Phi·los·o·phy- the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, more so when considered as an academic discipline. Throughout The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens shows her thoughts on life and what it meant to her. At the start of the novel, she is an innocent girl whose reality comprised of kneeling on grits and an angry T. Ray. Once she has the truth of her mother’s death etched into her head, everything Lily considers is right became wrong. In a matter of hours, she aged from 14 to 40 years of age. With age comes wisdom, and as she progressed throughout the novel, her philosophy of life changed with her. By the end of The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens experienced love, anger, happiness, and sadness in larger doses than most 14-year-old girls. With …show more content…
Mrs. Henry, Lily’s English teacher, said Lily must live past 14 to have a philosophy of life, and in a way Lily did. In a matter of hours she aged from 14 to 40 after going through an emotional and physical event. Another reference to her being “older” is in the hospital when she said she is now old enough to swear. “I’m fourteen now. I guess I can say it if I want to,” (Kidd 49). T. Ray never paid attention to Lily’s birthday, yet every year she hopes the current year would be “the one” which shows she still ponders whether he may have kindness in him. All the references to her age show Lily’s philosophy is one that deals with age. Lily also had knowledge of the outside world and what is going on outside of her small town. “Who was winning- the white people’s team or the colored people’s team? Like it was a do-or-die contest….I knew they would not take this
Lily, not being able to comprehend the possibility that her father is telling the Truth, then decides to run away. This practically tells us that, out of T-Ray’s words and the possibility of them being true (at the time), Lily acted off of her father’s words and just decided to run away, making T-Ray the main reason for her to run away. The next piece of evidence is the quote, “Children raised in nurturing environments might be more secure, confident, and capable of dealing with later challenges, while those raised in less enriched settings might feel anxious and unable to cope with life's difficulties” (Cherry 2). What the quote dumbs down to is telling the difference between children raised in caring environments & others raised in more unfortunate conditions. As already known, T-Ray isn’t exactly the most caring father figure, quite the opposite of the appropriate, non–abusive father Lily wished she had, so she is more anxious and unable to deal with life’s
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.
Also later in the book, well into Lily’s stay with August Boatwright who owns and maintains a honey label and farm, also known as the honey label that Lily follows to get to the house in the first place, Lily goes on a drive with August’s godchild, Zachary Taylor or Zach, to drop off some honey, While Zach is viewing lawyer cases, Lily decides to give T-Ray a call, he initiates the conversation by starting with “Lily, where the hell are you?” he continues battering and hollering at lily, not even giving her a split second to think or speak and interrupting her with curse words and belittlement every time she attempts to speak, The conversation ends with Lily asking T-Ray if he knows what her favorite color is and him hollering at her for asking such a stupid question, and finally her trying her hardest not to bawl her eyes out (Kidd, 159-160). This proves my point because it shows that T-Ray isn't even civil enough to start the conversation with a “Hello” or “Are you okay” he has to be loud and uncivil and badger lily with rude, mean, and intimidating words. This also shows that he is only set on punishing Lily and really has no care for her well-being. Any parent would be upset with their child running away without giving a rational explanation but T-Ray does the extreme and isn't even concerned about the wellbeing of her. In addition, In the book when lily first arrives at the BoatWright house, she kind of talks about her point on prejudice and some of the things
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 classic tale of the hero's journey can be recognized in almost every situation. It is not only apparent through daily life and historical events, but in this circumstance, a fictional novel, as well. As an epic voyage, it can be recognized in the vast majority of books throughout the course of history. One specific example where it is carefully and intricately exhibited is in Sue Monk Kidd's novel, The Secret Life of Bees, in which a young woman's search for acceptance and the truth becomes a heart-warming chronicle. Through the obstacles and people she meets, Lily is able to experience the trials and self-fulfilling incidents that are required in the hero's journey she partakes in.
When Lily was four years old, she accidentally killed Deborah, her mother. Since then, the memory of Deborah haunts her while T. Ray remains resentful and bitter towards her. For her fourteenth birthday, all Lily wanted was to learn about Deborah, but T. Ray says very little. T. Ray is shown to be a bitter and resentful man, never considerate of Lily, and quite abusive. In the film, he is shown to pour grits on the ground and make Lily kneel on them until she bleeds. He punishes her for unreasonable cause and never shows Lily any signs of love or affection. He is constantly taking out his resentment on Lily, the product of his lost love.
“People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different.” Sue Monk Kidd, the author of The Secret Life of Bees, highlights this theme in her work. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the horrendous events that Lily Owens encounters in her young life are necessary in her journey to adulthood as she develops into a strong, resilient, loving, forgiving young woman. The result of Lily’s mom dying when Lily was only four years old, T. Ray abusing Lily day in and day out, and Lily experiencing racism first hand, have all been a big part of Lily’s young life and have shaped her into the person she is today.
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 the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the main character, Lily Owens struggles with the notion that she killed her mother and has to live with her abusive, neglectful father, T-Ray. Throughout, Lily searches for information about her mother and why she left her. Unexpectedly, she stumbles upon new mother figures that play an important role in changing Lily to the person she is in later. The typical sequence of a hero’s journey includes a departure, initiation and trials, and reintegration into society. By the end, Lily Owens developes into a more mature, independent young women after experiencing a difficult childhood.
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
This quote shows that… EXPLANATION. Furthermore, this shows that throughout this book August Boatwright represents the best motherly figure. August exhibits multiple motherly traits such as caring for Lily, being a mentor for Lily, and always accepting Lily for who she is.
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.
“‘People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different’” (Kidd 293). This quote from August Boatwright perfectly encompasses what happens to Lily during The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. All throughout the novel, the increased maturity of Lily’s character is very noticeable. At the beginning of the book, Lily, a 14-year-old white girl who is living in the South in the 1960’s, accepts segregation without questioning it. By the end, her perspective on life and others changes to reflect a more sophisticated woman. Through characterization, Lily matures as a person because she learns how to face conflicts as an adult and treat people in a grown-up way.
Family can be defined as individuals who are related by blood, yet it is more so about our ability to care for a person or people and for them to care for us as well. This same theme is demonstrated by many literary texts throughout history. One, exemplary novel is The Secret Life of Bees. Within the book, there are many exchanges between characters that stresses the importance of family and how there are no limits when it comes to choosing who you consider family and who you do not consider family. The relationships that structure the storyline prove this life lesson to be true. The story follows the main character, Lily. Lily has experienced many trials in her early years of life. While these trials do not define Lily, they certainly
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