...The Secret Life Of Bees The Secret Life of Bees is the story of Lily Owens, a girl who has shaped her life around one devastating memory—the afternoon when her mother (Deborah) was killed, when Lily was four. Besides her harsh and unyielding father ,T.Ray, Lily’s only real companion is Rosaleen, a tender, but fierce-hearted black woman who cooks, cleans and acts as her "stand-in mother." Set in 1964 in South Carolina, a place and time of seething racial divides, violence explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten. Lily is desperate, not only to save Rosaleen, but to flee from a life she can no longer endure. Calling upon her colorful wits and youthful daring, Lily breaks Rosaleen out of jail and the two escape, into what quickly becomes Lily’s quest for the truth about her mother’s life. They are taken in by three black, bee-keeping sisters, May, June, and August, and Lily is consumed by their secret world of bees and honey, and of the Black Madonna who presides over this household of strong, wise women. Lily’s journey is one of painful secrets and shattering betrayals but that ultimately helps Lily find the thing her heart longs for most. Throughout the book, the reader comes to know a cluster of characters. One character that sticks out the most is June Boatwright. According to the book "her hair was cut so short it resembled a little gray, curlicue swim cap pulled tight over her scalp." June is a teacher at a 'colored' school, which is where she...
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...The novel, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, shows the tragic events in a young girls life and demonstrates how she overcomes her problems and finds herself. Lily Owens starts out as a troubled and confused girl. By the end of the book she overcomes her obstacles and becomes a confident young woman. Lily uses the pain from her father's abuse and mother's absence to mature into a young woman. When the story starts out, Lily Owens is a little girl who has always been put down by her father and as a result has a lack of confidence and lack of hope for the future. When lily thinks she hears bees buzzing in her room she called for her fathers help and T-Ray said " I guess they must have flown out of that cuckoo clock you call a brain. You wake me up again, lily, and I'll go get the Martha Whites, you hear me?" (Page 31/734). This shows here that she was abused physically and mentally . Instead of receiving comfort from her father Lily was made fun of and threatened. Obviously from the quote, we learn that the emotional and physical abuse were already a pattern in Lily's life. Already Lily's strength of character surfaces. Although she was afraid of her fathers form of punishment her courage and boldness are demonstrated when she says "still I couldn't let the master go entirely- T-ray thinking I was so desperate I would invent an invasion of bees to get attention. Which is how I got the bright idea of catching a jar of these bees, presenting them to T-Ray and saying...
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...The Secret life of bees There was a girl name Lily and her dad is name T- Ray. Her mother was name Deborah she died when she was younger. T-Ray beats Lily he is very mean to her and he wouldn’t let her do anything, or go anywhere. When she does something wrong he makes her kneel down in grits that was Lily punishment. One day Lily was laying in her room and listening to bees hit the wall. She told her daddy T-Ray while he was sleeping that is was some bees in her room he didn’t believe her. She asked him to come into her room so he did so when he got in there the bees where gone. Lily was upset, because that they were gone because she said the bees probably heard her talking to T- Ray about them. He said, Lily it’s not any bees in here” she told him they are in the wall. So Lily and T-Ray put their heads to the wall T-Ray didn’t hear them, but Lily did. He told Lily don’t call me anymore about those bees if you call me and it’s not major T-Ray told her I’m going to be mad at you . Lily has a house keeper that is name Rosaleen she takes care of Lily. One day Rosaleen and Lily went to vote uptown and these white men where there on the porch. The men had asked Rosaleen what are you doing here Negro. She told them that her name was Rosaleen, but they kept on calling her Negro so she poured snuff juice on their shoes. The men’s got mad and they called the Sylvan Police on her and the police came and got Rosaleen to take her to jail. When they got to the police station they...
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...Often, in some stories, authors give their characters pasts which prominently affect their present lives and behaviors. This is true in Sue Monk Kidd’s novel “The Secret Life of Bees” as the protagonist Lily Owens is haunted and motivated by the memory of how she killed her own mother at age four. Kidd uses this one event to lay way too many important plot points and give the piece meaning as a whole. In Lily’s memory she is four years old and caught in between a spur of the moment argument between her parents when her mother, Deborah, produces a gun. When the gun gets knocked from her mother's hand Lily scrambles to grab it, and the rest is history. As Lily says herself, “She was all I wanted. And I took her away” (Pg.8). One of the main...
