The Secret Life Of Bees Essay

Animosity for someone can be held for a long time, and is occasionally taken out on others. June Boatwright held a grudge against Lily’s mom because August, June’s sister, had worked for her family. Given the time, this is more upsetting for June. When Lily arrives, June is fairly hostile towards Lily, but later accepts her while wrestling in sprinklers. Lily shows her happiness about the situation when she thinks, “I wasn’t exactly sure of everything we were laughing about---I was just glad we were doing it together” (Kidd 169). This event occurring helps both Lily and June understand their issues adding to the faults in their relationship. Maturation takes time, no matter what age one may be. Lily and June begin understanding that both have been immature, but were able to accept it after they set their differences aside. Later in the novel, Lily’s father, T. Ray comes to the Boatwrights’ house to take Lily home. As Lily and T. Ray argue, Lily is reminded why she left home. In the beginning of this event, T. Ray is still determined to take her home, shown when he says, “You think I’m gonna walk out of her and leave you? I don’t even know these damn people” (Kidd 296). T. Ray is still in denial about Lily’s current situation, and the fact that she would rather stay with these women than go home with him. Although this should not be a surprise to him, he is still shocked and refuses to give up. That is, until he watches the

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.

I think she included facts about the bee culture as symbolism of Lily's life. Lily is like a bee in a large colony. In the beginning she is isolated from the “queen” (or a mother) and so she begins to go crazy. In the end though she finds a “queen” and finds herself as part of a “colony”, or team. One bee quote from chapter nine says, “The whole fabric of honey bee society depends on an innate ability to send and receive messages,to encode and decode information.”-p.165. This is the chapter when May commits suicide. This shows how when May didn’t receive the message that Zach was in jail she collapsed. It also shows how because May could not decode whether it was the sadness of hers or others, therefore she committed suicide. Another example is the bee quote from chapter thirteen which says, “A worker [bee] is just over a centimeter long and weighs only sixty milligrams; nevertheless, she can fly with a load heavier than herself.”-p.257. This shows that even though Lily is only 14 she can carry the weight of knowing she killed her mother, and knowing her mother left her, yet still live her life

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.

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

Lily longed for love and attention, something her father and caregiver, Rosaleen couldn't seem to give her. The reality was that Lily lived in a time that segregation was intact and John Fitzgerald Kennedy was trying to launch rockets to the moon. The author used symbolism, for example space, to show the lost nature of Lily’s character. “Fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit” (1). Lost in thought, Lily always was thinking about what would happen if her mother was around. She was forced to follow her father's orders or she would be hit or shoved. This made her want to create as much distance between her and her father as possible. On the back of her mother's picture it said Tiburon, South Carolina. Maybe in Tiburon she could have a better life and bring her closer to her mother? Lily and Rosaleen hatched a plan to escape. As they left town they were confronted by a group of white men. Rosaleen spat on their shoes in protest of her rights. Then she was beaten up and sent to jail. T. Ray (Lily’s father) was furious! At this pivotal moment Lily knew she must leave. Confidence grew throughout Lily, she got Rosaleen out of the hospital and left to Tiburon. Before she left she gave T. Ray a note saying, “Dear T. Ray don’t bother looking for me. Lily P.S. People who tell lies like you should rot in hell” (42). This is a major turning point in this book because Lily had never stood up to her father like that.

In the long, winding road of life, youth are often lost, in need of some direction. And while they traverse this road, mothers, or at least motherly figures, act as their guide, providing assistance for the many tough decisions that are scattered throughout this road. Similarly, in Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, the motherless protagonist, Lily Owens, is traversing adolescence. Eventually, her adventures as a runaway lead her to a bright pink house in Tiburon, South Carolina, where she discovers many women to whom she can look for guidance, love, and support. Through Lily’s relationship with these women, preconceived notions about mothers are shattered and a whole new conceptualization of motherhood is presented as Lily is able to look to not one, but many women as a motherly figure and finally love herself.

