Love from Mother Figures in The "Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd and Romeo and Juliet

In the opening lines of Act 1 Scene 3, it is implied that there is a stronger bond between Juliet and the Nurse than Juliet and her own mother, from the fact that Lady Capulet calls on the Nurse and asks ‘Nurse, where’s my daughter?’ From this we can understand that Lady Capulet relies on the Nurse to tell her where Juliet is, and is an ineffectual mother. This emphasises that mothers were distant from their children during Elizabethan times, and gives the impression that mothers had more important things to do than bring up their daughters. The Nurse provides a humorous anecdote from Juliet’s childhood, remembering how she fell over on her face, and how her husband had commented ‘Thou wilt fall backward when

When Lily and Rosaleen join August Boatwright’s house, August is warm and welcoming, and Lily can breathe a

In this journal I evaluate why lily decided to leave, question why T-ray is so abusive to Lily and predict where lily where go next. What I have learned from this book is that you don’t need to keep your problems a secret, just tell someone and they will help

In addition to the Black Mary, Rosaleen showers Lily with love and support. Rosaleen treats Lily like she is her own daughter. Rosaleen accepts the way Lily is and has faith in her. "'Here you go. Happy Birthday" (28). Rosaleen cares about Lily and knows when something is important to her, like her Birthday. Lily never gets anything from T-Ray on her Birthday, but Rosaleen cares so much about her that she still gets Lily something. Rosaleen can tell when Lily is in pain or is sad like most mothers can. "'Well why don't we sit down on the side of the road awhile?'" (28). Rosaleen acknowledges the fact that Lily feels upset, and is comfortable expressing the need to rest and relax. Since Lily has known Rosaleen a long time she is comfortable expressing herself around Rosaleen and knows that Rosaleen will listen to her problems and insecurities. "'I was the only one who knew that despite her sharp ways, her heart was more tender than a flower skin and she loved me beyond reason'" (11). Rosaleen and Lily have a connection that most mothers and daughters have. They care

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

This quote relates to lily because she lost her mother but the love for her from many other mother figures never ended. Lily always thought that she was never loved because of her cruel father but she had so many people with her like rosaline she was lily's first mother figure, she took care of her by showing love to her when her father was mean to her. The Other mother figures are august and may, june was not actually a mother figure for lily but instead she resembled lily in a way that made lily realize how she was, like when june tried to hide her feelings about neil, lily does the same for the black marry. August was a great mother figure because she gave time to lily to open up and tell the truth even though she knows that lily is

At the beginning of the story, August welcomed Rosaleen and Lily into her home without knowing them or their intentions at all. When Lily was telling August lies, August already knew who Lily was, but still kept helping her. August became Lily’s mother figure when Lily had no woman or relative to call ‘mother’. She made Lily feel loved and cared for for the first time in a long time. August told Lily everything about her mother (Deborah) when Lily finally decided to tell August the truth about her past and family.

The play Romeo and Juliet centers around star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who are caught in an old family feud. Juliet is a young girl who has two mother figures, Lady Capulet and the Nurse, who serve as foils for each other as they influence Juliet’s relationship with the suitors in her life. The Lady Capulet is the wife of Lord Capulet and the mother of Juliet. When she married Lord Capulet she became the lady of the house and entered into the old feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. She has a formal relationship with her daughter and tries to convince her daughter to marry Paris, a suitable match. The Nurse has raised Juliet and treats her as a daughter, but supports her inappropriate

This passage demonstrates how deeply rooted wealth and marriage are to Lily’s character. Lily cannot survive without money and she can never find a perfect marriage. At the time of this passage Lily is

Lily comes to know three incredible women called the Boatwrights. Their names are August, June, and May. Lily became closest to August although she was close to May and June, also. Lily felt as though August had a comforting and consoling way about her. August once told Lily “Actually, you can be bad at something...but if you love doing it, that will be enough.” (Kidd 111). Her motivational life advice helped to guide Lily. Furthermore, August had to be the one to tell Lily that they had lost May; May had killed herself. Lily did not take the news so well. Lily claimed she had started to “shiver…[she] could feel the teeth in [her] mout, crashing against each other.” (Kidd 193).

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a tragic love story about feuding families that takes place in Verona, Italy in the 14th century. The nurse, Juliet’s servant, is a very nurturing woman, and it can be shown in many different parts of the novel. One example is the time she was talking to Juliet on how she will go find Romeo to comfort her. Another time that shows her as nurturing is when she was talking to Romeo about how he better mean what he said to Juliet about marrying her. She can also be described as “motherly” or “affectionate.” She acts like more of a mother to Juliet than her actual mother, which shows how strongly she cares for her.

Instead of relying on another power that is above her, she takes her fate into her own hands and tries to save her own home. This self reliance develops early, and can also be seen much later in her life. When she is twenty-seven, Lily learns that her husband has a secret second family. She leaves him immediately and manages to annul the marriage. Although he had taken all of her money from their joint bank account, she does not go back to her parents in Arizona or try to find another husband to take care of her. Instead, she begins preparing for her future alone. “Since I obviously couldn't count on a man to take care of me, what I needed more than ever was a profession. I needed to get my college education and become a teacher . . . the time flew by, and when both the dispensation and the acceptance letter arrived, I had enough money for a year of college” (p. 90). Instead of wondering what to do and moping about her ex-husband, Lily is practical and knows what she wants to do next. She also mentions that she cannot depend on a husband to take care of her. If she did not have to fend for

In the opening lines of Act 1 Scene 3, it is implied that there is a stronger bond between Juliet and the Nurse than Juliet and her own mother, from the fact that Lady Capulet calls on the Nurse and asks ‘Nurse, where’s my daughter?’ This implies that Lady Capulet relies on the Nurse to tell her where Juliet is, and is an ineffectual mother.

And while all this happened Lily never left Rosaleen’s side except for that time they had an argument because Lily did not know what she was now going to do, now that they were lost somewhere close, but yet far from where they were going. Besides that; Lily still showed love to Rosaleen all throughout their run away by always asking her about how she was feeling and she was doing at mostly all times. Although Rosaleen did not show as many feelings, we all knew that she loved Lily by the way she acted when she was around and with her. According to the book, Lily quotes ““I used to have daydreams in which she was white and married T. Ray, and became my real mother. Other times I was a negro orphan she sounds in a cornfield and adopted. “Once in a while, I had us living in a foreign country like New York, where she could adopt me and we could both stay our natural color” (12) Sometimes it made the audience see Rosaleen more like an older sister than a mother. Also when Lily and Rosaleen go to the calendar sisters ( August,June, and May),Lily starts getting along and closer to August and Rosaleen starts to get jealous because she feels that Lily has traded her,but Lily still lets her know that she loves her by saying “I love you” when she goes behind her.Both Lily and Rosaleen seemed to get hurt when one or

Even though Mrs. Capulet is Juliet’s mother, she does not take care of her like a mother should. The person that takes on the role of being a motherly figure to Juliet is The Nurse. Although The Nurse is Juliet’s servant, their love and bond together surpasses this boundary, making The Nurse not only a motherly figure to Juliet, but also a friend and a companion.