The Secret Life Of Bees Character Analysis

Ray was Lily’s abusive father that does not care about Lily’s clothing, sleepovers, or even football games (8). (SS) When Lily calls T. Ray and he cannot answer a simple question about her, she tries to convince herself that it does not matter by telling herself, “Don’t cry. Don’t you dare cry. So what if he doesn’t know the color you love best? So what?” (160). (SS) Lily has the idea that she is “unlovable” and wonders “who could love her” (242). (SS) But little does Lily know that a very significant figure will come into her life and will show Lily what being loved by a “family” member feels like. (PS) August Boatwright, an African American beekeeper, shows Lily her empathetic heart right when Lily walks through her door. (SS) When Lily comes to the Boatwright household seeking for a place to stay, August opens up her home to Lily, exclaiming, “Well, you can stay here till you figure out what to do. We can’t have you living on the side of the road” (72). (SS) August could have turned Lily away and told her to find another place to stay, but she graciously opens up her home to Lily. (SS) In the same way, when Lily faints of embarrassment during a Daughters of Mary gathering, August acts as if it is her fault by telling Lily, “I should’ve turned on the fans in

everything changed for both her father and her. While Lily was living in Sylvan, South

Luckily for Lily, she comes upon the Boatwright sisters once she reaches Tiburon. Because of the fact Lily does not have anyone to share her love with, she is compelled to stay and live with the Boatwrights. At one point in the novel, Lily and August are having a conversation when August asks Lily “What else do you love Lily?”(Kidd 39). Lily then thinks to herself, “No one had ever asked me that before. What did I love? Right off the bat I wanted to say that I loved the picture of my mother…but I had to swallow that back”(39). Lily does not feel comfortable enough yet that she says, “ I love writing poems, just give me something to write, and I’ll love it” despite the fact that Lily really loves August (39). She loves August so much that she would rather stay in Tiburon with the Boatwrights than be with her own father T. Ray. The loss of Deborah results in Lily going to obtain love somewhere other than her own home. This is also why Lily takes Rosaleen with her. Rosaleen is a black nanny who used to work on T. Ray’s farm. She has been there for Lily in the past but she cannot always be there one hundred percent because of her race. Due to Deborah’s death, Lily does not have a mother figure, however, he journey to Tiburon with Rosaleen proves to be a success as she finds the Boatwrights and strengthens her relationship with her nanny, Rosaleen.

When Lily decides that she wanted to escape her troubling relationship with T. Ray learn about her mother in order to understand her own life, she flees with Rosaleen into a small tow called Tiburon in South Carolina. There, she discovers a world where her mother used to live for a short while in the past.

Lily grew up subjected to strange punishments from her father. Since she was raised by T.Ray without her mother around she never got to experience normal childhood things or motherly love, except from Rosaleen. This caused her to feel as though her life was normal because she didn’t know of any other way of life, yet she still feared T.Ray and his punishments

Lily feels alone in this world. She is ostracized at school, treated with an absence of love and lives day to day knowing that she has committed irreversible acts. When she thinks about her mother all of these complications melt away in the warm allure she feels.

Pivotal Moment “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.” This quote from Norman Cousins speaks to the truth about what Lily experiences and how she lives her life with the burden of killing her Mom. In the novel Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Lily goes through hardship of killing her mother and the absences of love. It is not till she receives her Mother belongings that she truly changes and experiences this coming of age moment.

Did I do it.” Then he said, “It was you who did it, Lily. You didn’t mean it, but it was you” (Kidd 299). This had shown Lily the real truth and she found out for sure it was her who accidently killed her mother. Terrence Ray Owens had given her an impact that lasted with her for the rest of her

her hope. Seeing how far everyone has come, this also gives Lily hope and makes her spiritual.

However, Deborah’s atonement is not what provides closure to Lily’s solace. Instead August’s acceptance and love provides Lily with enough comfort to begin her process of self acceptance. Early in the book, Lily demeans herself by saying “You are unlovable, Lily Owens. Unlovable. Who could love you? Who in this world could ever love you?”(Kidd 242). Lily begins to create her own cage of dark emotions with thoughts like this. With her mother unable to Lily for the unfortunate accident that caused her death, Lily is left feeling closed off from the world and believing it is wrong for her to want to be loved again. However readers can start to see Lily opening up after August explains to her that, “Every little thing wants to be loved,” (Kidd 92). Lily begins to feel accepted and loved within the new family she has found, and she is able to begin the process of

Lily learns that her father was once madly in love with her mother, but they

This shows that T. Lay tells Lily about Deborah death. Firstly, he told her that she was cleaning out the closet. Then, he said that she was came back to get her things. T. Lay also tells Lily that Deborah never loved Lily, and she abandon her. He told Lily that multiply story which is he made up most of them, and it makes Lily straggle about her mother’s death more.

Lily has grown up without a mother because she died due to an accident caused by Lily, and not a day goes by where Lily does not feel guilty for killing her mother. One day, Lily discovers some of her mother’s belongings, and in her mother’s possessions, Lily finds a picture of a black Mary. Throughout the novel, Lily carries this picture of black Mary with her in order to keep a piece of her mother with her. The picture eventually helps Lily find a place where

This shows that Lily is not is not happy about David trying to take over her jobs and leave no attention for her. The final reason why Lily doesn't like

Yes, he could now read into that farewell all that his heart craved to find there; he could even draw from it courage not to accuse himself for having failed to reach the height of his opportunity" (349). Lily's dead body on her bed in the last chapter reminded him of their times together, and reassured him of the love he had for her throughout the story. The readers were focused more on their romantic love and it was ironic that her dead body indicated the love. Her unconsciousness helped Selden declare his love for her in silence.