The Secret Life Of Bees Character Analysis

Phi·los·o·phy- the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, more so when considered as an academic discipline. Throughout The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens shows her thoughts on life and what it meant to her. At the start of the novel, she is an innocent girl whose reality comprised of kneeling on grits and an angry T. Ray. Once she has the truth of her mother’s death etched into her head, everything Lily considers is right became wrong. In a matter of hours, she aged from 14 to 40 years of age. With age comes wisdom, and as she progressed throughout the novel, her philosophy of life changed with her. By the end of The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens experienced love, anger, happiness, and sadness in larger doses than most 14-year-old girls. With

They live in a bright pink house, a very feminine color. The woman in the household have names pertaining to seasons. “These names span a time frame of both sowing and reaping, spring to late summer.” (Emanual, Catherine B. 2). Appropriately, August (a mature season) champions and befriends Lily providing the wisdom and security she so desperately needs. She gently guides Lily but allows her to find her own way. Under Augusts’ wing, Lily finally finds a place to nest. She

Bernard Beckett once stated, “Human spirit is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition” (“Brainyquote”). Lily was constantly thrown with problems and needed to catch them with different solutions each time. Sue Monk Kidd employed indirect characterization, symbolism, and allusions in The Secret Life of Bees to show the underlying theme of struggle. Lily became stronger with every setback that Lily faced and overcame the fear of her problems. The literary devices were employed throughout the novel to show the various methods Lily coped with the prolonging struggles she endured.

The equality between the blacks and whites was a slow progression in American history. The majority of white people were prejudice against black people causing many disputes. In the novel Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens, who was a young white girl who was able to overcome the social constraints against black people, like the Boatwright sisters. Firstly, even though Lily is a different race than the sisters, they allow her to stay in their home and care for her. Secondly, Lily felt more comfortable with the Boatwright sisters than her father. Thirdly, Lily and the sisters develop a mutual respect for each other. As a result, the relationship between Lily and the Boatwright sisters shows that the colour of skin does

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.

People make decisions everyday from simple things like whether or not to eat breakfast or larger decisions like whether or not to take the new promotion at work. These decisions are usually dawned upon us suddenly and we look to others to help decipher which decision is the ideal decision. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Melissa Owens is actuated by a variety of characters to make both ambiguous and venerable judgments throughout the novel. She did not do this on her own for she had people in her life communicating with her to finalize the verdicts on her decisions. Some of the persuaders were T. Ray, May, June, August, Zach, the Daughters of Mary, and even her mother, Deborah Fontanel Owens. Saying that, they all

“Look at me. I dive into one absurd thing after another, and here I am in the pink house.” (431). These are the words of Lily Owens in the novel The Secret Life of Bees which was written by Sue Monk Kidd. The story is about a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily who lives on a peach farm in South Carolina with her abusive father, T.Ray. Throughout the novel, Lily had shaped her life around her mother’s death. Searching for answers about her mother, Lily, and her mother-like figure Rosaleen escaped to Tiburon, South Carolina to find the Boatwright sisters. During this journey, Lily and Rosaleen develop deep relationships with the sisters. Staying with the sisters, Lily finds her answers about her mother. Whilst in search for knowledge about her mother, Lily unexpectedly finds a new place she can really

Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees and Rascal Flatts "I'm Movin' On", both adequately demonstrate that a childhood of guilt can result in difficulty forgiving oneself and others. Overcoming inner conflicts as well as finding a place of belonging and contentment is a result that comes with self-forgiveness. The Secret Life of Bees is a story of a young girl named Lily Owens who, throughout the novel, faces immense obstacles. This novel focuses on the blurred memory Lily has of the death of her mother. In the novel, the reader learns that Lily was only a young child during the death of her mother and her emotionally abusive father, T. Ray, often tells her that this death was all her fault. T. Ray implements the idea that Lily was the one to who had accidentally shot her mother with a gun which causes her to grow up living with the guilt and shame of this traumatic event that took a very valuable life from her. As the plot intensifies, Lily and her strong-willed black caretaker, Rosaleen, decide to escape T. Rays sadistic tendencies and abusive behavior. After deciding to run away from T. Ray, Lily soon finds the Boatwright sisters who had a strong connection with Lily's mother before she died. While meeting the Boatwright sisters, Lily says, "I felt like she knew what a lying, murdering, hating person I really was. How I hated T. Ray, and the girls at school, but mostly myself for taking away my mother" (Kidd 71). This quote shows the destructive effect of being blamed

This quote shows that… EXPLANATION. Furthermore, this shows that throughout this book August Boatwright represents the best motherly figure. August exhibits multiple motherly traits such as caring for Lily, being a mentor for Lily, and always accepting Lily for who she is.

“Every person on the face of the earth makes mistakes, Lily. Every last one. We’re all so human. Your mother made a terrible mistake, but she tried to fix it.” The quote just before came from the character August Boatwright, an African American woman who lives in Tiburon, South Carolina with her sisters May and June Boatwright. There are many characters in the book of The Secret Life of Bees that have this unique personality which brings many life to the story but August mainly struck my eye compared to the rest of them. She has this personality that shows her intelligence and warmhearted person that brought me to admire her.

Family can be defined as individuals who are related by blood, yet it is more so about our ability to care for a person or people and for them to care for us as well. This same theme is demonstrated by many literary texts throughout history. One, exemplary novel is The Secret Life of Bees. Within the book, there are many exchanges between characters that stresses the importance of family and how there are no limits when it comes to choosing who you consider family and who you do not consider family. The relationships that structure the storyline prove this life lesson to be true. The story follows the main character, Lily. Lily has experienced many trials in her early years of life. While these trials do not define Lily, they certainly

The Civil Right Act occurred in 1960 which allowed African-Americans more rights. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees many characters challenges and uncover the meaning of accepting taboo ideas. Set in 1964, Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees suggests that accepting taboo actions does not necessarily compromises a person’s moral compass and can lead to an awareness and understanding of the world.

One the major themes in the Secret Life of Bees is the power of women when they work together. Motherless Lily finds herself running away from her abusive father with her black maid to Tiburon . Tiburon is important because that is where her mother use to stay and feels the sense of connection with her mother that she has never had beside a pair of gloves and a picture. At Tiburon Lily and Rosaleen meet the Boatwright sisters. The longer they stay there the more they learn about personal history and self reliance , that is when they start to develop and learn to find strength within selves and trust each other , but this is also how female companionship is found in unexpected places , how have the Boatwrights helped Lily , and how powerful

indentionWhen T. Ray is leaving in Italicize titles of long works. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ,spacing Lily runs up to him and asks him if she was the one who killed her mother. Kidd makes the scene in the book seem sad but happy because of T. Ray’s answer and the her turning around to the women on the porch. In the movie Lily asks T. Ray if her mother just came to get her things. T. Ray told her no, Deborah had come to get Lily. The director of the movie changed this scene to make the whole thing heartwarming, this is because when T. Ray tells her that Deborah came back it was to get her and that is what Lily had been wanting to know the whole time.