Sue Monk Kidd : A Memory Of The Past

Prejudice is something everyone has inside themselves. It can be buried deep or right beneath the surface, intentional or unintentional, big or small. A person’s surroundings are a big factor in determining prejudice, but in the end, letting that prejudice cloud their vision is up to them. The Secret Life of Bees delves deeper into this problem. The book takes place in the 1960’s, a time where racism against blacks runs rampant throughout America. The main character, Lily, is a young white girl who grew up in South Carolina. The book captures her journey of overcoming her own prejudices with the help of her friends and family. She was unknowingly prejudiced due to living in a town where racism against blacks was normal, but realized the truth and changes after living with the Boatwright sisters. In The Secret Life Bees, Sue Monk Kidd uses the character of Lily to illustrate that even though prejudice may be ingrained in one’s mind for their whole life, it can be overcome through enough time and learning.

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

The Secret Life of Bees is a tale in which the motherless main character, Lily, is trying to find the love that she needs and her family which she has yet to find. It is a story that explains the true meaning of what family is and the different types of love. Not only has Sue Monk Kidd successfully crafted a wondrous story with twists and turns, she has also used many different types of literary devices. Literary devices help a book seem more likable. These devices can also make a book into a page-turner.

Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of a 14-year-old white girl, Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of her mother's death. Lily meets new people and they help her realize who she is and how the world is around her. Throughout the novel Kidd uses Lily’s various situations to express the theme. Kidd uses imagery, symbolism and similes to express the overall theme which is forgiveness and love.

In the novel The Secret Life of Bees (2001), Sue Kidd creates a character, Terrence Ray Owens, that serves as the epitome of internal conflict. Kidd is able to show Terrence’s internal conflict through through a flashback from Lily’s friend August, and a series of violent actions inflicted on his daughter Lily. Kidd’s purpose in this novel is to display the ramifications of a broken home dynamic, in order to show how forgiveness to oneself and others is truly the first step to finding happiness.

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

The character who has changed the most in Sue Monk Kidd's novel, The Secret Life of Bees, is Lily Owens. When the novel begins, Lily is constantly pushed around by her father. She has no courage against her daddy, T. Ray, who abbuses and taunts her. His parenting ways, of overpowermeant, fear, and physical punishments are barbaric. Once, Lily was caught under an apple tree with her top unbottoned. She insists to T. Ray that nothing happpened. He calls her a slut and does not believe her T. Ray proceeds to give her a severe punishment. Monk states, "He poured a mound of grits the size of an anthill onto the pine floor. 'Get over here and kneel down,'...I swayed from knee to knee, hoping for a seond or two of relief, but the pain cut deep into my skin" (24).

According to Lily “People who think dying is the worst thing don’t know anything about life.” (2) The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd is a coming-of-age written novel. Sue Monk Kidd also wrote other books such as, the Mermaid Chair, and the Invention of wings. This novel took place in 1964, in South Carolina in two towns called, Sylvan and Tiburon, during the civil rights movement. The protagonist and narrator of this novel is Lily Owens, she is 14 and is rejected by her parents. T. Ray Owens (lily’s father) is the antagonist, which is cruel. In this novel there is cruelty that you will see throughout the novel and parts of the novel you will experience a show of hope.

In the book The Secret Life of Bees the author brings to light the Jim Crow era in which Lily, the main character, lives in and is influenced by the world around her.

“People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different.” Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees, highlights this theme in her work. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the horrendous events that Lily Owens encounters in her young life are necessary in her journey to adulthood as she develops into a strong, resilient, loving, forgiving young woman. The result of Lily’s mom dying when Lily was only four years old, T. Ray abusing Lily day in and day out, and Lily experiencing racism first hand, have all been a big part of Lily’s young life and have shaped her into the person she is today.

Sue Monk Kidd’s Secret Life of Bees is a story of ultimate tragedy that comes crashing down on young protagonist Lily’s life. From a young age Lily has dealt with the immeasurable weight of accidentally killing her mother, and an abusive father, who’s anger from his wife’s death is directed towards his daughter. In the novel, Lily learns lessons ranging from coming of age, to dealing with grief from the tragedies she experiences. Ultimately Lily discovers that in order to forgive oneself, one has to be able to forgive, and achieve acceptance from others. This becomes clear when Lily first is accepted by August and the Boatwright family, which then gives her the courage to forgive her mother for her abandonment, and finally herself for her sin.

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.

Growing up is a process most people must experience. It is not always easy and most the time it can become overwhelming. In The Secret Life of Bees, the main character Lily Owens, a fourteen-year-old white girl living in the 1960s, finds herself running away from home and an abusive father, later taken in by colored women. As she lives in the household with the women she is seen growing up and slowly becoming burdened with many heavy truths. Sue Monk Kidd communicates to the reader the difficulties of growing up and love via Lily’s actions and time spent away from home.

The Secret Life of Bees, takes place during the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina. Lily Owens is a 14 year old girl who carries the senseless burden of killing her mother. She destroys herself believing that she killed her mother and can't come to peace with the accident she caused that caused her mother to die. Later in the book she comes to find out that her mother abandoned T. Ray and her. She is now at a different conundrum and believes her mother should be hoping she’ll forgive her instead of her mother forgiving her. She learns form the Boatrights that she needs to come to piece with her mothers decisions and for the death of her mother. She notices how Mary comes to piece when she sings, “Oh! Susanna”, and helps her realize we all have our own trials and hardships but we also have our own way of coming to peace with our actions.