The Secret Life Of Bees Themes Essay

Eleanor Roosevelt once said “A woman is like a teabag, you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” Eleanor’s meaning behind these words was that a woman is much more than you expect her to be. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character, Lily, meets three African-American sisters who go through difficult situations throughout the book. After meeting the sisters, Lily begins to understand the importance of women in society. A woman figure in your life can help you with your problems. They tend to heal a broken person with their mother-like qualities. Some people don't see how significant women are to humankind.

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.

In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, the theme of feminism often reoccurs.

Sue monk kidd wrote a book called secret life of bees published on november 8, 2001 . The book was about a girl named lily and how she wants to know more about her mom and wants to run from her father T. ray. In the book their is a well developed character named June boatwright. June was going to have a wedding and her fiance left her at the alter. August , sister of June took care of a little girl named Debra Owens during the time of segregation. Since june was born during this dark time I believe that she distrusted every white person that she didn't know because most were racist during this time. Due to the segregation and the distrust she had it was hard for her to trust white people like debras daughter lily and for her to gain confidence to marry again.

The Secret Life Of Bees, written by American writer Sue Monk Kidd, is a Historical Fiction novel written in 1964. Lily is the protagonist of the novel and she faces many hardships throughout her childhood as she is left on her own to go and find her mother, she meets a group of black women who call themselves the Daughters of Mary that comfort her in her troubles with them she finds solace in a religious figure called the Black Madonna that she says is seen as Strength, Spirituality, and Motherhood. Throughout Secret Life Of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd uses symbolism to show the theme of the positive power of a symbolic figure in a person's life. Firstly, The Black Madonna is a religious figure that can be described as bringing strength and self empowerment.

The Secret Life of Bees is a coming of age novel written by Sue Monk Kidd that takes place in the year of 1964, in the heart of the civil rights movement. Lily, the main protagonist of the story, lives on a quiet peach farm in Sylvan, North Carolina with her single father, T. Ray, and her housekeeper, Rosaleen. After the accidental death of Lily's mother when she was four, Lily has become infatuated with her mother's past, despite her knowing nothing about her except for having a portrait of the black mother of Jesus with Tiburon, South Carolina written on the back. When Rosaleen is charged with assault, theft, and the disturbance of the peace after three white men have beaten her, Lily is upset and vows she will be back for Rosaleen. In the

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a book discussing the internal strife of a young white girl, in a very racist 1960’s south. The main character, Lily Owens, faces many problems she must overcome, including her personal dilemma of killing her own mother in an accident. Sue Monk Kidd accurately displays the irrationality of racism in the South during mid- 1960's not only by using beautiful language, but very thoroughly developed plot and character development. Kidd shows the irrationality of racism through the characters in her book, The Secret Life of Bees and shows that even during that time period, some unique people, were able to see beyond the heavy curtain of racism that separated people from each

In The Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kidd, we see a variety of racism. The Catholic Socical Teaching, respect for the dignity of human life, relates to the social justiuce issue, Racism within The Secret Life of Bees. As present in the book, blacks are treated unjustly by the whites. This treatment was common for blacks in throughout the country, but especially within the novel during the Civil Right Movement. Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secrect Life of Bees demonstrates racism with Rosaleens failed attempt to register to vote, June’s treatment toward Lily, and Lily and Zach not able to be togther.

Authors tend to display their personalities and personal stories throughout their work. While the words on the paper may read one thing, the deeper connections and references hidden in the writing leads to even more nail-biting questions. Sue Monk Kidd was influenced to write her novel The Secret Life of Bees by the dreadful experiences she faced during her childhood, an early passion of literature, and finally her exploration of religious beliefs. Her childhood was most notably affected in the summer of 1964, when she witnessed public cruelty to blacks that, no doubt, haunted her for the rest of her life. Clearly, her first hand experiences that summer played an important role of setting it as a Civil Rights backdrop in The Secret Life of Bees.

In the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens discovers the deeper meaning of home, family, love, and choosing what matters, through a long journey of lies and hope. After experiencing cruelties, prejudice, and escaping from the authorities, Lily set out on an adventure to find out the truth of what happened to her mother.

In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens, a 14 year old girl from South Carolina, is forced to run away from her abusive father, T. Ray. She must learn how to live her life as Lily Williams in the home of three black women, August, May, and June Boatwright. She needs to find out who her mother is before it’s too late, but will she? I chose three quotations that show the theme of the story.

The book by the name of The Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kidd is about a white girl named Lily Owens who goes on a journey to find more about her dead mother who passed away when she was young. She finds herself in the Boatwright’s house (home of the honey makers) that is strictly for African-American women because she believes that her mother spent much of her life there. Lily finds herself dealing with frequent racial issues as the story takes place in Southern Carolina during the Civil Rights Movement. By the end of this book, I can say that I enjoyed the novel because of the themes the author includes. First off, it shows the progression in Lily’s ignorance in terms of being more educated. In the beginning of the book, she thinks

This last summer, i read a book called "The secret life of bees". The book took place in the year 1964 when the system of Jim crow was operating. Jim crow was a system of anti-black law where black people were considered second class citizens meaning that white people had their rights over the black people. Lily, the main character of the book lived in this period of time where racism was really common, black people din't have the same rights as white people, and they also had to struggle a lot for them to be able to vote. Also black people would use violence as their main way of solving a problem, meaning that there was always trouble, In the book Rosaleen, lily's baby sitter, happens to be offended by a group of white people in the town so

If I were to recommend one of the books that I read this summer to a friend, it would be The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This book is not just about one girl’s journey about rising above her abusive father and standing up for herself, but it proves that family is not determined by blood. Although her father is the only family she has following her mother’s death, she can’t even bear the thought of calling him “daddy.” Her only friend is Rosalyn, the black maid, who takes on the role of her mother. Lily’s love for Rosalyn is what prompts her to start her journey to Ti born, South Carolina. Throughout her journey, she finds out who is really there for her when she needs it the most. I would like to believe that this is a life lesson that everyone will learn at some point in their life.

“I loved the idea of bees having a secret life, just like the one I was living.” –The Secret Life of Bees (page 148)