The Secret Life Of Bees Book Comparison

“‘People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different’” (Kidd 293). This quote from August Boatwright perfectly encompasses what happens to Lily during The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. All throughout the novel, the increased maturity of Lily’s character is very noticeable. At the beginning of the book, Lily, a 14-year-old white girl who is living in the South in the 1960’s, accepts segregation without questioning it. By the end, her perspective on life and others changes to reflect a more sophisticated woman. Through characterization, Lily matures as a person because she learns how to face conflicts as an adult and treat people in a grown-up way.

The devastating tragedy of losing a person's mother at an early age can drastically affect that person's life. It can impact the way someone thinks, corresponds with others, and the way someone handles themselves emotionally. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees Lily Owens loses her mother at the early age of four. During Lily's journey she finds comfort and support in the women that she meets. Throughout the novel Lily goes through many changes because of the impact of the motherly figures of the Black Mary, Rosaleen, and the Calendar Sisters.

First of all, The Secret Life of Bees is a 1960’s novel based on a child named Lily, who was bossed around and treated unfairly by her dad T-Ray, which he himself had a black maid named Rosaleen working for him since before Lily was born. Lily and Rosaleen had a very special relationship that had loyalty, trust,

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.

The most important part of The Secret Life Of Bees was at the end when T. Ray tried to take Lily back and everyone at the honey farm and all of the Daughters Of Mary refused to let Lily go because they considered her family. I feel this is the most important part of the book because it showed that Lily’s relationships with people she is not related to by blood(and are not the same race) are stronger than the one she has with her own father.

According to Lily “People who think dying is the worst thing don’t know anything about life.” (2) The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd is a coming-of-age written novel. Sue Monk Kidd also wrote other books such as, the Mermaid Chair, and the Invention of wings. This novel took place in 1964, in South Carolina in two towns called, Sylvan and Tiburon, during the civil rights movement. The protagonist and narrator of this novel is Lily Owens, she is 14 and is rejected by her parents. T. Ray Owens (lily’s father) is the antagonist, which is cruel. In this novel there is cruelty that you will see throughout the novel and parts of the novel you will experience a show of hope.

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.

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.

“People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different.” Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees, highlights this theme in her work. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the horrendous events that Lily Owens encounters in her young life are necessary in her journey to adulthood as she develops into a strong, resilient, loving, forgiving young woman. The result of Lily’s mom dying when Lily was only four years old, T. Ray abusing Lily day in and day out, and Lily experiencing racism first hand, have all been a big part of Lily’s young life and have shaped her into the person she is today.

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 features a rich layer of themes that allows the reader to digest the novel deeply. A theme that provides content for this layer is motherhood. Throughout the novel, Lily sees the impact that having a mother, the one person that you can depend on, can have in life. At the very end of the novel, when Lily is adopted by August and the Daughters of Mary, she feels the love of each of her new mothers, and the combined internal love coming from herself and Mary. With all of this newly discovered love that she had received so little of in the past, Lily said, “All these mothers. I have

“There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves, we feel that no one else has a right to blame us. It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.” (The Picture of Dorian Grey). The Book Thief, a historical fiction novel by Markus Zusak set in Nazi, Germany and The Secret Life of Bees, a civil rights era novel by Sue Monk Kidd both offer different interpretations about coping/dealing with guilt. Zusak offers that one should channel their own guilt into making things right and doing what’s best to complete the circle. Kidd offers that to get over guilt, one has to forgive themselves, move on and learn from their mistakes.

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

One theme in The Secret Life of Bees is how important mothers are. After Lily’s mother dies, she is devastated and carries it with her wherever she goes. When they ran away together, Lily realizes just how much of a mother Rosaleen has been for her. Rosaleen is the only person in her life that loved and cared for her. Lily learns how mothers can come in all shapes and sizes.