One of the themes presented by Sue Monk Kidd in, “The Secret Life of Bees” is pushing boundaries. In the book, Lily runs away from her abusive father and stays at a beekeepers house where she would be safe. This beekeepers house is a black family and while she stayed there and everyone was constantly pushing boundaries. The story relates to the article written by Nadra Kareem Nittle which was called, “How the Freedom Riders Movement Began”. This article was about a group of people called freedom riders traveling together to end the Jim Crow laws or other known as, racist laws.
Sue Monk Kidd indirectly characterizes Rosaleen through speech , in The Secret Life of Bees, as brave in order to reveal that she cares about Lily enough to stand up to T Ray and be like a mother figure to Lily. An example of this is when Rosaleen defends Lily and her new baby chick, “ she said and looked him up one side and down the other ‘You ain’t touching that chick.’ ” (Kidd 11).In this scene, T Ray was threatening to kill Lily’s baby chick that she had recently acquired. Since Lily was only 8 years old she could not defend herself against her father, so Rosaleen is brave and steps in and acts as her mother in protecting her, and what she cares about, from her ill-tempered father. The author does this in order to explain to the reader
Through indirect characterization, Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees, displays Rosaleen as an obstinate character in order to exhibit the southern racism at hand. For example, Rosaleen is indirectly characterized when she comes into contact with the town’s most notorious racist, Franklin Posey, and will not apologize for standing up for her beliefs. Recalling the event, she exclaims, “‘he hit me till the policeman said that was enough. They didn’t get no apology, though’” (46).
Bees hide an entire colony within their hives, they hide little cities and communities. The book, The Secret Life of Bees, shows a lot of symbolism that relates to bees. In this book, written by Sue Monk Kidd, a 14-year-old named Lily Owens has memories of pulling the trigger on her own mother as a child. Her abusive father who goes by T-Ray makes her life miserable. Lily runs away with her caretaker Rosaleen to the Boatwright sisters, whom live on a honey farm.
The Secret Life of Bees Journal Entry 1 “I wanted to tell T. Ray that any girl would love a silver charm bracelet, that in fact last year I was the only girl at Sylvan Junior without one…”-Lily Owens Chapter 1 pg. 21. In the book so far, the main character is the type of person who is lonely trying to find ways to belong in certain environments and find him or herself and at the same time they aren’t afraid to keep trying.
How the decisions one makes can affect others in The Secret Life of Bees In American author Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, fourteen-year-old Lily Owens abandons her abusive father, Terrence Ray, with her caretaker Rosaleen. They set off on an adventure to find closure after her mother’s tragic death, and end up in Tiburon, South Carolina. She is taken care of by the Boatwright sisters, August, May, and June, who takes her under their wings and teaches her about their religion, while she learns about her mother’s life.
During a time period of social injustices Lily, the main character in Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, inserts herself into the home of a family of African American sisters to uncover the mystery surrounding her mother. Because of Lily's young age when her mother dies, as she gets older she has an obession of trying to figure out who her mother really was. She has little recollection of the time they spent together and one day she comes across a picture with the words "Tiburon S.C" on the back. This is the moment her real journey begins. Lily sets off to finds this place her mom has visited to discover new things about her mom, but what she actually does is learn about herself.
“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance” -Samuel Johnson. This quote encompasses one of the underlying and pivotal concepts that I have learned this semester. This is the idea of perseverance. Perseverance has various forms and it shows up in every single book we have read this semester. I think that this quality is crucial to progress in both physical and spiritual life.
“The gun on the floor. Bending to pick it up. The noise that exploded around us. This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted.
Prejudice is something everyone has inside themselves. It can be buried deep or right beneath the surface, intentional or unintentional, big or small. An individual’s surroundings are always factor in determining prejudice, but in the end, letting those preconceptions cloud their vision is up to them. The Secret Life of Bees delves deeper into this problem. The book takes place in the 1960’s, a time where racism against black men, women, and children runs rampant throughout America.
The theme of segregation is of significant importance in the novel the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the films Selma by Ava DuVernay, The Help by Tate Taylor, and the documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America by Stacey Peralta. I chose this theme as it plays an important role in all texts and greatly contributes to the main problems and situations in each. Although the Civil Rights Act supposedly ended all state and local laws requiring segregation the year before the film was set in 1964, there are still many cases of it seen in Selma, such as restaurants that solely serve white people or not allowing black people to vote. A lot of white people featured in this film were segregationists; unable to accept the fact that the era of
The Secret Life Of Bees- Literary Analysis A conflict in The Secret Life Of Bees is that Lily has to deal with her father with him mistreating her all the time. Her father is depressed, mad and built up with a lot of anger because of the death of his wife. The first situation in the book Secret Life Of Bees is that lily has to deal with her dad, T.ray mistreating her all the time.
Title Growth, change, and self-discovery are humanity’s focus. We are constantly moving, developing, and improving ourselves and our environment. Human art and literature reflect our values, and identity is key in the works we create. In The Secret Life of Bees, a novel written by Sue Monk Kidd, the character Lily goes through many ups and downs in order to find her identity, values, and interests, and to develop relationships. We learn about ourselves through characters, and Lily teaches us to discover ourselves through our view of ourselves, our interests and goals, and through our relationships with others.
“A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love” (Connie May Fowler). This quote reflects the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd because the protagonist in the story, Lily Owens, her mother have died when she was four years old and she didn’t feel loved by her abusive father, T. Ray Owens, until she met the Boatwrights family with the housekeeper, Rosaleen, and stayed with them. The Boatwrights family are the three black sisters who are August, May, and June. This novel took place in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily grew up and where she found the answer to her questions.
Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, and it is the idea that the only thing that makes an action right or wrong are the consequences resulting from that action. In other words, the action is only right if it produces the greatest net well-being, or happiness, for all parties. Deontology is the concept that there are at least some other factors of an action that determine if it was right or wrong, not just it's consequences. These are two conflicting ethical standpoints, which can cause disagreements, when applying them to a scenario. We can take a look from both views and determine how we would act in a certain situation and compare the results.
