The Secret Life of Bees Movie Review Essay

In life in general, every single human being needs a mother, even if they do not share the same skin color, circumstance, or even any biological connection. All an individual needs is an maternal touch from another. Even though Rosaleen acts as a mother when caring and raising Lily, Rosaleen’s rambunctious and somewhat crass personality prevents the motherly bond between Rosaleen and Lily. However, August Boatwright, a beekeeper from South Carolina grants Lily with the “mother’s love” that she had never received before that day. August gave Lily firm guidance when wandering through the darkness of her past, complete understanding and encouragement when faced with challenges, and criticized when needed. Early in the novel, Lily states “You can tell which girls lack mothers by the look of their hair...” (3). Yet, August presents Lily with wisdom rather than brushing Lily’s hair, teaching her about boys and dating, and so forth. “You have to find a mother inside yourself. We all do. Even if we already have a mother, we still have to find this part of ourselves inside” (306). For August, the typical motherly love that she exhibits is the one supplied by the Virgin Mary, the mother of God. August shows Lily the undying love that can exist everywhere but can only be made and seen by the Virgin Mary. “This is the autumn of

Once Lily accepts what she has done and learns that her mother's death did not make her a bad person, her conflict can finally be resolved. As a result of resolving her conflict, she is able to mature because of the struggle, just like other people are able to grow and evolve from their own mistakes. This is evident when she admits "Before coming here, my whole life had been nothing but a hole where my mother should have been, and this hole had made me different, left me always aching for something, but never once did I think what he'd lost or how it might've changed him" (Kidd 293). Lily finally realizes that her mother's death has not only affected her, but also her father, T. Ray, and the calendar sisters. Through the course of Lily's struggle, Lily learns a lot about life and matures into a wiser

Lily starts off stuck living in an unloving, abusive household and decides to free herself from the negative atmosphere that she had been living in her whole life. Lily is perpetually abused by her father. He forces her to kneel on Martha White's, gets exasperated every time she speaks, and yells at her for no reason. Lily is not the only one noticing the terrible treatment, Rosaleen does too. Once after Lily had to kneel on the Martha White's Rosaleen said to her, “Look at you, child. Look what he’s done to you” (Kidd 25). Noticing the unloving treatment Lily gets, Rosaleen knew that their household was demoralizing place for Lily to be in, which is why she didn’t question when Lily when she later runs away. Lily one day realizes she needs to do something about her horrible life at home. While sitting in her room she hears a voice in her

When lily went to South Carolina she goes to a lady named August. August is very artifice. Lily stays at her honey house for several months with her aunt Rooselyn. As she lives there she goes through many adventures and meets a ton of new people. She meets her true love Zach and two sister of August named May and June. She finds out a lot about her mother. She finds out that her mother Deborah stayed at the same honey house. She also finds out that her mother ran away from T-Ray when he was abusive. At the end T-Ray finds Lily at Augusts house and he threatens her that she has to come back home with him. Lily fights and eventually convinces T-Ray that she is better off with August and forgives him.

The devastating tragedy of losing a person's mother at an early age can drastically affect that person's life. It can impact the way someone thinks, corresponds with others, and the way someone handles themselves emotionally. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees Lily Owens loses her mother at the early age of four. During Lily's journey she finds comfort and support in the women that she meets. Throughout the novel Lily goes through many changes because of the impact of the motherly figures of the Black Mary, Rosaleen, and the Calendar Sisters.

