Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

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.

Jase Gibbons Mr. Knox Pre-Ap ELA. Did you know that authors use literary devices to help develop the theme of a novel? “The Secret Life of Bees” is written by Sue Monk Kidd and it’s about a girl named Lily who runs away from her abusive father to find the truth about her mother. Sue Monk Kidd's use of dialogue, point of view, and conflict in the scene where Lily stood up to T. Ray helped her develop the theme that no matter how mad you are at someone, you can always find ways to forgive.

n the novel, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily a 14 year old girl is abused by her father and runs away. Throughout Lily's life she was sheltered from blacks and always thought of them as a lower class in society and her in a higher class because of her skin color. As a result she has limited respect for blacks. There are many motifs in this book that change the mindset of Lily, one of which is the Virgin Mary. The symbol the Virgin Mary is a huge impact on Lily's growth and development.

Especially because the main character, Lily, has grown up without a mother. And the main problem in the book is about Lily growing up and trying to find out more about her mother and how she was killed. In the Secret Life of Bees growing up really changes the people. Such as when T-Ray at first loved Lily's mom.

Today I will be talking about the book named “The Secret Life of Bees,” written by Sue Monk Kidd. This book is about a young girl who has to deal with an abusive father and in return she runs away with her black babysitter to a beekeeper she believes may know the answers to her mothers dead. In this blog post I will be talking about the racial part of the book and discussing my opinions. The book mentions the race of the people many times because it is set in 1964, during the time in which many black people had to go through many deterrents.

Acceptance is the glue that holds humanity together. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees has sold more than 6 million copies, but what grabbed the public's attention was the strong foundations of family expressed in this novel. This book follows the life of Lily, a 14-year-old girl who longs for more details about her mother’s mysterious death, and to escape her abusive father, T-Ray. Lily soon finds herself on an adventure with her black housemaid Rosaleen, where together they traverse the territories of South Carolina.

In the book Secret life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd , the main character Lily Owens has two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences that affect the outcome of the story. As the story unfolds, Lily is faced with an abusive dad and a mother who she loves very much. At the young age of four, Lily, still being a child, accidentally shoots and kills her mother during a confrontation. Now, the young child has two huge, impactful life-changing forces to deal with the rest of her life. She struggles with both of these until she decides to do something about it and go into the amazing world and figure out the truth behind it all. Since she was so young at the time of the events, she didn't remember what went down. She is searching the

While some would read it otherwise, this essay argues that The Secret Life of Bees is not about a 14-year-old girl running away from her abusive father; it is a lesson about loss and how to cope with it. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens leaves her home on a peach farm with her family’s black housekeeper, Rosaleen, searching for information about her mother. After Rosaleen is put in prison because of a confrontation with three racist men, they break out and leave the city. They eventually settle with a group of Black Beekeeping Sisters for a summer before Lily’s father, T. Ray, comes to find her and take her home. During this journey, Lily and the community around her experience loss after loss, both tangible and intangible.

At 14 years old Lily, the main character in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, broke Rosaleen, her caregiver, out of the hospital and they ran away from the life they knew. This was the beginning of Lily’s journey to find herself. The story takes place in 1964 in South Carolina as Lily runs away from her abusive father T. Ray. Throughout the story, Lily and the other characters learn a great deal about themselves and in the process find their identity. We should accept our own identity.

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 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.

Authors tend to display their personalities and personal stories throughout their work. While the words on the paper may read one thing, the deeper connections and references hidden in the writing leads to even more nail-biting questions. Sue Monk Kidd was influenced to write her novel The Secret Life of Bees by the dreadful experiences she faced during her childhood, an early passion of literature, and finally her exploration of religious beliefs. Her childhood was most notably affected in the summer of 1964, when she witnessed public cruelty to blacks that, no doubt, haunted her for the rest of her life. Clearly, her first hand experiences that summer played an important role of setting it as a Civil Rights backdrop in The Secret Life of Bees.

Viking Books published Kidd’s first fictional novel, The Secret Life of Bees, in 2002, and according to Kidd, it was “deeply influenced” by her hometown of Sylvester, Georgia, although it takes place in South Carolina. The novel has sold approximately 8 million copies worldwide, and previously remained on the New York Times’ bestseller list for more than two years. Currently, it is available in 36 different languages, and has won a multitude of awards, both in the U.S. and in other countries.

The Importance of Family     In almost every circumstance, one relies on those who came before them. Whether it is a human, dog, or even a bee, loyalty is a key point in one’s life. Throughout The Secret Life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd, the motif of bees is often mentioned as an important part of Lily’s life. Even when she travels away from home and moves in with the Calendar sisters, bees are an important part of her life. Her new mother figure, August Boatwright, explains to her the importance of a bee colony, and how bees make the world a better place.

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.