In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd alludes to the first lunar landing to communicate that the mystery of the moon is more intriguing than its discovery. For example, August explains her distress when she hears of Ranger 7’s mission to the moon: “‘Now it won’t ever be the same, not after they’ve landed up there and walked around on her [the moon]. She’ll be just one more big science project’” (114). August further explains that the moon is fascinating because of its ambiguity, and now that humans have access to it, the moon’s mystery is uncovered. Thus, the reality of scientific discoveries replaces the mystical beauty that the previously untouched moon once held. On July 31, 1964, Ranger 7 lands on the moon and sends pictures back to…
This heartfelt, captivating novel starts out with a very troubled fourteen year old girl named Lily Owens who lives with her father and their black maid Rosaleen. Her mother is dead due to an accident partially caused by Lily. As the story begins, Rosaleen gets thrown in jail and beaten up by three white men because all she wanted to do was to go into town and vote. Lily then decides it’s the time for them to run away to find the town Tiburon, South Carolina. This was the town written on the back of a picture of black Mary, which belonged to Lily’s mother.…
One of the main literary elements in Sue Monk Kidd’s Secret Life of Bees, is conflict. The author displays this conflict through racial prejudice, Lily Owens and her father, Terrence Ray Owens (T. Ray), and through Lily and her mother, Deborah Fontanel. This book is set in 1964, when African American’s had just gotten the right to vote. T. Ray and Lily lived just outside Sylvan, South Carolina (The Secret Life of Bees, page…
In Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, August acts as the unorthodox religious leader of the Daughters of Mary and contributes to Lily’s character and growth. August proves to be a leader, and a positive influence towards Lily in every action she performs. She welcomes Lily, a white girl, into her house during the 1960s, a time when racial segregation was prominent. By doing so, August goes against the popular social views, and jeopardizes her reputation for Lily. August teaches Lily many life lessons such as love, hope, and the importance of religion. Because of August, Lily becomes stronger, and more aware of the society in which she lives in.…
‘Goodbye,’ I said, and there was a tiny spring of sadness pushing up from my heart.” Lily is aware that all of her memories are in that house and her town, but she takes the risk of never returning again to help the people she loves. This is a true act of heroism taking risks for the people who mean the most to you. In The Secret Life of Bees women are made to think that they are inferior to men and that men hold all the power. Lily’s father T-Ray treated women very unequally and often said that women had less opportunities and were not able to do all the things that men can do. Growing up her whole life with only T-Ray and no mother-figure has left Lily to believe that women really are inferior and not as capable as men. After meeting the daughters of Mary Lily started to no longer underestimate the power of women as she saw the example of Mary, who was a women that was able to do remarkable things. She also learns the power of women by meeting the boatwright sisters who are all remarkably strong. All the women in The Secret Life of Bees are inner heros in their own way and they all show the true…
Set in the American South in 1964, the year of the Civil Rights Act and intensifying racial unrest, Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees is a powerful story not simply about bees, but of coming-of-age, of the ability of love to transform our lives, and of the often unacknowledged longing for equal women and human rights. Although this novel is not one of a higher reading level, Kidd displays many hidden meanings, ones that require the reader to dig beneath the surface. Addressing the wounds of casualties, betrayal, and the lack of love, Kidd shows the power of women uniting together to treat those wounds, to care about each other and themselves, and to create a community of true family and home.…
Lily Owens, who is the main character of The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is a courageous girl who overcomes many challenges throughout the novel. For one thing, when she is curious, she is determined to do anything. Another example is she is not afraid to twist up the truth for her needs. Lastly, Lily performs heroic acts throughout the story. Throughout the novel, Lily Owens demonstrates the meaning of courage.…
Zach Taylor is a character in Sue Monk Kidds novel ‘The Secret Life of Bees’. He is a black boy living with the racist culture that is the norm in South Carolina in 1964. Zach’s story and the challenges that he faces show the reader the theme of discrimination, specifically race discrimination. This conveys to the reader the important message that you can succeed despite your circumstances, and that the colour of your skin does not define your worth.…
