Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

Ray was Lily’s abusive father that does not care about Lily’s clothing, sleepovers, or even football games (8). (SS) When Lily calls T. Ray and he cannot answer a simple question about her, she tries to convince herself that it does not matter by telling herself, “Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry. So what if he doesn’t know the color you love best? So what?” (160). (SS) Lily has the idea that she is “unlovable” and wonders “who could love her” (242). (SS) But little does Lily know that a very significant figure will come into her life and will show Lily what being loved by a “family” member feels like. (PS) August Boatwright, an African American beekeeper, shows Lily her empathetic heart right when Lily walks through her door. (SS) When Lily comes to the Boatwright household seeking for a place to stay, August opens up her home to Lily, exclaiming, “Well, you can stay here till you figure out what to do. We can’t have you living on the side of the road” (72). (SS) August could have turned Lily away and told her to find another place to stay, but she graciously opens up her home to Lily. (SS) In the same way, when Lily faints of embarrassment during a Daughters of Mary gathering, August acts as if it is her fault by telling Lily, “I should’ve turned on the fans in

Lily’s housekeeper Rosaline was a big part in Lily’s growth throughout the her adolescent years. When T. Ray found Lily outside in the garden with her shirt unbuttoned he made her kneel in a pile of Martha White Grits, when she did this her knees got incredibly welted and bruised. Once Rosaleen had seen what he had done she immediately brought it to Lily’s attention how bad she was being treated by T. Ray, “‘Look at you, child. Look what he’s done to you,’” she said (Kidd 25). If not for Rosaline, she probably would have never even been capable of leaving her home at the peach farm in the first place and in turn she probably would have never found the Boatwright sisters in Tiburon, South Carolina (37). If this would not have happened Lily would have been stuck in her miserable life with T. Ray, forever having to kneel in the sharp Martha White Grits, having constantly wilted knees, and being neglected from the love all people need and deserve to feel throughout their

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

Once Lily accepts what she has done and learns that her mother's death did not make her a bad person, her conflict can finally be resolved. As a result of resolving her conflict, she is able to mature because of the struggle, just like other people are able to grow and evolve from their own mistakes. This is evident when she admits "Before coming here, my whole life had been nothing but a hole where my mother should have been, and this hole had made me different, left me always aching for something, but never once did I think what he'd lost or how it might've changed him" (Kidd 293). Lily finally realizes that her mother's death has not only affected her, but also her father, T. Ray, and the calendar sisters. Through the course of Lily's struggle, Lily learns a lot about life and matures into a wiser

Lily starts off stuck living in an unloving, abusive household and decides to free herself from the negative atmosphere that she had been living in her whole life. Lily is perpetually abused by her father. He forces her to kneel on Martha White's, gets exasperated every time she speaks, and yells at her for no reason. Lily is not the only one noticing the terrible treatment, Rosaleen does too. Once after Lily had to kneel on the Martha White's Rosaleen said to her, “Look at you, child. Look what he’s done to you” (Kidd 25). Noticing the unloving treatment Lily gets, Rosaleen knew that their household was demoralizing place for Lily to be in, which is why she didn’t question when Lily when she later runs away. Lily one day realizes she needs to do something about her horrible life at home. While sitting in her room she hears a voice in her

When lily went to South Carolina she goes to a lady named August. August is very artifice. Lily stays at her honey house for several months with her aunt Rooselyn. As she lives there she goes through many adventures and meets a ton of new people. She meets her true love Zach and two sister of August named May and June. She finds out a lot about her mother. She finds out that her mother Deborah stayed at the same honey house. She also finds out that her mother ran away from T-Ray when he was abusive. At the end T-Ray finds Lily at Augusts house and he threatens her that she has to come back home with him. Lily fights and eventually convinces T-Ray that she is better off with August and forgives him.