As readers first start the novel, the main character, and protagonist, Lily Owens is seen as a determined 14-year-old girl who will stop at nothing to find out more about her mother. After getting into a fight with T. Ray, Lily Owens thinks to herself, “That's when it came to me. What if my mother wasn’t leaving true? What if T. Ray made it up to punish me? … But I had such a moment right then, standing in my own ordinary room. I heard a voice say, Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open. In a matter of seconds, I knew exactly what I had to do -leave.” (Kidd 41) This quote gives the readers a sneak peek at how determined Lily truly is. She takes the risk of running away from her abusive father and the house she calls home. Once Lily runs away and breaks Rosaleen out of jail, she comes up with a plan as to how they will escape Sylvan. “‘We’re going to Highway Forty and

No one can go through life without other people having an impact on their existence. They may have an impact that can change us, for better or worse. In the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character, Lily, runs away from home and comes across many different people on her adventure. The characters that have the greatest impact on her are: T. Ray, her father; Rosaleen, her caretaker; and August, her catalyst for self-healing. Lily starts her life with her father, who is the dominant negative influence in her life. Lily loses her mother when she is only four years old. Her caretaker, Rosaleen, steps into her life as a maternal figure and exerts a positive impact over Lily. After running away from home, Lily, with Rosaleen,

Instead of relying on another power that is above her, she takes her fate into her own hands and tries to save her own home. This self reliance develops early, and can also be seen much later in her life. When she is twenty-seven, Lily learns that her husband has a secret second family. She leaves him immediately and manages to annul the marriage. Although he had taken all of her money from their joint bank account, she does not go back to her parents in Arizona or try to find another husband to take care of her. Instead, she begins preparing for her future alone. “Since I obviously couldn't count on a man to take care of me, what I needed more than ever was a profession. I needed to get my college education and become a teacher . . . the time flew by, and when both the dispensation and the acceptance letter arrived, I had enough money for a year of college” (p. 90). Instead of wondering what to do and moping about her ex-husband, Lily is practical and knows what she wants to do next. She also mentions that she cannot depend on a husband to take care of her. If she did not have to fend for

The Secret Life of Bees Chapter 14 Essay In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, a young girl named Lily struggles with growing up with only a harsh father and a housemaid while trying to find her own place in the world. At the age of four, Lily accidentally shoots her mother while trying to help her in a fight against Lily’s dad. Ever since that day, Lily has a difficult time trying to be a lady and trying to cope with her somewhat abusive father. One day, when Lily is fourteen, the housemaid Rosaleen is sent to jail for pouring dip spit on white men’s shoes but later gets assaulted by the men and is taken to the hospital where Lily goes to sneak her out.

Lily lived her life knowing that she killed her mother instead of living her life to the fullest. Lily is trouble with so many emotion in her life that she doesn't relive that she needs to live the life that she was given.

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.

In the book The Secret Life of Bees, author Sue Monk Kidd uses the literary devices of theme, theme development and symbolism to make the story complex and interesting. These devices thoroughly advance the story bringing more meaning and room for interpretation. The author describes several themes in the story, allowing the reader to learn from the experiences described by the story. The author also includes hints of symbolism throughout the book, creating depth and dimension by bringing meaning and importance to even the simplistic of things. Finally, the author embraces them development through furthermore elaborating on her strong theme

I am at the halfway point in the novel The Secret Life of Bees. Written by Sue Monk Kidd, the story is extraordinary so far as it instantly had me with the setting, Southern Carolina in 1964, I knew I would be interested. The story is written in first person by the main character, Lily Owens. It is almost like her own written story as she mentions she would like to go to school to be a writer. This is shown in her narrative when it almost seems like she is trying to address the reader as she is telling the story to us. She says a lot before thinking it through. She writes it as it just came to her mind. From her bluntness, you can still tell she has a good sense of humour.