June Boatwright's The Secret Life Of Bees

In the 1960s, the people of the United States were separated by segregation and it was a huge deal everywhere, but mainly in the South. The book ´The Secret Life of Bees’ takes place during this time. The story is told through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl, Lily Owens, who is white but is surrounded by african americans that she grows to love throughout the story. They lived in Sylvan, South Carolina, so racism was big in this area and the areas they she went to.

The Secret Life of Bees is about a young girl who lost her mother at the young age of four years old. Not having her mother especially in these teen years was very hard on Lily. There are certain things that her father does not understand, such as her ¨lady problems.¨ He is a very

grouchy man who does not show Lily any type of love. In the book, Lily is on a quest to find out details and anything she possibly can to get to know her mother better when she was alive. In the book, the character that I particularly admire is June Boatwright. June Boatwright is August Boatwright’s sister. When Lily Owens and Rosaleen, her basically mother figure, arrive at the Boatwright residence, June has resentment towards her. She hates Lily because August used to take care of Lilys mother, Deborah Owens, who was white, when she was a little girl and because she certainly did not want a white girl staying with them, especially not with the whole Civil Rights Movement going on.

June was angry because of the way black people were being treated so horribly, and her sister had just welcomed in a girl who had the same color of skin as the people who had made living in America hell for African Americans.

Throughout the book, Lily cannot seem to figure out why June resents her presence at their house so much, but later on she finds out. I admire June Boatwright because she puts her foot down, does not let a man control her she lets people know when she is angry and if she does not actually say it, her facial expressions will. I relate to this a lot. June seems to be the only one who has an issue with Lily, but she obviously does not care if it makes her uncomfortable because she keeps it up basically for the majority of the story. Besides T. Ray, June can be identified as the antagonist in The Secret Life of

Bees.

I like Junes character because she is dealing with her lovelife in the story. She does not want to experience another heartbreak, and she is scared to love again after her fiance left her at the altar on their wedding day. She was hurt inside and it is obvious that she loves Neil, she just didn´t want to hurt again. In real life, many women get left at the altar. This was a way of her coping with that traumatic emotional event. Most antagonists in stories are actually real people. Not like most main protagonists where they are happy all the time throughout the story.

June is a teacher at a colored school, and she teaches history as well as teaching music to her students.

June also plays the cello for dying patients in the hospital. June is kind, loving, and caring because she is there for those who are taking their last breath. It is her way of helping those who need it and can’t be helped physically but mentally. By playing instruments for dying patients, it helps them to have some peace before they die and it also helps her in knowing that she was able to impact a persons life. The narrative under the influence of June really does change up the mood of the story. Many who read the book would like to believe that June is just a hateful person, but she has her reasons and deep inside she has a good heart. Most people would pick the main characters but June has an interesting vibe towards her because she is a strong woman who knows what she

wants.

The Secret Life of Bees does not portray June Boatwright as a person with a good heart at first, but throughout the story it is shown that June really does care about the ones she loves.