DocViewer Page of 4 Zoom Pages The Secret Life Of Bees In the book “ The Secret Life Of Bees “ by Sue Monk Kidd , shows a lot a relationship between the main character names Lily Owens. The two other characters are named T.Ray which is her dad and her mom Deborah Fontanel Owens. Throughout the book Lily's relationship with of them were up and down especially with her mom . Lily’s main goal throughout the story was basically to find out more information about her mom , since she had passed away early when Lily was just a little girl , leaving her alone with her cruel dad who only punished her and didn't let her do anything . Lily's relationship with her father in the beginning of the book was really bad , she hated him …show more content…
He said “ you tell me where you are right now, do you hear me? Do you have any idea in what kind of trouble you’re in ? Busting Rosaleen out of the hospital holy shi*, what were you thinking? .“(pg.158)As Lily tried to explain what had happened T.ray went out on her again saying “ I’tell you what you were. You were a goddamn fool who went looking for trouble and found it “(pg.159) and “ i know one thing, and that’s i’m gonna find you,Lily, and when i do, i’m gonna tear your behind to pieces---.” Despite all this Lily wanted to still send him a letter but she instead ripped it to pieces. Overall their relationship was going downhill but at the end of the story , T.ray had finally found her that’s where it truly showed that under all that sorrow in his life he loved Lily, he obviously cared for her because he spent everyday looking for her . When T.ray and Lily got in a big fight for a moment T.ray actually thought Lily was Deborah( her mom ) he was saying stuff like “ how dare you leave me “(pg.294),and you “ you’re not leaving me again “(pg.294). He was traumatized when his wife passed away that he didn’t want to lose another person in his life, Lily was basically all he had left. Overall their relationship had lots of ups and downs but at the end of the day Lily loved him. Now on the other hand Lily’s relationship with her mom was a bit different. Basically Lily’s main goal in the story was to find more about her mom.
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.
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
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.
everything changed for both her father and her. While Lily was living in Sylvan, South
her hope. Seeing how far everyone has come, this also gives Lily hope and makes her spiritual.
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 and her mother had shared many similar appearance characteristics. When T. Ray had finally found Lily, he felt as if he had found his wife once again. Being constantly reminded that Deborah was no longer alive when T. Ray looked at Lily had caused him to be overprotective of
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
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
As Lily starts understanding why T.Ray is the way he is, she starts to forgive him. When T.Ray came to Sylvan to get Lily, Lily decides that she has had enough of her father’s cruelty and decides to stand up to him. T.Ray does not like that Lily is finally standing up for herself, but then he realizes that it is best if Lily stays in Sylvan and lets her
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.
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.
Although he abused Lily, he had impacted Lily’s life by telling her what really happened the day her mother died so Lily would really understand. He had abused Lily and she needed to learn the truth about her mother so she chose to run away. Lily said before she ran away, “In a matter of seconds I knew exactly what had to do-leave. I had to get away from T. Ray, who was probably on his way back this minute to do Lord-knows-what to me…” (Kidd 41).
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
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.