The Secret Life Of Bees Analysis

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,

Sue Monk Kidd has carefully crafted a book rich in symbolism with special emphasis on bees. Each section’s heading features the inner workings of this communal society (Emanuel, Catherine, B. 3). An epigraph at the beginning relating to bees sets the tone for the each chapter. The first chapter epigraph states: The Queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness.” Man and Insects.

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

Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of a 14-year-old white girl, Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of her mother's death. Lily meets new people and they help her realize who she is and how the world is around her. Throughout the novel Kidd uses Lily’s various situations to express the theme. Kidd uses imagery, symbolism and similes to express the overall theme which is forgiveness and love.

“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.

‘The Secret Life of Bees’ includes loveable characters that each have their own unique personalities. In Erin Collazo Miller’s book review, he states that “’The Secret Life of Bees’ has loveable, well written characters.” Lily is determined to find out about her mother; even if it means going to Tiburon, South Carolina. In ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ it says, “I always promised myself one day, when I was grown up enough, I would take the bus over there. I wanted to go everyplace she had ever been.” (pg.15) Rosaleen is a strong and brave woman who doesn’t give up on what she wants. In the ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ it says, “Coming alongside the men, Rosaleen lifted her snuff jug, which was filled with black spit, and calmly poured across the tops of the men’s shoes…” (pg.32) Rosaleen is on her way to vote when these men give her a hard time. She however, doesn’t let them get in her way. She is brave to do something like that.

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

In the novel The Secret life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character Lily uses the symbolism of bees to convey her transition from a prejudiced mindset against African Americans to one of acceptance. This novel shows the different attitudes of people towards African Americans in 1964. Lily goes through the journey of discovering new perspectives and finding that African Americans are not what people portray them to be.

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

The Secret Life of Bees is a novel written by Sue Monk Kidd. It is about a girl, named Lily, who goes to another town to seek answers about her mother. In the novel Lily starts maturing throughout the course of months. Lily has many mother figures who teach her different lessons. August teaches Lily that race doesn’t matter, June teaches Lily about love, and Rosaleen teaches Lily that the truth isn’t always good.

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.

In the book “ The Secret Life Of Bees “ by Sue Monk Kidd , shows a lot a

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a novel about a girl named Lily. Lily lives in South Carolina in 1964. She has an abusive father and a mother who died 10 years ago. Rosaleen, Lily’s mother figure and caretaker, got into trouble and got into jail. Lily then decided to escape with Rosaleen to Tiburon, South Carolina. There they find the beekeeping Boatwright sisters (August, June and May) who hold the secret to Lily’s mother’s past. In the book The Secret Life of Bees there are many sad negative events; however, every negative event has a positive outcome.

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.

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