Short Story: She Killed Queen Bees

They live in a bright pink house, a very feminine color. The woman in the household have names pertaining to seasons. “These names span a time frame of both sowing and reaping, spring to late summer.” (Emanual, Catherine B. 2). Appropriately, August (a mature season) champions and befriends Lily providing the wisdom and security she so desperately needs. She gently guides Lily but allows her to find her own way. Under Augusts’ wing, Lily finally finds a place to nest. She

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

Haunted by the her own memories, Lily Owens finds comfort in the humming of the bees. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd writes about the life of young girl whose spontaneous decisions lead her to her mother’s past. Lily’s life has revolved around the lack of a mother. Her father, T. Ray, is a harsh and unloving peach farmer who punishes Lily unreasonably and does not fulfil his father like position. Lily’s adventure begins after catching a few bees in a jar. She empathizes with them as they are stuck and alone, something she understands all too well. On the day of her birthday, Lily and her negro nanny, Rosaleen, go out into town to register for voting. Rosaleen and Lily are on their way when a group of white men begin to harass Rosaleen and degrade her for being a negro. Rosaleen pours her spit jug on the shoes of the man and is given no mercy when she is beaten. With Rosaleen ending up in jail, Lily returns to the comfort of the bees once again. As she opens the jar and watches the bees escape, Lily follows suit and flees from home. She breaks Rosaleen out of the hospital and they hitchhike their way to Tiburon, South Carolina. Lily believes that her mother, Deborah, had once visited Tiburon and where she had obtained a picture of a Black Madonna. Lily has spent her whole life looking for new information and connections between herself and her mother. With luck and fate on her side, Lily finds the home of the Boatwright sisters, the creators of the Black

Setting of Novel: The Secret Life of Bees took place in the 1960s in Sylvan, South Carolina

I chose to read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd because when I read the back of the book, it seemed to portray an interesting plot. When reading it, I knew I was right. I feel that certain people could relate to this and I know that situations like these are happening all around us even as we speak.

The key to a good book is one that captures the reader’s attention and sustains it. A book that the reader can relate to and learn something from can be an extremely valuable learning resource. When determining what books should be included in a curriculum, two very important factors are that the story is relatable for students and is able to incorporate other historical, life, or religious lessons within the study of the novel. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees should be kept in the Honors English 10 curriculum at Magnificat High School.

Sue Monk Kidd portrays the time and place in the Secret Life of Bees by displaying Rosaleen working in the peach farms, then taken in to work in the house, giving the task of a housekeeper and Lily's nanny. Around ten years after, Lily turning 14, Rosaleen learns how to read and write her own name in order to turn in her ballot voting for J.F. Kennedy. Attempting to vote, Rosaleen and Lily were ambushed by a trio of white racists men, resulting in physical abuse of Rosaleen.When the police arrived, the white civilians claimed assault against Rosaleen, who is taken into jail charged with assault, theft(of a “church fan”), and abuse. Lily, caught up in between, also ended up in jail, to be later bailed out by her furious father. Determined, Lily breaks Rosaleen out of jail after finding out just how much Frank [he assaulted Rosaleen in jail so crudely that she had to go to the hospital] despised African Americans and fled to Tiburon, searching for clues about her mother Debera Owens. While finding shelter in a home with August, sister of May and June, May passes away. When the police questioned Lily's decision of staying with "colored people," he claimed that she didn't have

In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, “The Secret Life of Bees,” about a troubled girl named Lily, the motif of curiosity is developed as an underlying characteristic of Lily and the novel. The development of curiosity within Lily is demonstrated more efficiently in the novel by Sue Monk Kidd than the movie. The motif of curiosity evolves as Lily matures in the novel, while in the movie the meaning of her curiosity is lost. By incorporating the feature of curiosity within Lily throughout the entire novel gives the it a more meaningful impression. The movie lacks the value that the novel possess due to the absence of curiosity.

In the “Secret Life of bees” written by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily and Rosaleen have a strong relationship that brings them closer together. A lot of moments are good and bad. Since Deborah past away Rosaleen has been there for Lily as a housekeeper willing to help. But Lily doesn't consider as a housekeeper she sees her as a friend and mother. Although, Lily sometimes gets embarrassed or fights with Rosaleen, but is always willing to apologize for her errors.

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.

For our summer reading project, we read a novel by Sue Monk Kidd titled, The Secret Life of Bees. Throughout the book, we learn about a young teen girl named Lily and her experiences of trying to escape an abusive father and free her nanny, Rosaleen. The author uses many clues to establish the setting and time period of the novel, which happened to be in the early 60's. The story starts in a farm home where Lily's dad has Rosaleen take care of Lily during the day as her nanny. When the Jim Crow Laws were in place, it was common to have an African American nanny in the household to help with the children and chores. Another prime example is when Rosaleen decides to go cast her vote which hasn't been allowed to her before, and when she does she is arrested for disrespecting white males. The author establishes the time period by drawing attention to the Civil Rights Acts and showing a huge contrast between how African Americans were treated versus whites and the conflicts between race rights in this time period. The author expresses this with officers and unfamiliar characters showing disrespect toward Rosaleen.

Women are often misrepresented in society. Women are usually shown as the damsel in distress, incompetent, fragile, vulnerable etc. Sometimes they are used as an object, almost as if they’re being used. Just as they’re being represented in society poorly, even in works of literature they are being shown as just a “beautiful face.” Society can also make people believe that women need to be married and have a male in their life in order to live but in reality, women are able to work and live without a male in their life.

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

1964 was a year of great progress in the Civil Rights Movement, bringing about change to the lives of many. In order to cope before and after the passing of the Civil Rights Act, a great number of people focused on the religious aspect of their lives, an aspect that is shared with the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. In her historical fiction novel, Kidd narrates the story of how Lily Melissa Owens, a motherless girl, was surrounded by change during 1964. Lily’s journey to find information about her mother leads her to August, May, and June, otherwise known as the Calendar Sisters. The events that happen at the Calendar Sister’s home bring change not only to Lily, but to many others as well. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees is a novel filled with the potential of gaining insight into the novel by examining its thematic, symbolic, and religious aspects.

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.