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

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.

T. Ray had not stopped at tearing her down physically, for he had the strong desire to hack away at what is left of her mental state. By painting such a scarring image of Deborah next to the one Lily made with optimism and fondness, T. Ray’s mirage overshadowed Lily’s impression. This causes her to leave him and start a new chapter in her life. T. Ray’s bestial actions were crucial reasons that influenced Lily’s decision to leave her father and begin her pathway through the perplexing road of her mother’s life.

Like August, Lily could also be a beekeeper. In addition to teaching Lily about bees, August also gives Lily multiple pieces of advice throughout the book. An example of this is when Lily and August are talking about Lily’s past. When Lily discovers the truth about her mother leaving, Lily is filled with an uncontrollable rage. August says to Lily, “Every person on the face of the earth makes mistakes, Lily. Every last one. Were all so human. Your mother made a terrible mistake but she tried to fix it.’ ‘There is nothing perfect, there is only life.”(Kidd ) August tries to give Lily advice when she is going through a difficult time in an attempt to help.

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

In the passage Lily tries to remind T-Ray that it is her birthday and that she would enjoy and gift that all the other girls have at school. He does not care about the fact that it is her birthday or that Lily wants to try to fit in and have friends at school. But when she retrieves the items her mother left behind her demeanor changes, things become positive, joyful even.

Ray states “The truth is your mother ran off and left you.” (Monk Kidd 39). This quote structures how lily feels about her mother. As Lily doesn’t believe her dad it makes her feel like her mother was not a nice mom even though she wants to think that. This quote develops how lily will try to learn more about her mother and find her. Also I feel like this made lily get angrier with T. Ray. I feel like the author put this quote in the novel because it shows that Lily’s mother didn’t want T. Ray nor Lily and lily feels that her mother loves her. Also I think the author included this in the novel to show controversy between lily and her mother and lily and her father. This is because this puts her in a spot where she wants her mom but she doesn’t. Lily also gets to know more about her mother from the boatwrights and she is very upset with the situation that is going on. Just because T.Ray said this, this made Lily set off on a mission to find out the truth of her mother, to see if she is what lily expects or if she is like T.Ray. On top of this in Lilys father T.Ray abused her. So as you read the novel you will realize that she needs to find a new house to live

Ray is not an ideal role model for his daughter, Lily, portraying a violent, selfish, and vicious attitude because of his lack of faith. T. Ray does not exemplify a caring, compassionate attitude which is a central attribute to almost every religion. T.Ray persuades her that she killed her mother. As first-grader Lily is selling his peaches on the side of the road, T.Ray says, “Then we turned around and you were standing there holding the gun. You’d picked it up off the floor.

T. Ray, Lily’s dad, is very aggressive towards Lily and he has made a big impact on the person Lily is today. “I said I’m not leaving.”, is what Lily says to T. Ray when he finds her at August’s house and tries to take her back. Although, Lily has developed into a very strong young woman and there is nothing that will make her leave, especially not with T. Ray. The Boatwright house is her home now and that is where she will stay. T. Ray has abused Lily her whole life, and because of it, she is able to stand up for herself and her decisions.

The fictional novels “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd and “The Chosen” by Chaim Potok are coming of age stories about young protagonists. “The Secret Life of Bees” depicts the life of Lily Owens as she runs away from her abusive father, T. Ray, with her black caregiver, Rosaleen. Lily is seeking a connection to her dead mother while establishing new relationships in a new town called Tiburon, SC. Similarly, ‘The Chosen” portrays the journey of Danny Saunders as he breaks away from the path paved for him while coping with the lack of a father-son relationship. Within both novels, “The Secret Life of Bees” and “The Chosen”, the lack of parental figures in both Lily and Danny’s lives causes both protagonists to seek others to fill in these positions as seen when Lily relies on Rosaleen, the Black Madonna, and the Boatwright sisters and Danny seeks support from Reuven’s family.

By all rights, Lily should have been a person of no faith. She grew up in a home where she was abused and deprived of love. However it was Lily’s innate faith that enabled her to survive. Lily truly believed that her mother had loved her. All along while living with T. Ray Lily would imagine all the nice things her mother used to do with her, like brush her hair and buy pretty dresses for her.

Throughout her fourteen years of living with surly T-Ray in the little house next to the peach groves, Lily feels numerable emotions during the unfair treatments and hardships she endured from her father. Lily does not feel worthy or meaningful at her slovenly home with T-Ray.

Lily explained how T. Ray was against reading because it would give her ideas about college. According to him, college was a waste of money for girls. From an outside perspective, a reader can see that it was not because T. Ray disliked reading; it was because he did not want her to leave him like her mother. When Lily got fed up with T. Ray, she had run away. After a couple months of searching, T. Ray had finally found Lily in the same place where her mother ran away to.

In the book Secret life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd , the main character Lily Owens has two compelling desires, ambitions, obligations, or influences that affect the outcome of the story. As the story unfolds, Lily is faced with an abusive dad and a mother who she loves very much. At the young age of four, Lily, still being a child, accidentally shoots and kills her mother during a confrontation. Now, the young child has two huge, impactful life-changing forces to deal with the rest of her life. She struggles with both of these until she decides to do something about it and go into the amazing world and figure out the truth behind it all. Since she was so young at the time of the events, she didn't remember what went down. She is searching the

As the story begins to unfold, Lily and T. Ray begin to dislike each other. Lily resents T. Ray because of what happened to her mother, which is the reason for conflict from her perspective. On the other hand, T. Ray understands that Lily killed his wife and dislikes her because of it. Despite their obvious distaste for each other, they do nothing to deal with