Ray looked at Lily he realized that he couldn't stand her anymore because she looked too much like Deborah, which is when August offers him a way out of the uncomfortable situation. On page 298 she said "Mr. Owens, you would be doing Lily and the rest of us a favor by leaving her here...We love Lily, and we'll take care of her I promise you that. We'll start her in school here and keep her straight." August gives T. Ray a way out of taking care of his daughter and having to be reminded of Deborah and it also solves the major conflict of whether Lily and Rosaleen are going to have to back to Sylvan and stay with T. Ray or whether she will be able to stay with the Boatwrights. Adding on, just as T. Ray is about to leave Lily runs up to him, and asks him what really happened that day when her mother died and on page 299 it states "You didn't mean it, but it was you...Maybe he was telling me the truth, but you could never know a hundred percent with T. Ray." This also is a very important part of the novel because Lily realizes she lost her real mother but when she looks at the porch she has 8 other mothers. On page 302 it states "All these mothers. I have more mothers than any eight girls off the street." This quote is very important because it finally dawns on Lily that she isn't alone, and she doesn't just have one mother but eight of them. Furthermore, another conflict that is resolved, is about Lily breaking Rosaleen out of jail. On page 301 it states "He says they

T. Ray had not stopped at tearing her down physically, for he had the strong desire to hack away at what is left of her mental state. By painting such a scarring image of Deborah next to the one Lily made with optimism and fondness, T. Ray’s mirage overshadowed Lily’s impression. This causes her to leave him and start a new chapter in her life. T. Ray’s bestial actions were crucial reasons that influenced Lily’s decision to leave her father and begin her pathway through the perplexing road of her mother’s life.

T.Ray was always mean to Lily and the only person Lily could run and cry to was Rosaleen her nanny, All Lily wanted was for her father to love her and act like a father to her. Lily didn’t ask for all of his abuse and punishments. The reason T.Ray was always mean and punishing her because she accidently killed her own mother and T.Ray was madly in love with Deborah and married her before Deborah found out she was having a baby. He became really bitter because he lost his wife.

Luckily for Lily, she comes upon the Boatwright sisters once she reaches Tiburon. Because of the fact Lily does not have anyone to share her love with, she is compelled to stay and live with the Boatwrights. At one point in the novel, Lily and August are having a conversation when August asks Lily “What else do you love Lily?”(Kidd 39). Lily then thinks to herself, “No one had ever asked me that before. What did I love? Right off the bat I wanted to say that I loved the picture of my mother…but I had to swallow that back”(39). Lily does not feel comfortable enough yet that she says, “ I love writing poems, just give me something to write, and I’ll love it” despite the fact that Lily really loves August (39). She loves August so much that she would rather stay in Tiburon with the Boatwrights than be with her own father T. Ray. The loss of Deborah results in Lily going to obtain love somewhere other than her own home. This is also why Lily takes Rosaleen with her. Rosaleen is a black nanny who used to work on T. Ray’s farm. She has been there for Lily in the past but she cannot always be there one hundred percent because of her race. Due to Deborah’s death, Lily does not have a mother figure, however, he journey to Tiburon with Rosaleen proves to be a success as she finds the Boatwrights and strengthens her relationship with her nanny, Rosaleen.

T. Ray repeatedly tells Lily that it is her fault Deborah is dead. When Lily hears T.Rays version of the story lily gets mad at her mother for abandoning her. She understands if her mom left T. Ray, but she never believed that she leave her. Although Deborah Owens was dead prior to the novel, she played an important role in Lily's life. As the story came to an end, Lily hears from August what truly happened. By the end of the novel Lily forgives her mother and lives the rest of her life happily.

Lily grew up subjected to strange punishments from her father. Since she was raised by T.Ray without her mother around she never got to experience normal childhood things or motherly love, except from Rosaleen. This caused her to feel as though her life was normal because she didn’t know of any other way of life, yet she still feared T.Ray and his punishments

In the passage Lily tries to remind T-Ray that it is her birthday and that she would enjoy and gift that all the other girls have at school. He does not care about the fact that it is her birthday or that Lily wants to try to fit in and have friends at school. But when she retrieves the items her mother left behind her demeanor changes, things become positive, joyful even.

Throughout the novel, Lily is able to depend only on herself and her own strength to get through tough times. When she was only eight years old, her family was hit by a flash flood that threatened their home. Her father