Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees is a heart throbbing and touching novel about a young girl named Lily Owens who goes on a long journey far away to find out the truth about her mother, and in the process, finding herself. Filled with apprehension and self doubt, Lily grew up with her abusive and cold hearted father after the death of her mother when she was just 4 years old. She didn’t know much about her aside from what she was told growing up. Lily grew up with the weight of her mother’s death on her shoulders. Subsequently after her 14th birthday, and having been beaten by her father one too many times, Lily runs away with her nanny, Rosaleen, to Tiburon, South Carolina. After stumbling across August Boatwright’s bright pink house,

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 scene is first set up through the personification of the sun. The poet uses interesting diction and phrases, such as “dipping” and “geometries” to describe nature. The sun is described with human characteristics, “build[ing]” these “geometries and orchids” and “riding/The last tumultuous avalanche”. It is like an almighty being that is capable of anything, including the controlling of nature. The poet wants to portray nature as a hidden yet powerful force that should not be seen as a simple concept. Contrasts,

My novel selection is “The Secret Life of Bees.” The novel was written by Sue Monk Kidd in 1997-2001, near Charleston, South Carolina. I choose this novel due to its nature. The set is in 1964. The Civil Rights Act and segregation were at its peak. The story is of a young white girl named Lily. She lives on a peach orchard with her emotionally detached father. Her mother died when she was four years old. She comes to find love in a series of strong African-American women. One of the first influential women to love her was her caretaker. Her name was Rosaleen and she had worked the fields for her father. “Rosaleen had worked for us since my mother died. My daddy- who I called T. Ray because “Daddy” never fit him- had pulled her out of the peach orchard, where she’d worked as one of his pickers.” (print) Lily then finds the Boatright sisters. She finds the Boatright sisters after raveling to find the “Black Mary” she found on a photograph in her mother’s belongings. Lily felt locating the lady in the photograph would solve the mysteries

In society today there are still forms of segregation prevalent to the eye. Whether it’s in workplaces, schools, etc. it is still seen today. Of course, sometimes no one means to self- segregate himself or herself, sometimes it may even be subconscious. It is not intended to be mean spirited or subjective to anyone, it simply just happens. Even though people may not realize it within themselves, people still hold on to racist beliefs.

"New beekeepers are told that the way to find the elusive queen is by first locating her circle of attendants." (57) This quote is at the beginning of chapter three and not only foreshadows many things to come, but within the quote, two of the novel’s main metaphors are mentioned, bees and the queen, which is referring to society and a mother figure. Although this quote is largely interpreted as a metaphor for Lily looking for a new queen or mother figure, and perhaps August being that mother, I believe that it has another meaning as well. I believe that the Black Madonna also serves as a “queen” and mother figure to all the women in “The Secret Life of Bees.”

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

The novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is centered around the main character, Lily, and her quest to find a mother like figure. Lily runs away from home in order to escape for former life of oppression, and to try and find herself. She met and was taken in by the Boatwright sisters who introduced her to a whole new world. Symbolism plays a major part in the book and is used by the author to uncover parts of the plot that were not clearly stated. The characters Rosaleen, Lily, and May all change a great deal throughout the course of the book and these changes are shown through the presence of water. The author repeatedly uses the symbol water to show a clense or renewal of characters which marks the beginning of the character’s evolution.

Sue Monk Kidd is a writer from Southern Georgia. She is best known for her most influential piece of writing, The Secret Life of Bees, which has found its way into many classrooms across the country. Many of her fiction novels have tackled controversial and well known issues and themes of the South over the course of history.

In Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, T. Ray is a frustrated and unloving character who makes an enormous impact on Lily’s character by making her feel self-conscious about herself and not worthy of being loved. T. Ray evokes hatred and disappointment in the reader by permitting this abusive and unfair treatment towards Lily. With his rough and furious exterior that is represented by grits on the hat, he is also proven to be filled with grief and hurt by his wife’s leaving and future death. To hide his heart-break and depression, he lashes out on Lily to build himself up.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd describes the bond between blacks and whites during the 1960. The story begins at South Caroline in 1964. During the time, white people discriminate black people. Lily who is the white girl live with her father T. Ray. When she was 4, she accidentally killed her mother.

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

It starts off saying that once in a while on a nice day, go outside and enjoy the day. Breathe in the fresh air and feel the breeze in your hair. (Lines 3-4) The reader should take the time to feel the grass between their toes, smell the flowers, and watch the clouds. (Lines 6-7) Listen to the bees buzz, and to climb the trees. (Lines 9-10) Look out into the meadow and watch the deer play. (Lines 11-12) People should pick the flowers, watch the streams glisten and listen to the sound of the water splashing. (Lines 13-16) When you feel at peace inhale and lay on the ground. Let nature tranquilize you. (Lines

Nature was a theme factoring in many of his works and Blake associates nature with different elements in these poems and we find that nature is seen in communion with God in the introductory poem and throughout these poems Blake points out the relationship and harmony between Man and Nature, children and Nature and he also talks about sex in Nature in `The Blossom'.