The Secret Life of Bees Essay

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

“What is bound will be unbound. What is cast down will be lifted up. This is the promise of Our Lady” (228). Mary, known in the book as Our Lady of Chains, is an important aspect of Lily Owen’s epic quest. Though her journey is not that of legend, her quest is epic in its own right. Through her own sense of spirituality, Lily is able to overcome all obstacles in her way. Lily Owen’s journey in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kid functions as a literary quest as she struggles to overcome her abusive father, her own guilt, and her anger towards her mother on her journey self-discovery.

Ever since the death of Lily’s mother, Deborah, T. Ray has made it physically and mentally difficult for Lily to cope and move forward in life. According to the novel, he tells Lily, “The truth is, your sorry mother ran off and left you. The day she died, she’d come back for her things, that’s all. You can hate me all you want, but she’s the one who left you.” (Kidd 39) This indeed shows T. Ray’s inability to control his anger but also shows his cruel nature towards his own kin. Throughout the entire novel, T. Ray has led Lily to believe that Deborah intentionally left, even

She also begins to understand emotion better, and think about it. “‘What…. do you love, Lily?’ No one had ever asked me this before. What did I love?” (Kidd 139). Under T. Ray’s care, Lily was still developing her sense of self and beginning to feel deeper, but T. Ray didn’t really allow her to feel or be who she was. When Lily is finally freed from T. Ray’s stifling attitude, she has the freedom to explore being a teenaged girl, and to figure out who she it with Rosaleen, August, May, June and Zach. In the story, Lily is finding out who she is, and how she feels. This new awareness of emotion is imperative to that search. Lily is becoming more aware of her emotions in this

The novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, is about a teenage girl named Lily who lives in South Carolina during the 1960s. Throughout the story, Lily struggles with the guilt of killing her mother Deborah as a child. This guilt leads Lily to run away from her father and go looking for any information she can find about her mother. She comes across the Boatwrights who know about Deborah and tell Lily about her life. August steps in as the mother figure in her life and helps her blossom into a bright young woman. Much of this information is a surprise to Lily. Lily goes through changes mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Sue Monk Kidd uses literary devices to show the guilt Lily feels. Kidd uses the techniques of simile, imagery,

As the years pass many things get old and lose worth, like books, but what can never get old or lose value is the message each book holds with it forever. In the very beginning of the book, “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, the understanding of the message delivered is that Lily’s mother died while she was very young, and she does not know what happened. Even though this book takes place in the early sixties and moves forward to almost early seventies, but no matter what time period of the events taking place or the circumstances, the challenges Lily faces in Secret Life Of Bee’s are still relevant even today.

The Secret Life of Bees is written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. The movie was made in 2008 and the book was made in 2001. The movie was placed in South Carolina during the Civil Rights era. This movie deals with racism, guilt and domestic abuse. Bythewood talks about love between colored people, and the civil rights movement becoming a law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Secret Life of bees explores diversity in a positive way by revealing the racism of the time, by showing the interracial love of a couple, and representing historical improvements of race relations.

The secret of bees, my opinions were questioned more than once. Several of the statements I completely agreed with, while others I disagreed strongly.

Upon April’s suicide, the world mysteriously becomes May’s alternative twin. All the misery and racism happening in the world comes straight to May. She feels all the suffering out there. In order to confront with the world’s endless episodes of distress, May uses a wailing wall; a wall where people, like May, go to mourn and get rid of their grief. “It’s like we have a built-in protection around our hearts that keeps the pain from overwhelming us. But May-she doesn’t have that. Everything just comes into her-all the suffering out there-and she feels as if it’s happening to her” (Kidd 95). Due to the lake of protection around May’s delicate heart, any suffering, regardless of race, religion, skin colour, or socio-economic class will easily touch her. Every time May hears or sees any kind of racism happening to anyone, anywhere, at anytime, she will immediately start suffering physically and psychologically. Since the world has no end to its suffering circumstances, May’s sufferings will endure. Due to her fragile, sensitive heart, May could not put up with all the suffering associated with the world’s agony; she has to put it to an end. May’s numerous sufferings vanishes upon hearing that her beloved black friend, Zachary was incarcerated. Zach is in prison as he stands up for his fellow negro friends against a gang of white men. When May hears about her Zach’s imprisonment, she instantly excuses herself from her sisters to go down to a river within a forest nearby her residence. Her devastated sisters discover that May commits suicide as she could not bear the weight of the world much longer. May’s explains what she thinks in her suicide note saying, “Dear August and June, I’m sorry to leave you like this… I’m tired of carrying around the weight of the world. I’m just going to lay it down now… Love, May” (Kidd 210). Fed up with world’s agony, May places her soul in God’s

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.

Eighth to ninth grade is a big transition no matter where you go. Grades mean more, sports get more intense, and everyone gets more dramatic. But, the transition to high school also comes with a new level of maturity, and that should be reflected in the reading choices. I think The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a book that everyone should read at some point but there are some mature points that might not be the best for rising ninth graders. For one, the suicide committed by May could trigger some kids depending on their medical and personal backgrounds. Also 14 year olds reading about suicide may not be the best choice at any point. No matter what the age, maturity has to grow as the person grows, and going from middle school to

Without doubt, the plot of this book surely does rise, twist, and fall. Throughout the story, the hurdles Lily face become higher and higher, therefore she must surpass them one by one. The book starts out with it’s initial situation when me meet Lily, the withdrawn teenager with no companionship besides her abusive father and her nanny, the latter of whom, she actually gets along with well. Lily, in her isolation, claims that bees dance around her room at night. Trying to tell her father about these bees award her with nothing but shouting. The plot of our story rises when Lily and Rosaleen head out to Tiburon, so that Rosaleen can vote as an African American woman. Lily tags along so that she can atleast get out of the house on her birthday.

In the 1960s United States started some problems. They treated color people different from whites. In the book “The Secret Life of Bees” the author talked about the civil right which is related to Jim Crow that happen in the 1960s.

Most of the time you will find, that water with a little bit of honey in it, tends to taste a whole lot better than blood. In the beautifully composed piece of literature, The Secret Life of Bees, we follow the struggles of Lily Owens, as she realizes the true meaning of family and the transcendent power of love. The brilliant author behind this artwork, Sue Monk Kidd, brings forth the hardships of a motherless child with an abusive father, and the Negro community of 1964. I highly recommend this book to any individual that has any, if even the slightest, spark of curiosity within them, to understand the hardships and racial conflict that took place in a time where the abuse and discountenance of a human being was of the norm. This book has

I’m not sure how Kim choose The Secret Life of Bees for her students. I’ve never read the book, but I’ve seen the movie. The book/movie definitely addresses the topics on the role of women, along with the issues of racism and faith. The book is set in 1964 in South Carolina at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Jim Crow Laws existed and ‘separate but equal’ plus the struggle for equal voting rights. These can and are sensitive and hard topics to address, but worthy.