realize it doesn't have to be a

Not to long ago I read a book called the Secret Life of Bees and it has some parallels with some events that take place during the Jim Crow period of American history (1960’s) and what is happening today in world. Sue Monk Kidd placed the Secret life of Bees in the 1960’s since that was the ending of the Jim Crow era of America. For those who don’t know what the Jim Crow period was it was the time not long after the Civil War ended and the Blacks had their freedom til the Civil Rights Act was passed. This is important to the story line since The Secret Life of Bees take place after the Civil Rights Act was passed. Why is Jim Crow important to the story? One of the main characters Rosaleen early in the story is going to sign up to vote since

Sue Monk Kidd’s three key literary devices go as follows: hyperbole, indirect characterization, and symbolism. Through her stellar integration of these devices, the reader is more interested in her reading, making for a more successful time in persuading them to agree with her theme. In her novel, The Secret Life of Bees, her desire to integrate these devices becomes transparent.

Sue monk kidd wrote a book called secret life of bees published on november 8, 2001 . The book was about a girl named lily and how she wants to know more about her mom and wants to run from her father T. ray. In the book their is a well developed character named June boatwright. June was going to have a wedding and her fiance left her at the alter. August , sister of June took care of a little girl named Debra Owens during the time of segregation. Since june was born during this dark time I believe that she distrusted every white person that she didn't know because most were racist during this time. Due to the segregation and the distrust she had it was hard for her to trust white people like debras daughter lily and for her to gain confidence to marry again.

Lying and keeping secrets are things that can emotionally tear a person apart from the inside out. Small things can be kept secret with no harm and no foul done. But the bigger secrets that are appalling or immoral are the ones that will eventually find its way out, with no guarantee of how someone will handle that truth. In The Secret Life of Bee written by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Melissa Owens, a fourteen year old girl who runs away from a father that does nothing but neglect her, towers up lies and keeps secrets from people who care about her. Keeping the truth about her life slowly eats her apart until she comes clean with her true identity.

The three books, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston were all books that made me think deeper into the importance of not displaying stereotypes, prejudices, and racism. I learned a lot while reading these books. First, that everyone can find their own family feeling, despite having one. In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily doesn’t have a great relationship with her father, and no relationship at all with her mother. She finds a way to create her own version of a family by running away with Rosaleen and later finding herself with May, June, and August. Although, the idea of running away from home isn’t the ideal message or theme of the book; Lily finding

Books have a way of bringing people together, by showing different points of view. One of the most inspiring books I have read, is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This contemporary novel of a young girl's journey to discover herself, has the ability to engage readers from many different walks of life. I believe that everyone in my generation should read this novel, as this coming of age story will leave readers with a new outlook on family and how people can change.

“Maybe it’s true that there are no perfect books, but I closed this one believing that I had found perfection”. This is a quote from Book Magazine describing the book The Secret Life Of Bees written by Sue Monk Kidd. This coming of age, historical fiction story has been raved about ever since it was published in 2003. It has been translated into 36 languages and sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S. and 8 million copies around the world. This highly awarded and praised novel is one that you should definitely put on your reading list.

In the end of The Secret Life of Bees, Lily sees T.Ray as a psychotic and inhuman version of himself. He shoves and waves a knife in Lily's face as he threatens her about leaving again. T. Ray begins to call Lily by her mothers name, “Deborah”. Lily kept on calling him dad, to get him to realize it is her and not her mother. Afterwards T.Ray leaves and August comes to Lily and tells her about her mother. Apparently when Lily was young her mother was packing up to leave and she pulled out a gun, T. Ray knocked it away, Lily grabbed it and shot her mother. Zach gets out of jail and his family and him, plan to attend the same school as Lily. Zach and Lily go on a walk behind the bee house and share a special moment. Zach gives Lily his dog tag