Family is often seen as a safe place, a place to go in times of trouble. but what if family is the place someone wants to escape from? A home that isn’t really a home. More often than not, this is the situation children are faced with. In the novel "The Secret Life of Bees", Sue Monk Kidd expresses how dysfunctional families can cause distress through pain, fear, and rebellion. Pain is a feeling that, on some levels, can become indescribable. Kidd manages to quite accurately express that feeling through the lens of a fourteen year-old girl, Lily Owens. Judith Hebb, author of the article Religious Imagery in the Secret Life of Bees and the Mermaid Chair, states that “Furthermore, both Lily and Jessie share similar struggles on their journey …show more content…
Although she compares T-Ray to God, she is not implying he is a holy man. He holds complete power over her, so long as she resides under his roof. She is punished for reading, something she thoroughly enjoys. Not only that, she is punished for speaking her mother’s name and inquiring about her life. What Lily wants is to understand what it is like to have a mother. As Charles Brower, editor and freelance writer, states, “With her worst fears about Deborah confirmed, Lily looks even more desperate to Our Lady and to August to fill the motherless place within her” (Brower 2). Though these characters are not mentioned until later in the text, it is obvious Lily has an undying need to gather information about Deborah. So, she makes an important decision, one that will alter the course of her entire life. “I had to get away from T-Ray, who was probably on his way back this minute to do Lord-knows-what to me” (Kidd 41). Lily Owens decided to rebel. Lily gathered her belongings in a suitcase and took a moment to think through her decision. “In a matter of seconds I knew exactly what I had to do—leave” (Kidd …show more content…
August welcomes them in and allows them to stay with the sisters for as long as they need. Lily does not mention much of her past, and allows herself to lie in order to feel safe. As time progresses, the women are slowly integrated into the family. They are introduced to an entirely new religion and way of thinking. August tells them all about the significance of the Virgin Mary and the Black Madonna and how they are the mothers of all women. “...Kidd discusses only the image's correlation with the Virgin Mary, she points in this novel to such a community of women and like minds bent on finding the mother, or God-force within them” (Emanuel 3). Lily eventually trusts the woman to such an extent that she opens up entirely about her past and her life. August, having recognized Deborah’s features in Lily’s face the moment she saw her, explains why she felt compelled to house the pair. She answers all of Lily’s questions about her mother, and helps her to come to terms with the fact that while her mother did abandon her, she did not intend on staying away. After being given some space to think, Lily is invited to join the sisters in a celebration called The Feast of the
Most runaway youth are homeless because of neglect, abuse and violence, not because of choice. Lily Owens is the protagonist in the novel, Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is no different. Lily is a fourteen year-old girl still grieving over her mother's death. T. Ray a man who has never been able to live up to the title of a father, due to years of abuse, has not made it any easier. Lily is a dynamic character who in the beginning is negative and unconfident. However, throughout the novel Lily starts to change into the forgiving person she is at the end.
In life, actions and events that occur can sometimes have a greater meaning than originally thought. This is especially apparent in The Secret Life Of Bees, as Sue Monk Kidd symbolically uses objects like bees, hives, honey, and other beekeeping means to present new ideas about gender roles and social/community structures. This is done in Lily’s training to become a beekeeper, through August explaining how the hive operates with a queen, and through the experience Lily endures when the bees congregate around her.
People share their secret lives without even talking about them. It only takes a glance or feeling to see that others have faced similar situations and problems, some people even live parallel lives. Despite the fact that many people believe it impossible for a measly insect, like a bee, to know the pain hardships a human faces, Sue Monk Kidd proves them wrong with her book The Secret Life of Bees. In her novel she derives many of her characters from the types of bees that exist in a hive. Lily and Zach have characteristic that are akin to that of field bees, August has that nurturing personality of a nurse bee, and the Lady of Chains is revered by her subjects just like a Queen bee is by her hive. Nowadays, no one ever faces a problem that someone, or something, has already faced. No one really has a secret life all to themselves.
She is worshipped by the Daughters of Mary (August, June, May and neighbors/friends). August is seen as the leader and resemblance of the Black Mary because she shares all of the same qualities. I believe if Lily would look to see what’s in front of her then she will see that her future will be clear. August is the answer and the woman who will mold Lily into the woman she needs to become.
As strong, independent, self-driven individuals, it is not surprising that Chris McCandless and Lily Owens constantly clashed with their parents. In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into the Wild, Chris was a twenty-four-year-old man that decided to escape the materialistic world of his time for a life based on the simplistic beauty of nature. He graduated at the top of his class at Emory University and grew up in affluent Annandale, Virginia, during the early 1980’s. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily was a fourteen-year-old girl who grew up in the 1960’s, a time when racial equality was a struggle. She had an intense desire to learn about her deceased mother. Her nanny, Rosaleen, with whom she grew very close over the years, raised Lily with little help from her abusive father. When her father failed to help Rosaleen after three white men hospitalized her, Lily was hysterical. Later, Lily decided to break Rosaleen out of the hospital and leave town for good. While there are differences between Chris McCandless and Lily Owens, they share striking similarities. Chris McCandless’ and Lily Owens’s inconsistencies of forgiveness with their parents resulted in damaged relationships and an escape into the unknown.
