The Secret Life Of Bees Conflict Essay

The Secret Life of Bees is a story with many conflicts. There are conflicts involving racism, acceptance, and more. The story begins shortly before Lily and Rosaleen flee Silvan, South Carolina to find a new place to live. Soon after, Lily and Rosaleen meet a woman, named May, who is in a conflict with herself every day due to mental issues.

This conflict begins when Lily and Rosaleen first arrive at a big, pink house in Tiburon, South Carolina. That house is the Boatwright household. Rosaleen and Lily meet three sisters who live in this house. The sisters are August, June, and May. May is an eccentric woman who is easily upset. This is due to the death of her sister, April, and it has affected her since. Now, if she hears about the misfortune of anyone, she will become extremely upset.

May’s perspective on caring for people is the reason this conflict exists. One side of her personality wants to care for any person and animal and help them manage their sadness. For example, she took her time leading a cockroach out of the house with marshmallows and graham

crackers instead of killing it. She is a sweet person who is never angry and is kind to everyone she meets. The current mindset that May has is also why the other side of her personality thinks differently. The other side of May is tired of carrying the sadness of everyone and wants to be relieved from the burden. It specifically said in a note she wrote that she was done with carrying the weight of the world.
May deals with this conflict in many ways.

On one side, May attempts to deal with this issue by caring for her wall and placing notes describing unfortunate events in the crevices of the wall. She also begins to sing the song “O, Susanna” before she starts to have a mental breakdown. Despite these habits, The weight of the sorrow continues to burden her. It depresses her to extreme means, suicidal thoughts for instance. In time, Lily, the Boatwrights, and other close friends lose May. They soon find her in a river with a stone holding her down. She committed suicide by drowning herself in the river. This conflict is finally resolved when she August finds May’s suicide note telling them why she committed suicide. It also told them to live their life to the fullest. The Boatwrights and their friends perform a vigil before her funeral to accept her death. At the end of this conflict, they attend her

funeral.
A symbol that helps to understand this conflict is the stone May used. It was literally a stone that May used to hold herself underwater, so she could commit suicide. Symbolically, the stone represents the sorrow that May attempted to carry throughout this conflict. It overburdened her and she committed suicide because of it. It is important to this story because it is an example of what could have happened to Lily. If she had not forgiven herself for murdering her mother. It is possible that, like May, her internal conflict could have led her to commit suicide.