Secret Life Of Bees Character

The novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, and the film, My Girl, share common themes. One of the common themes is coming-of-age. This means growing up and maturing through experiences and lessons learned. The main characters in the novel, and the film learn more as they grow up, and they learn from their consequences. Lily Owens, from the novel, and Vada Sultenfuss, from the movie, are very similar characters, and learn many of the same lessons.

Lily shows her non-racist side in the very beginning of the book, after Rosaleen has been put in jail for spitting on a very racist white man’s shoe. She willingly sneaks into jail and attempts to free Rosaleen, but gets sent home with the racist and mean father, T. Ray. She once again tries to free Rosaleen, and this time sneaks into a hospital to free her. Lily is successful this time, and runs away with Rosaleen.

The equality between the blacks and whites was a slow progression in American history. The majority of white people were prejudice against black people causing many disputes. In the novel Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens, who was a young white girl who was able to overcome the social constraints against black people, like the Boatwright sisters. Firstly, even though Lily is a different race than the sisters, they allow her to stay in their home and care for her. Secondly, Lily felt more comfortable with the Boatwright sisters than her father. Thirdly, Lily and the sisters develop a mutual respect for each other. As a result, the relationship between Lily and the Boatwright sisters shows that the colour of skin does

In the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character, Lily Owens struggles with the notion that she killed her mother and has to live with her abusive, neglectful father, T-Ray. Throughout, Lily searches for information about her mother and why she left her. Unexpectedly, she stumbles upon new mother figures that play an important role in changing Lily to the person she is in later. The typical sequence of a hero’s journey includes a departure, initiation and trials, and reintegration into society. By the end, Lily Owens developes into a more mature, independent young women after experiencing a difficult childhood.

Sue Monk Kidd uses allusion and personification in her book The Secret Life of Bees to help create an image for the setting of the book.

Everyone has a secret life that they keep hidden from the rest of the world. Lies are told on a daily basis in order to keep these lives stashed in the dark. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, the bees are the ones that have the most secret life of all. They each have their own specific role to play deep within the hive. It's obvious that the author had meant for some of her characters to portray the roles that these buzzing insects have to dutifully fulfill every duty. Lily and Zach are the field bees, August is a nurse bee, and the Lady of Chains is the Queen bee.

Ironically, Lily, who gets no sustenance from the church in Sylvan, finds healing in the Catholic sect of the Black Madonna, precisely because its members, in stark contrast, touch her - they reach out to her, provide for her needs, and love her unconditionally.

T. Ray breaks the news that Lily’s mom had left Lily with him and had come back to pack up her stuff when the big argument between he and Lily’s mom happened. At that point, Lily has enough of T. Ray, so she starts to have a mini-mental breakdown. Amidst the chaos going on inside her mind, she hears a voice say, “Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open” (41). That little voice means all the difference in the world to Lily. To Lily, it is as if her mother is saying to leave T. Ray and start a new life. Right then she knows that she has to

When she finds the location from where the picture comes from, she finds it to be the Boatwright house with the icon of Black Mary as the label for the honey, which they make for their business. Lily thinks of it as if the bees lead her to the Boatwright household. When she first meets August Boatwright her intelligence, sensitivity and other caring characteristics are a revelation to Lily. Lily realizes what her father tells her is untrue and that she has some prejudice inside of her as well. “T. Ray did not think colored women were smart. Since I want to tell the whole truth, which means the worst parts, I thought they could be smart, but not as smart as me, me being white. Lying on the cot in the honey house, though, all I could think was August is so intelligent, so cultured, and I was surprised by this. That’s what let me know I had some prejudice buried inside me.” (Kidd 78)

“Look at me. I dive into one absurd thing after another, and here I am in the pink house.” (431). These are the words of Lily Owens in the novel The Secret Life of Bees which was written by Sue Monk Kidd. The story is about a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily who lives on a peach farm in South Carolina with her abusive father, T.Ray. Throughout the novel, Lily had shaped her life around her mother’s death. Searching for answers about her mother, Lily, and her mother-like figure Rosaleen escaped to Tiburon, South Carolina to find the Boatwright sisters. During this journey, Lily and Rosaleen develop deep relationships with the sisters. Staying with the sisters, Lily finds her answers about her mother. Whilst in search for knowledge about her mother, Lily unexpectedly finds a new place she can really

In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd creates an allusion to the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, to illustrate the impact of the Ku Klux Klan’s scheme to terrorize social activists, on Lily. In order to protest integration, the Ku Klux Klan planted dynamite underneath the girl's bathroom in the Baptist church, which resulted in a tragedy that stole the lives of four innocent children. Throughout the course of the plot, while exploring the wailing wall and the slips of paper placed into the wall, Lily finds a slip which expresses, “Birmingham, Sept 15, four little angels dead” (98). The phrase “four little angels” displays that the slip of paper refers to children. Therefore, the date on the slip of paper, September

Pivotal Moment “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.” This quote from Norman Cousins speaks to the truth about what Lily experiences and how she lives her life with the burden of killing her Mom. In the novel Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Lily goes through hardship of killing her mother and the absences of love. It is not till she receives her Mother belongings that she truly changes and experiences this coming of age moment.

Ray permanently because of his harsh ways. For example, T. Ray always reminds Lily that it was her fault and she was the one who killed her mother. Deborah’s death causes Lily to feel guilty and embark on a journey to find out more about her mother’s life. Lily continues to link together her mother’s background with stories from different characters.

The Secret Life of Bees delineates an inspirational story in which the community, friendship and faith guide the human spirit to overcome anything. The story follows Lily Owens, a 14 year old girl who desperately wants to discover the cause of her mothers death. Her father T. Ray gives her no answers, which leads their maid, Rosaleen, to act as her guardian. Together, Lily and Rosaleen run away to Tiburon, South Carolina and find a welcoming community. It is in Tiburon that Lily learns many life lessons, including many about herself. In her novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explores a theme of spiritual growth through Lily's search for home as well as a maternal figure.

Emanuel agrees in her paper “The archetypal mother: the Black Madonna in Sue Monk Kidd 's The Secret Life of Bees” saying that “[Kidd] speaks at length about a woman’s plight in both conventional society,”(Catherine B. Emanuel). August understands this progress of injustice. While talking to Lily about her life, August confesses that she did love a man. “I loved him enough. I just loved my freedom more”(146). This shows that August had to decide whether she wanted to have her freedom or to be married. Kidd writing about a black woman that choose a career over the traditional lifestyle of a women reinforce the notice that anyone can improve and innovate the world as much as white man. In the novel, August shows Lily that a woman can do anything a man can do by breaking from conventional ideas that a women can live a successful life without a man is normal. Laurie Grobman agreed in her essay in “Teaching Cross-Racial Texts: Cultural Theft in ‘The Secret Life of Bees” by saying that “August fits Levy’s description of the ‘model of female creativity, the repository of women 's history and the provider of mother enduring care,”(21). August is a role model to encourage women to break the mold of what a woman is supposed to be.