Secret Life Of Bees Essay

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 overhears a conversation between June Boatwright and August, where June explains that the color of her skin matters and that she does not belong in the Boatwright house “but she’s white, August” (5, 87). Lily “[wants] to make [August] love [her] so [she could stay in the pink house] forever” but she knows that she will never truly “belong”, because she is not the same as theirs. Another example of this is during the weekly meeting of the Daughter of Mary, each member and sister would go up to the Statue of Mary and touch her heart. Lily took part in this ritual and as it was her turn to go touch Mary’s heart, June turned off the music and lily again realized “I am not one of [them]” (6, 111). Lily desires to be a part of their family, but she struggles with the feeling of being an outsider. At the end of the novel, lily is faced with a demand from her father T.Ray to come “home”, lily then realizes that physical home is not “home”, she belongs in the Boatwright house “ Lily can have a home here for as long as she wants” (14,

T. Ray breaks the news that Lily’s mom had left Lily with him and had come back to pack up her stuff when the big argument between he and Lily’s mom happened. At that point, Lily has enough of T. Ray, so she starts to have a mini-mental breakdown. Amidst the chaos going on inside her mind, she hears a voice say, “Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open” (41). That little voice means all the difference in the world to Lily. To Lily, it is as if her mother is saying to leave T. Ray and start a new life. Right then she knows that she has to

In The Secret Life of Bees, author Sue Monk Kidd, portrays the transformation of Lily Owens from a child burdened with the guilt of her mother's death to a strong and confident young woman, as a result of living with May, Rosaleen, and August. Lily, burdened with the guilt of her mother's death becomes terrified of her father, T. Ray. August and May guide Lily’s growth to a life of faith and devotion while Rosaleen remains as Lily’s constant companion. As Lily finds her true identity she transforms into a strong and confident young woman which helps her face the world and all of its challenges.

In “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd we see a young troubled Lily Owens who longs for answers about her mother and that maternal love which she never received. Lily blossoms from a fragile hurt little girl into and strong and independent young woman with the help of the Boatwright sisters. The major themes shown throughout the book are a longing for maternal love and the power and strength of female community.

Lily has spent most of her life stuck on a peach farm with her father trying to muddle through, never getting a chance to go out into the world, but now after being at the pink house, she has been able to mature and grow. Lily's father doesn't like being emotional, and Lily had to learn how to shut off her emotions so she wouldn't make T. Ray mad. She was never able to express her true emotions, making it hard for her to mature. She was also never able to go and explore the world and figure it out for herself. Lily didn't have anyone to help her through this time other than Rosaleen and she work for T. Ray so she couldn't do anything to really help her.

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

In this world, there will always be that one phase in life when a human face what the major of our society called as growing up. During that phase, the human will have to face a lot of element. Sue Monk Kidd’s “Secret Life of Bees” narrates a story of a girl named Lily who develops herself through others during her journey to find the truth about her mother.

Lily shows her non-racist side in the very beginning of the book, after Rosaleen has been put in jail for spitting on a very racist white man’s shoe. She willingly sneaks into jail and attempts to free Rosaleen, but gets sent home with the racist and mean father, T. Ray. She once again tries to free Rosaleen, and this time sneaks into a hospital to free her. Lily is successful this time, and runs away with Rosaleen.

According to Lily “People who think dying is the worst thing don’t know anything about life.” (2) The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd is a coming-of-age written novel. Sue Monk Kidd also wrote other books such as, the Mermaid Chair, and the Invention of wings. This novel took place in 1964, in South Carolina in two towns called, Sylvan and Tiburon, during the civil rights movement. The protagonist and narrator of this novel is Lily Owens, she is 14 and is rejected by her parents. T. Ray Owens (lily’s father) is the antagonist, which is cruel. In this novel there is cruelty that you will see throughout the novel and parts of the novel you will experience a show of hope.

As Lily starts understanding why T.Ray is the way he is, she starts to forgive him. When T.Ray came to Sylvan to get Lily, Lily decides that she has had enough of her father’s cruelty and decides to stand up to him. T.Ray does not like that Lily is finally standing up for herself, but then he realizes that it is best if Lily stays in Sylvan and lets her

In Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life Of Bees the main theme is the development of the principal character, Lily. Lily is a girl who has lived a very rough childhood; she has killed her mother, and her father abuses her. She has grown without a female role model. She leaves her house with Rosaleen (her stand-in mother) to find answers about her mom. She arrives at the Boatwright sisters house, where they help her find not just answers, but some peace and forgiveness. When Lily gets the answers to all her questions she does not like all of them, but she knows it is better to know the truth than to live in a lie. At the beginning of the novel Lily is really

Throughout the novel The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, the characters are determined to achieve a goal or get some answers in some way. The novel’s main character and narrator is Lily Owens, a fourteen year old girl; the story is set in South Carolina during the summer of 1964. During this summer, Lily searches for answers about her mother’s life. Hardships cause people to show their determination in life because they strive to achieve a specific goal as demonstrated by Lily, T. Ray, and Rosaleen.

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.

Finally, Lily had built up the courage to leave when she heard a voice declare to her: “Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open” (41). while she was looking at her jar with a bee imprisoned inside it. When Lily’s “jar” opened, she was able to escape her life with T. Ray and receive the freedom she’s desired, similar to how the bee would escape when its’ “jar is open”. Lily had matured because she was doing what she desired. Being free, Lily shed T. Ray’s imprisonment.