Swarming Bees Character Analysis

(TS) In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens does not have an empathetic relationship with her parents as a result of the loss of her mother and an abusive father; however, Lily gains a new family figure, August Boatwright, who shows her the true empathy that is present between a parent and their child. (PS) Lily Owens’s absence of a mother and a “real” father causes Lily not to have a relationship with her parents that is filled with affection for one another. (SS) When Lily lost her mother, Deborah Fontell, she was told that she had shot and killed Deborah. (SS) Lily would say, “I would meet her saying, ‘Mother forgive. Please forgive,’” and she would kiss my skin till I grew chapped and tell me I was not to blame”

The equality between the blacks and whites was a slow progression in American history. The majority of white people were prejudice against black people causing many disputes. In the novel Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens, who was a young white girl who was able to overcome the social constraints against black people, like the Boatwright sisters. Firstly, even though Lily is a different race than the sisters, they allow her to stay in their home and care for her. Secondly, Lily felt more comfortable with the Boatwright sisters than her father. Thirdly, Lily and the sisters develop a mutual respect for each other. As a result, the relationship between Lily and the Boatwright sisters shows that the colour of skin does

In the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character, Lily Owens struggles with the notion that she killed her mother and has to live with her abusive, neglectful father, T-Ray. Throughout, Lily searches for information about her mother and why she left her. Unexpectedly, she stumbles upon new mother figures that play an important role in changing Lily to the person she is in later. The typical sequence of a hero’s journey includes a departure, initiation and trials, and reintegration into society. By the end, Lily Owens developes into a more mature, independent young women after experiencing a difficult childhood.

“At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound” ( Kidd 1). This quote represents the story about a girl named lily and how her life turns around after one day. In this journal I will evaluate why lily decided to leave, question why T-ray is so abusive to Lily and predict where lily where go next.

“There is nothing perfect,’ August said from the doorway. ‘There is only life” (Kidd 256). This quote from The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd explains Lily Owens life, a young girl with an unloving father and a mother who abandoned her and was later shot and killed by her own daughter, Lily. Lily has a hard time finding her place in the world and understanding why her life is the way it is. She decides it is time for her to take charge of her own life. She finds herself in Tiburon, South Carolina with her nanny Rosaleen and three black women, August, June and May who unravel the story to her mother’s past. Lily’s story can be seen in different layers, the most significant layers are the religious, thematic and symbolic layers. These three layers are essential when trying to gain understanding of The Secret Life of Bees.

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.

Lily, a fourteen-year-old white girl, lives alone with her father, a peach farmer, in Sylvan, South Carolina. As the novel opens, she lies in bed, waiting for the bees that live in the walls of her bedroom to emerge and fly around, as they do most nights. T. Ray, her father, is abusive and does not believe her story about the bees. Her nanny and housekeeper, Rosaleen, believes Lily but also thinks Lily is foolish for trying to collect the bees in a jar. Lily recalls her very last memory of her mother, Deborah, who died when Lily was a small child. Lily thinks that she played a horrible part in Deborah’s death. In a flashback, readers learn that T. Ray told Lily that she accidentally shot Deborah while Deborah and T. Ray were fighting one day.

T. Ray breaks the news that Lily’s mom had left Lily with him and had come back to pack up her stuff when the big argument between he and Lily’s mom happened. At that point, Lily has enough of T. Ray, so she starts to have a mini-mental breakdown. Amidst the chaos going on inside her mind, she hears a voice say, “Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open” (41). That little voice means all the difference in the world to Lily. To Lily, it is as if her mother is saying to leave T. Ray and start a new life. Right then she knows that she has to

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.

This quote shows that… EXPLANATION. Furthermore, this shows that throughout this book August Boatwright represents the best motherly figure. August exhibits multiple motherly traits such as caring for Lily, being a mentor for Lily, and always accepting Lily for who she is.

In view of that, relationships between characters in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ are clearly similar and different to ‘The Secret of Bees’. Lily explains her relationship by saying, “Rosaleen had worked for us since my mother died. My daddy– who I called T. Ray because ‘Daddy’ never fit him” (2). This quotation from ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ is by Lily, narrating her relationship with Rosaleen and T. Ray. Rosaleen treats Lily like her daughter as she compliments Lily and gives advice on her decision of fashion school. Comparatively, when Lily tells her father T. Ray about the swarm of bees in her room, T. Ray does not believe her daughter and instead threatens punishment. This quote states Rosaleen genuinely cares for Lily as she thinks for her best while T. Ray does not treat her own

Family can be defined as individuals who are related by blood, yet it is more so about our ability to care for a person or people and for them to care for us as well. This same theme is demonstrated by many literary texts throughout history. One, exemplary novel is The Secret Life of Bees. Within the book, there are many exchanges between characters that stresses the importance of family and how there are no limits when it comes to choosing who you consider family and who you do not consider family. The relationships that structure the storyline prove this life lesson to be true. The story follows the main character, Lily. Lily has experienced many trials in her early years of life. While these trials do not define Lily, they certainly

In many scenes from Kidd’s novel, T. Ray appears to treat his daughter in a cruel way. He usually offers threatening looks towards her instead of providing her with paternal tenderness and delicacy. Lily describes his “Looking” at her “in his hard way” (27). In fact, Lily breaks from this abusive world and tries to create her own. In so doing, she manages to access her mother’s realm through tracing her presence in the pictures that she holds in a box.

During the reading of The Secret Life of Bees I was able to encounter a connection between Lily and Ponyboy from The Outsiders, two characters who share numerous similarities between both novels. Lily Owens, the 14 year old protagonist in The Secret Life of Bees becomes fed up with her bitter and cruel father T. Ray moments after she is bailed out of jail due to the actions her stand in mother Rosaleen has taken. For the past 14 years, Lilly has lived with the pain her father put her through mentally and emotionally, but that all ends and she no longer can cope with the pain. After soaking in the painful words that T. Ray spoke about Deborah, Lily’s mother, it was time for her to run away and start a new life. Lily wanted to get as far away from T. Ray, therefore she wouldn’t have to worry about him any longer.

Braden Quinn Miss Matthews American Literature 11 March 2016 Sue Monk Kidd, Two Year Best Selling Book On The New York Times List