A poignant and touching classic, The Secret Life of Bees details the coming of age stories of a young girl named Lily. Her life up until the start of the novel was hard, she was friendless with an abusive father and a heavy conscience, as she believes that she is responsible for her mother’s death. Lily’s only solace is her stand-in-mother, a black woman named Rosaleen, so when Rosaleen is hauled to jail for standing up for herself, Lily decided to run away to a mysterious town that has some linkage to her mother. Her escapades lead her to three, wonderful, eclectic, devout followers of Mary, and to a new life. As the story unfolds, an elaborate symbol lies hidden just beneath the surface, one that seems so obvious, but only lies as a hidden
“The Queen Bee in the Corner Office” by Olga Khazan is an article many working women can relate to. From various jobs I have had, it is safe to say every working woman has at least encountered a “Queen Bee”. From high school we know a queen bee usually consists of being the prettiest girl in school; wearing the trendiest clothes; knowing all the hot gossip; and having the hottest boyfriend. According to Khazan (2017), in a work setting, the queen bee consists of three characteristics; the aggressive bitch, passive-aggressive bitch, and the tuned out, indifferent bitch. The aggressive bitch is a high ranking woman at a firm who usually verbally assaults anyone. A passive-aggressive bitch tends to be two-faced and has her “subtle,semi-rude emails”
Grief leaves an imprint on those who experience it. Some can survive its deep sorrow, others cannot. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, she explores the effect of grief on the main characters. The novel opens with fourteen-year-old Lily Owns struggling with the knowledge that her mother was dead because she, as an infant, picked up a loaded gun and accidentally shot her. She runs away from her abusive father in search for answers of who her mother was. Lily hitchhikes to Tiburon, South Carolina; the location written on the back of an image of the Black Madonna – one of the only belongings she has of her mother’s. There, she finds a pink house inhabited by the Boatwright sisters who are African American women making Black Madonna honey. The Boatwright sisters have had their share of grief with the death of two of their sisters and the racial intolerance they face despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The Boatwright sisters and Lily Owens have different methods of coping with grief; internalizing, ignoring, and forgetting are some of the ways they cope, with varying degrees of success. They discover that they must live past their grief, or else it will tear them apart.
Themes such as motherhood, racism, and the bees’ hardwork are included in The Secret Life of Bees,written by Susan Monk Kidd, in order to show and highlight the hard times that the each character faced. This novel highlights Lily’s path from a child to young adult. She now sees with more clarity in subjects of racism and her new family. Her path started innocent and uneducated and ended up being very whole and educated. In Lily’s growth throughout this novel, her trials and tribulations were shown. In The Secret Life of Bees, there are many words and phrases referenced and used that stay full of wisdom, courage, and female
Sonsyrea Tate’s statement about “home” aligns with Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees. In this novel, the main character, Lily Owens, embarks on a Bildungsroman journey after leaving her birth home to find her true identity and “home.” The idea of “home” guides Lily on a path of self-discovery and leads her to the pink house and the feminine society that lies within, in which she finds true empowerment and womanhood in her life.
The Secret Life of Bees delineates an inspirational story in which the community, friendship and faith guide the human spirit to overcome anything. The story follows Lily Owens, a 14 year old girl who desperately wants to discover the cause of her mothers death. Her father T. Ray gives her no answers, which leads their maid, Rosaleen, to act as her guardian. Together, Lily and Rosaleen run away to Tiburon, South Carolina and find a welcoming community. It is in Tiburon that Lily learns many life lessons, including many about herself. In her novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explores a theme of spiritual growth through Lily's search for home as well as a maternal figure.
With an increase in familiarity, as she progresses her outlook on life changes with her. By the closure of The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens experiences passion, rage, joy, and sorrow in larger quantities than most teens her age. Amidst every trial transpires an improved
Martin Luther King once said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees fully embodies his idea of equality, by introducing the story of a fourteen-year-old white girl named Lily Owens, who lives during the time of the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina. Lily’s mother was killed in an accident when Lily is a little girl. Ever since, she lives with her father T-Ray, and her black surrogate mother, Rosaleen, in Sylvan, South Carolina. Soon after her fourteenth birthday, Lily escapes to the Boatwright sisters’ house in Tiburon, South Carolina, with Rosaleen, who is arrested for assaulting a white man. Upon her arrival, Lily faces different racist situations and meets her first love, a handsome black boy named Zach. The novel The Secret Life of Bees demonstrates that although racism has a negative impact on everyday life, it also influences Zach and Lily’s development in a positive manner.
Rosaleen is the disciplinary figure in Lily?s life. She is tough and sometimes mean but really she loves Lily. Lily knew that ?despite her sharp ways, her heart was more tender than a flower skin and she loved her beyond reason?. Rosaleen also shows her love for Lily when she avoids telling Lily that her mother left her. She knew this would break Lily?s heart.
August explains how bees have a lot more intract life than people are aware and she also explains how there is a queen bee. This really help Lily picture her mother and she immediately began relating it to stories from the