The Secret Life Of Bees Book Report

“People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them, they end up completely different” (Kidd 248). During the civil rights era in the book The Secret Life of Bees, teenager Lily escapes her abusive father. She takes her black house maid with her to find answers about her mother, who died when Lily was very young. She leaves T. Ray, her father, and secretly goes to live in a small town of Tiburon, SC with a family of women. These women slowly become her new family with love and patience. Author Sue Monk Kidd uses characters Lily, T. Ray, and June to show that people can be changed by experiences that happen in one’s life, and everyone’s reaction to change varies.
Lily is the main character in the book who goes through a series of changes. Lily accidentally shoots her mother and kills her when she is little, but her memories are fuzzy as she was so little when it happened. She seeks answers to her mother’s death and is compelled to leave her father’s home. Lily runs away and moves into the home of the Boatwright sisters, who are a family of black women. Here she learns
June had a fiance in the past that didn’t show up to the wedding, which lead her to fear of marrying Neil. She was also not interested in Lily because of the history between August and Deborah. She held herself back from building her life’s path which should involve relationships. When her sister died, June was influenced by the suicide note which said to her family to live life to the fullest. It was then that she finally decides to get married to Neil after years of turning him down. “It’s your time to live, don’t mess it up” (Kidd 210). After May died, June begins to realize that she needs to get married and make happiness for herself. Lily sees June make changes for herself after May’s death. Lily learns that she can overcome her mother’s death and find happiness,