Sexism In The Secret Life Of Bees

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.

Lily starts to feel that she has developed a bond with the Boatwright sisters. Lily does not have a good relationship with her father. He makes her feel unwanted and abuses her verbally and physically. Lily’s father comes to the Boatwright’s residence and demands that Lily returns home with him but she refuses. The sisters inform the father that Lily can stay with them and they pledge to take good care of her, “ I still remember telling myself that when he drove away that day he wasn’t saying good riddance; he was saying, Oh, Lily, you’re better off in that house of coloured women. You never would have flowered with me like you will with them” (Kidd 299-300). Lily came to the realization that her father was not fit to provide her with the love and nurturing that she deserved. The sisters provided her with a loving environment where she feels protected. Also, the Boatwright sisters, especially August, are strong female role models. Lily will model her ideals, values and morals after the Boatwright

Conflict is a key aspect in all pieces of literature. Without it, works would be very boring, predictable and would not be able to draw the reader in. There is usually one main conflict the protagonist faces, whether it is against an evil villain or the evil inside their own self. In the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the courageous protagonist, Lily, struggles with an internal conflict with the guilt of possibly being the cause of her mother's death and the absence of knowledge about her mother. Following a clue left by her mother, Lily runs away from home and meets the "calendar sisters" in Tiburon, SC. There, she is finally able to discover who her mother actually was and learn the truth behind her mother's death: that Lily had accidentally shot her. Upon uncovering the whole truth, Lily is finally able to begin to forgive herself and shrug off the heavy guilt that had burdened her for years. Through Lily's struggle to figure out who her mother was and accept what happened to her, Sue Monk Kidd wishes to communicate that even if something

Sexism: the belief or attitude that one sex is inherently superior to, more competent than, or more valuable than the other (most commonly used for male superiority). This idea that women are weak is not a new one in the modern world. It has been studied for countless years along with the concept of a patriarchal society. A patriarchy is defined as a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. Such systems currently exist in several forms and areas around the world; however, the most common place for these patriarchies is in literature. Novels, plays, works of nonfiction, and other forms of literature have shown to either “reinforce or undermine the

The meaning of sexism in the oxford dictionary is ‘Prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination on the basis of sex’ (Oxford Dictionaries). Being a teenager from a liberal society, I think of sexism as when either of the sex is being considered inferior to the other and is not given equal opportunities to earn a place in society. A few decades ago such discrimination was experienced by women when they had no rights to pursue their passions or create their own identity in society. In India, parts of East Asia as well as in New Zealand women were even not allowed to decide on own marriage, which was a monumental event in their lives. In my view, their lives at that time had no difference from the lives of a servant. When they came to their husband’s

The greatest potential influence and need in a child’s life is a mother, someone who will put their happiness and needs after their child’s. The major theme in Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bee’s, is the importance of motherhood in a child’s life, displayed through Lily’s constant search for a mother figure. Lily starts off looking to Rosaleen as a guide in her life, she then finds a mother figure in the Black Mary after learning about her story, and in the end, accepts August and the other sisters of Mary as her surrogate mothers. In the Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd excellently displays the theme of motherhood and its necessity.

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)

Sexism is the ideology that maintains that one sex is inherently inferior to the other. Sexism or discrimination based on gender has been a social issue for many years; it is the ideology that one sex is superior or inferior to the other. Sexism does not only affect females, but also males. Men are very often victimized by social stereotypes and norms based on gender expectations. Sexism has appears in almost all social institutions including family, the media, religion, sports, the military, politics, and the government. However, although both genders are affected, men have benefited from sexism the most (Thompson 300-301.)

Sexism is defined as prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender. Although sexism is often discussed in regards to females, it affects both males and females. Statistically though, it affects more women on average than men. Sexism can occur in many different situations and has two distinctly different forms. Hostile sexism is a more overt form of sexism that encompasses the negative evaluations and stereotypes about a gender. Examples include actions such as promoting a male employee over a female employee simply based on gender and stereotypes about women such as the idea that women belong in the kitchen. Benevolent sexism is sometimes more difficult to identify in an everyday setting as it is covert and appears subjectively positive. Benevolent sexism is harmful as it perpetuates the ideas that women are weaker than men and are not capable of doing

He said “ you tell me where you are right now, do you hear me? Do

Towards the beginning of the novel, Lily was indirectly characterized as a follower, because of her longing desire to fit in with the other girls at her school. Lily did not fit in with her classmates at Sylvan Junior High. Due to her aspiration to be accepted, Lily went to charm school at the Women’s Club to learn how to become feminine. To feel accepted, Lily took action and for her birthday, asked her father, T. Ray to buy her the silver charm bracelet that all of the girls at Sylvan Junior High had. Lily explained to T. Ray, “...any girl would love

In the beginning of the story, Lily was a runaway who firmly believed that she was unlovable, but after many precarious events led her and Rosaleen to the Boatwright Sisters, she was taken by August Boatwright without hesitation. August fed the girl, washed her, kept a roof atop her head, and most importantly, treated the Lily as if she was the elderly woman’s own. And when Lily eventually wanted to know about her mother, August obliged and revealed everything. Following the revelation, Lily broke down and “[August] was like a sponge, absorbing what [Lily] couldn’t hold anymore” (238). Up to this point in the story, Lily has been physically and mentally abused by T. Ray. Also, she felt unlovable, maybe even unfit for love. But with August’s presence and comfort, she was able to learn that she was able to be loved. In that regard, August was being what a mother should be: loving and supportive

The essence of the relationship between a mother and child is a mutual ascendency in regards to identity. Children are subject to an instinctive longing for a mother. It is the mother’s influence that guides them in their process of discovering all the realities the world posses and in that processing discerning their identity. Conversely when a woman becomes a mother the presence of her child causes her to evaluate and develop her identity under the pretense of motherhood. Paula Nicolson touches on the value of both these scenarios in her article “Motherhood and Women’s Lives” where she expresses how the mother child relationship gives the pretense for both parties to find their authentic identities (Nicolson). Sue Monk Kidd evaluates the

Sexism, is a prejudice plain and simple. One of the earliest forms of violence directed toward women was the Witch Hunt Trials of the Middle Ages. Bishops debated whether a woman was really human at all. If her nose were too long, she had red hair, a humped back, or if she was exceptionally beautiful, she was thought to be a witch and was burned at the stake. There was an estimated nine million women burned during the Witch Trials. During the “Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960’s, feminist theorists explained that oppression of women was widespread in nearly all human society, and spoke of sexism instead of male chauvinism. Male chauvinists were usually individual men who expressed the belief that they were superior to women” (Napikoski). By the mid 20th century sexism was established and began to appear in advertising. Between the 1970’s and 1990’s women began to feel more equal to men until the 1980’s where they were portrayed as sex symbols on national television (The Origin and History of SEXISM). There are two main types of sexism, benevolent and hostile, and their definitions are opposite from one another. Hostile sexism is what most people perceive as sexism today as it seems sexism is occurring more and more often and is, notably, more vulgar. It is the notion that women are inferior or not as worthy; a belief that males are intrinsically superior. For many years women have been degraded and looked down upon with the idea that their place is in the kitchen with

Sexism is a form of discrimination based on a person's sex, with such attitudes being based on beliefs in traditional stereotypes of different roles of the sexes. Sexism is not just a matter of individual attitudes; it is built into the institutions of society. In the film, Walker