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...102 12/10/13 Secret Life of Bees In 1964, Lily Owens is fourteen years old. She has no mother, a father whom she despises, and no friends to turn to when she needs a shoulder to cry on. Not only does Lily have to deal with feelings of loneliness and betrayal caused by her parents, but in a time troubled by negativity towards the Civil Rights Act, she is also faced with situations that force her to grow up very fast. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a page turning novel about Lily’s journey to find answers to her past. There are themes and symbolisms throughout the book. Racism, forgiveness/coping, and bees are big ones for many characters throughout the novel. The summer of 1964 in South Carolina comes at the peak for race relationships in American history, a summer when much of white Americans showed no respect towards the blacks. The nature of racism is discussed throughout Lily’s story. It is important to understand she grew up in the South, where races were separated by both law and attitudes. Lily does not attempt to reconcile her love for Rosaleen with her understanding that blacks are inferior to whites. “Rosaleen pulled back the towel; I saw an inch-long gash across a puffy place high over her eyebrow.” (Kidd). Is one of the first times she started to see racism, but not to the fullest understanding. When Rosaleen’s life is threatened by a system that Lily doesn’t understand, she knows only that she must save Rosaleen’s life, even if it means...
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...The secret life of bees is a story based on a girl that is only 14 years old living in Sylvan, South Carolina, in 1964 which is located in the south that runs away from home for the simple reason that she just wants to be free of all the bad things in her life. But how does that connect to the relationship with lily and her parents and how it changes thought the novel ? Well it really does connect to the relationship of lily and her parents, because most of lily's problems are attributed to the connection she had with her parent or more like the connection she didn't have with her parents . For example lily didn't really have a connection with her mom, due to the fact that she was killed. And not by just anyone, at the beginning of the novel lily is told by T-ray lily's father at a young age she...
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...The Secret life of Walter Mitty and The story of an Hour David Babers ENG 125 Sabine Reljic January 27, 2014 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Story of an Hour share a variety of similarities along with many differences. The main points of these stories shows the dynamics love within their marriage but in different way; both woman share common bond of tolerance, for their significant other when it comes to the lack of certain things in their marriage. One of the first similarities of the two stories I notice was the fact that both of the men wives was extremely concerned about their significant others well being. Even though the displayed their affection for their husbands with different actions it was more than obvious that each of them was in sync with their other half’s. Both of the literary pieces where written and described in different points of view. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was written in the form of an omniscient third person point of view. This allows the narrator to describe his own thoughts of the character as the story progresses. But as far is the character Mrs. Mitty it seems as she speaks in more so a first person point of view, as her words and thoughts seems to be more so given in a direct and plain form. As for the “The Story of anf Hour” it is also written in the third person point of view, but it would be considered more so as a limited third person omniscient. “This is a point of view when the thoughts and feelings...
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...manner. Lily narrates the story and presents an attitude that maybe considered that similar to the tone a child when sharing personal information that have written in a diary, except with less self-loathing and more passionate feelings. Lily’s father who shows evidence of not only being a bigot but who is uncompassionate and callous which makes it more than difficult for her to grow up as normal girl, as he treats his own daughter as an inconvenience. Growing up Lily was limited to the girly activities she was permitted to do I assume she may have a tad of an immature superego due to this, according to I reference this as I believe her moral development is inadequate. However, she is still in her adolescent stages and has plenty of more life ahead of her to enhance to her current development. This story takes place in nineteen sixty four in South Carolina a place where I believe racism and social constructionism strongly existed , as the rights of African Americans were in place but not in fair and full affect, which is what their elders were accustomed to and what people were taught to believe. As Lily’s father had a whole peach crop of African American workers and one, named Rosaleen, that specifically catered...
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...The Secret Life Of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. Book Report, Dorthea Søiland The secret life of bees centres on Lily’s search for clues and connections to her mother, who was killed when Lily was a little girl. We get to follow her journey as she runs away from her abusive father along with her nanny Rosaleen. Lily is longing to be loved, because the lack of it in her past life is destroying her. “People who think dying is the worst thing, don’t know a thing about life” Lily, p2. The novel is an excellent written drama. It explores race, love and the idea of family and home in troubled times. The author of the book, Sue Monk Kidd, is a well-known writer who has written other known books such as “The Mermaid Chair”(2005) and “A Mother-Daughter Story”(2010). She has been on the New York Times bestselling list twice, which one of them were with this very novel. The secret life of bees was published in 2002 by Penguin Books New York. The story takes place in South Carolina in the 1960’s, which we can say is a time were racism was on it’s worst. Time and place has a lot to do with the story, and we get to look into a time were being black wasn’t easy. The main character of the book is fourteen years old Lily. She is a brave and smart girl, whose only wish for a birthday present is to know a little about her mother. Her fear of living a life without being loved is getting her to write poems, which she’s good at. All-tough Lily doesn’t have a mother she has a father, T....
