Who Is The Beehive In The Secret Life Of Bees

Conflict is a key aspect in all pieces of literature. Without it, works would be very boring, predictable and would not be able to draw the reader in. There is usually one main conflict the protagonist faces, whether it is against an evil villain or the evil inside their own self. In the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the courageous protagonist, Lily, struggles with an internal conflict with the guilt of possibly being the cause of her mother's death and the absence of knowledge about her mother. Following a clue left by her mother, Lily runs away from home and meets the "calendar sisters" in Tiburon, SC. There, she is finally able to discover who her mother actually was and learn the truth behind her mother's death: that Lily had accidentally shot her. Upon uncovering the whole truth, Lily is finally able to begin to forgive herself and shrug off the heavy guilt that had burdened her for years. Through Lily's struggle to figure out who her mother was and accept what happened to her, Sue Monk Kidd wishes to communicate that even if something

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.

The major conflict of The Secret Life of Bees is Lily running away. For the majority of the book Lily is trying to tell August that she ran away, and why she ran away. Lily ran away for many reasons, one of the main reasons is the way that T. Ray (her father) treated her. Another reason is Lily wanted to know more about her mother that died in a shot gun accident, and August could answer that. Towards the end of the novel Lily told August about her running away, and then she asked about her mother. This

Nurse bees have a gift for nurturing, and they always feed and care for all the baby bees. August depicts all of these aspects in her every day actions. She was once even a maid who raised a small girl, Deborah Fontanel, to womanhood. August is also a big sister, so she has the inclination to nurture and care for May and June whenever they need her. Nurse bees are substitute mothers to all the baby bees in the hive. August is similar to them in that way as well because she acts as a substitute mother to Lily since Lily's mother is dead. August also has the obligation, as a beekeeper, to take care of all the bees in all the hives that she controls. She has to keep them cool in the summer and carefully keep the whole bee society running smoothly. The queens have to be healthy, the workers have to do their jobs, and none of this would happen without August taking care of everything. A nurse bee is the most self-sacrificing bee of all. They give up their freedom to take care of others. When it came to the color of the house, August even said, “Well this is the tackiest color I’ve ever seen, and we’ll have half the town talking about us, but if it can lift May’s heart like

First, Deborah Fontanel, Lily’s mother was thought to have left Lily when she was young, but she didn’t believe any of that. Her mother became more prominent in Lily’s life despite not being with her when Lily’s spots a picture of Black Mary on a honey jar, which her mother also had. “I mean the identical, very same, exact ones as my mother’s.” (Kidd 65) This was so important because Lily would not have discovered the trio of beekeeping sisters which led to her answers and thus would not have found the Black Mary Statue who helped her in other ways.

In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, a young girl named Lily struggles with growing up with only a harsh father and a housemaid while trying to find her own place in the world. At the age of four, Lily accidentally shoots her mother while trying to help her in a fight against Lily’s dad. Ever since that day, Lily has a difficult time trying to be a lady and trying to cope with her somewhat abusive father. One day, when Lily is fourteen, the housemaid Rosaleen is sent to jail for pouring dip spit on white men’s shoes but later gets assaulted by the men and is taken to the hospital where Lily goes to sneak her out. In order to help incorporate the story’s title into the story, the author has written epigraphs, that are about bees, for every chapter in the book. Chapter two’s epigraph says “ On leaving the old nest, the swarm normally flies only a few metres and settles. Scout bees look for a suitable place to start the new colony. Eventually, one location wins favor and the whole swarm takes to the air”(34). This epigraph parallels the story because of the similarities in how bees move on and look for somewhere to start their new lives and how Lily and Rosaleen try to start their new

"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.”

Like August, Lily could also be a beekeeper. In addition to teaching Lily about bees, August also gives Lily multiple pieces of advice throughout the book. An example of this is when Lily and August are talking about Lily’s past. When Lily discovers the truth about her mother leaving, Lily is filled with an uncontrollable rage. August says to Lily, “Every person on the face of the earth makes mistakes, Lily. Every last one. Were all so human. Your mother made a terrible mistake but she tried to fix it.’ ‘There is nothing perfect, there is only life.”(Kidd ) August tries to give Lily advice when she is going through a difficult time in an attempt to help.

This concept leads Lily to believe that the Virgin Mary is in many ways her mother, even though she is a mother to thousands of other people as well (Emanuel 41). Lily receives support and love from August and the community like the bees, though it is a secret to the rest of the world. The bees act as pathfinders for Lily as she learns more about herself, along with Zach

The essence of the relationship between a mother and child is a mutual ascendency in regards to identity. Children are subject to an instinctive longing for a mother. It is the mother’s influence that guides them in their process of discovering all the realities the world posses and in that processing discerning their identity. Conversely when a woman becomes a mother the presence of her child causes her to evaluate and develop her identity under the pretense of motherhood. Paula Nicolson touches on the value of both these scenarios in her article “Motherhood and Women’s Lives” where she expresses how the mother child relationship gives the pretense for both parties to find their authentic identities (Nicolson). Sue Monk Kidd evaluates the

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.

“Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about.” (Kidd 148). In the book August told Lily about how bees live and how the queen bee lays eggs that become worker bees later on. This make Lily think about herself and her life as a girl. She realizes that the queen bee is like a mother to all the thousands of worker bees in the hive. this realization makes Lily understand that even though she never lived with her mother, doesn’t mean that she could not have a motherly figure to love her and take care of her like her mother would have. Also later in the story, Lily understand the statue of Mary also symbolizes a mother to thousands. Understanding this

The Secret Life of Bees begins in the town of Sylvan, South Carolina and tells the story of 14-year-old Lily Melissa Owens. She lives on a peach orchard with her neglectful and abusive father, T. Ray. They have Black maid named Rosaleen who is a companion and caretaker of Lily. The book opens with Lily's discovery of bees in her bedroom and the story of how she killed her mother. The eve before her birthday Lily sneaks out into the peach orchard to visit the box of her mother’s belongings which is buried there however before she can hide them T. Ray finds her and punishes her. The next day Rosaleen and Lily head into town where Rosaleen is arrested for pouring her bottle of tobacco spit on three white men. Lily breaks her out of prison and they begin hitchhiking toward Tiburon, SC, a town Lily had seen on the back of a picture of a black Virgin Mary which her mom had owned. They hitch a ride to Tiburon and once there, they buy lunch at a general store, and Lily sees a picture of the same Virgin Mary on a jar of honey. She asks the store owner where it came from and he gives her directions to the Boatwright house. They then meet the makers of the honey: August, May and June Boatwright, who are all black. Lily makes up a wild story about being recently orphaned. The sisters welcome Rosaleen and Lily into their home. They are then introduced to beekeeping and the Boatwright’s way of life. Lily learns more about the Black Madonna honey that the sisters make. She begins working

The Secret Life Of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd, should be considered a classic because of its unique way of relating the characters and the story line to the reader's emotions and to history. In The Secret Life Of Bees- and all books- descriptive detail and skillful writing is crucial. The principle reason this story is a classic is because of how Sue Monk Kidd was able to use a metaphor throughout the entire story. Bees represent society and life and without help from other bees and the queen bee, the hive dies- an incredible and unique way to show the readers the importance of appreciating life. Classics need numerous features to be considered one of the highest quality, and The Secret Life Of Bees has very many. Italo Calvino, Nelson

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.