In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and Rocket Boys by Homer (Sonny) Hickam Jr., the protagonists, Lily and Sonny, respectively, both learned that they had the power to escape their seemingly predetermined and immutable fates and to decide their futures for themselves. After her mother died in a tragic gun accident when she was four, Lily Owens was left in the hands of her unloving father, T-Ray, and her colored stand-in mother, Rosaleen, feeling as if she does not fit in because she had no mother figure, not “a grandmother, or even a measly aunt” in her life (Kidd 9). Instead of staying with her father, where she would have endured abuse and neglect for the rest of her life, Lily took the reigns on her future and decided that her and Rosaleen would flee to Tiburon, South Carolina, a town written on the back of one of her mother’s belongings, in hopes of…
Another theme that Kidd would like to share is truth. She understands that hearing the truth isn't what everyone wants at some points, but some people rather hear lies. The emotions are confusing some people would like to hide away then facing the facts. Kidd constructs a flexible and logical life for lily. She applies the love and the past of Lilys mother. She wants the readers to understand no matter how many people lie to you that the truth will always hurt, that the truth is the truth, and there's nothing anybody can do to change it. Kidd’s second idea is that she wants people to adapt to what is real.…
Her abusive father blames Lily for the death of her mother, not that he seems to care much about it, just enough to point fingers. After an incident involving her African-American care-taker forces Lily to run, she searches for any little traces of her mother she can possibly find. Her search brings her to the Boatright sisters, where she finds a home, answers, and more of motherly figures then she would have if her mother hadn't died.The Secret Life of Bees is a coming of age fiction novel written by Sue Monk Kidd. The story is set in the early to mid 1960s where plaid mid thigh kilts and cashmere twinsets were in style, not that Lily Owens had ever been able to experience this fashion statement due to her fathers strict ways. Lily starts in Sylvan, South Carolina, but in her search for her mother she moves the story along to Tiburon, South Carolina. The books mood is serious, due to death, injury, and other hard circumstances. Lily fights through these rough circumstances making the mood of the book also inspirational. The main lesson learned is said by a character named August whom employs Lily “Most people don't have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside hive. Bees have a secret life we don't know anything about.” This goes along with the famous quote “don’t judge a book by its cover”, because you cant always see whats going on inside a persons…
While tying together the mission of Magnificat and capturing the attention of young girls, The Secret Life of Bees has a profound impact on its readers. Subsequently, the removal of this novel from the sophomore reading list would be an unwise decision. Sue Monk Kidd further elaborates on the core values of the Magnificat in the underlying plot of the novel. The religious, educational, and empowerment connections made between the storyline and the lessons taught at Magnificat, continue to inspire each class that reads this…
The Secret Life of Bees demonstrates the irrationality of racism by not only portraying black and white characters with dignity and humanity but by also demonstrating how Lily struggles with and ultimately overcomes her own racism. Kidd moves beyond stereotypes to portray whites and blacks with the multifaceted personalities that we find in real life. Lily is not a racist in the same way that the group of men that harass Rosaleen are racist, but she does evidence some prejudice and stereotypes at the start of the novel. She assumes that all African Americans are like Rosaleen, an uneducated laborer-turned-housekeeper. Lily imagines that all African Americans are likewise coarse and uneducated. But when Lily encounters unique, educated, thoughtful August Boatwright, she must change her assumptions and combat her prejudice. At first, Lily feels shocked that a black person could be as smart, sensitive, and creative as August. Recognizing and combating her shock allows Lily to realize the truth about the arbitrariness and irrationality of racism. Like Lily, June must also learn to overcome racial stereotypes. As individuals, humans can display a complex array of personality traits and characteristics, regardless of skin color or ethnicity.…
In the novel The Secret Life of Bees, Lily the protagonist is a young girl growing up with an abusive father and a harsh environment. Lily wants to escape the reality that T-Ray (father) has shaped about herself and her deceased mother . Lily leaves her abusive household going into an unknown situation putting her beliefs and determination into the faith of her mother. Rosaleen, Lily’s…
In two vastly different books, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, one theme remains of constant importance throughout both, that love, in its overwhelming consumption, has either the power to build or to destroy. Despite being set one hundred years apart, both Pip and Lilly experience this crippling emotion, but handle it in adverse ways.…