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...The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd has many life lessons in it. It has examples of family problems, racial problems, and it also shows how love is not affected just because of race. In the book, Lily's life is compared to a bee's life constantly. From how she is lost without the queen bee, or in other words her mom, or how Lily needs the touch and care from loved ones just like the bees do. One epigraph from chapter nine says “ The whole fabric of honey bee society depends on communication- on an innate ability to send and receive messages, to encode and decode information”, this quote is related to not just this chapter, but this whole book because Lily is not always truthful about her life back in Sylvan and she does not tell the Boatwright sisters everything that is going on. In chapter nine, Lily has an internal conflict and begins to feel bad about her lies that she has been telling August. She wants to tell August the truth but she is afraid that the truth will do more bad than good and that August will call T. Ray to come get Lily. Some of the lies Lily has told August...
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...Fighting for Their Rights Throughout The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, characters are constantly standing up for what they believe in. Rosaleen stands up for her civil rights, Lily stands up for freedom from her dad, the Boatwrights and the Daughters of Mary stood up for the equality of women and African Americans. When Rosaleen heard of the signing of the civil rights act, she immediately went to register to vote, and when Lily was acting like she was stupid, she stood up for herself. When Lily’s dad was abusing her and not allowing her to do with her life what she wanted, Lily ran away from home in an attempt to find her own way through life. As African American women, society put the Boatwrights at a lower level than men and white people, and so they create their own organization in which they are special. Throughout the novel, Rosaleen Daise, Lily Owens, and the Boatwrights all stand up for what they believe in, signifying that people can only get past the expectations of society by fighting for what they think is right. In standing up for her beliefs of civil equality, Rosaleen moves past the set place that society has placed her in. Upon the signing of the Civil rights act, Rosaleen spends hours practicing her signature so that she will be able to register to vote without being rejected. When Rosaleen was on her way to vote and she was questioned by racist white men, she retaliated by pouring her snuff juice on their feet. After the white men beat her and...
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...Secret Life of Bees Symbolism In theory, a bee's wings are too small for it’s body. The bee should not be able to fly at all, let alone do all the work that it does. Some people have obstacles in their lives that should prevent them from “flying” but many find a way to carry on. Lily Owens, the main character in Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees, was raised by her physically and emotionally abusive father. She has never had a mother figure in her life because of her mother’s death 11 years earlier. Lily finds a wooden picture of the Black Mary in her mother’s possessions and sets out to search for her mother’s past and find a family. The Black Mary leads Lily to the Boatwright sisters, three black woman who run a honey making business. There Lily finds a family she never expected and strength she never knew she had. The Black Mary is a prominent symbol in the Secret Life of Bees because it represents faith and hope to many characters, it overcomes racial...
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...The Secret Life of Bees The movie, The Secret Life of Bees, takes place in the summer of 1964 in Sylvan, South Carolina. This movie was not my first pick for the course paper, but it came on TV one night recently and I decided to watch it. This was a really good film and it showed how racism plagued our country not so long ago. Conflict Theory, originally the brainchild of Karl Marx, is the theoretical perspective that best fits this movie (Brym and Lie, 11). Racism, prejudice, and discrimination are the main focus of this movie while also telling the story of a young teenage girl named Lily (The Secret Life of Bees). Lily doesn’t see in colors or race, but sees only in the love, character, and value of a person. Lily, a young white girl,...
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...Symbolism is the subtext in everyday life that connects us to other people, places, and things that contain deeper meanings. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explains how the main the main character, Lily, has been going through her life and the many obstacles that come along with it. Through the book, many objects help symbolize things from her past or things she is starting to connect with, not just bees. Sue Monk Kidd mostly uses the bees in the The Secret Life of Bees to represent guidance, some of the characters’ roles in Lily’s life, and society in general. The symbols of the bees help Kidd convey the theme that one must rely on her “hive” in order to make it through life. Guidance was continuously shown throughout...
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...In the novel ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ written by Sue Monk Kidd a 14-year-old little white girl, Lily Owens, lives with her terrible father, T.Ray, who never gives his love and interest to her. For the reason, she decides to run away from her father and moves from Sylvan to Tiburon. In Tiburon she meets a new reliable guardian, August. By giving two different relationships, the author, Sue Monk Kidd, helps us to understand ‘Love’ which is one of the themes in the novel. The first relationship is between Lily and her father, T.Ray, who is insensitive and cruel to Lily because he never gives his affection, and he punishes her in brutal way. Lily spends on upsetting time with her father after her mother passed away when Lily was 4 years old....
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