In addition, after Lily’s liberation from T. Ray, another character pushed Lily to make a choice without even saying a word to her and that character was Lily’s mother, Deborah, who was dead and yet she still guided Lily to her next destination. Deborah’s largest contribution to Lily’s life was leaving behind a trail of love for Lily to follow, giving Lily someplace to go when she had no home. Lily immediately knows where to go after leaving her father's trammel, for she finds a picture of Deborah in Tiburon, South Carolina. Lily’s eagerness to learn more about her mother urges her to travel to Tiburon. Lily reveals her desperation on finding out more about her mother’s love towards her when she said, “ Well, think about it. She must have been there some time in her life to have owned this picture. And if she was, a person might remember her, you never know” (Kidd 51). Lily’s voice held a sense of hope as she believed that there was something in

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. In order to help incorporate the story’s title into the story, the author has written epigraphs, that are about bees, for every chapter in the book. Chapter two’s epigraph says “ On leaving the old nest, the swarm normally flies only a few metres and settles. Scout bees look for a suitable place to start the new colony. Eventually, one location wins favor and the whole swarm takes to the air”(34). This epigraph parallels the story because of the similarities in how bees move on and look for somewhere to start their new lives and how Lily and Rosaleen try to start their new

Lily saw her mother as a bad person for abandoning her. August explains to Lily that her mother made a mistake of leaving her with T.Ray. She also tells Lily that her mother tried to fix it be returning to get her. This conversation is an important factor when Lily learns to forgive her mother and herself.

looking for her . When T.ray and Lily got in a big fight for a moment T.ray

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.

Lily Owens, is a white 14 year old girl living in the south during the 60’s. She is the main character in “The Secret Life Of Bees”, Lily has grown up without a mother, Her perspectives on things are a lot different because of this. Lily is a very complex, and difficult character to understand.

This is shown through a change of behavior , the feeling of love, and the forgiving of her Mother. First, Lily receiving the items which changes her heart and how she acts towards others. This is shown through her actions before after receiving the items. She was filled with rage and feels lost when she finds out her Mom left her. She even resorts to going outside and throwing jars of honey at a wall until she couldn't anymore and just broke down and cried.

The Secret Life of Bees delineates an inspirational story in which the community, friendship and faith guide the human spirit to overcome anything. The story follows Lily Owens, a 14 year old girl who desperately wants to discover the cause of her mothers death. Her father T. Ray gives her no answers, which leads their maid, Rosaleen, to act as her guardian. Together, Lily and Rosaleen run away to Tiburon, South Carolina and find a welcoming community. It is in Tiburon that Lily learns many life lessons, including many about herself. In her novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explores a theme of spiritual growth through Lily's search for home as well as a maternal figure.

Specifically, the photograph of Lily and her mother can be classified as a symbol of hope and recovery that bestows Lily a new outlook on life in the form of her mother’s unconditional love. After being shown a box of her mother’s precious keepsakes, Lily promptly notices a photograph of her and her mother, smiling and rubbing their noses together. Caught up in the loveliness of the photo, Lily, “looked down at the picture, then closed [her] eyes. [She] figured May must’ve made it to heaven and explained to [her] mother about the sign [she] wanted. The one that would let [her] know [she] was loved” (Kidd 276). After learning the unvarnished truth about her mother, Lily was left hopeless. This despair was brought forth due to her knowledge that her mother had left her before returning home, only to be killed by Lily’s own hand. Consequently, Lily’s feelings of culpability were escalated. However, hope is obtained after Lily catches a glimpse of this life-altering photograph. Her previous feelings of guilt are relinquished after becoming conscious of how “[she] was loved” by her mother. This newfound hope was all due to a single “[look] down at the picture[.]” She determines that this photograph was the “sign” she had so desperately longed for all of her life, in the absence of her mother, and in the presence of her unyielding guilt. With this in mind, it can be concluded that the photograph of Lily and her mother is symbolic of rehabilitation. Kidd uses symbolism to show that Lily’s mental health is improving, and, with the help of her mother’s symbolic nature, will begin to forgive herself and be set free from suffering, as suggested by the

After Lily's encounter with T. Ray back in the honey house. Lily confronts T. Ray outside as he tries to leave with a question. What she wants to know is the same question that has plagued her mind since it occurred. Was it her? When T. Ray explains to Lily that she was indeed the cause of her mother's death, she is finally able to forgive herself and her mother for what happened. This is an imperative part of the story as this finally allows lily to forgive herself.