ipl-logo

Direct Characterization In The Secret Life Of Bees

1311 Words6 Pages

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. In one passage, while collecting honey from the beehives with August, Lily inquires about how the color of the Boatwright house came to be. August replies by teaching her an essential lesson about prioritization. …show more content…

Walking with August, Lily asks her, “How come if your favorite color is blue, you painted your house so pink? She laughed” (Kidd 147). Amused by Lily’s question through her laughter, the reader can blatantly observe August’s laid-back behavior. It is obvious that the color of the house is not a serious matter to her, but rather more of a fun story to tell. In spite of not being able to choose her favorite color, one can see that August is loving and open-minded, explaining that taking May’s color over her own will make her sister happy. Not only having a direct effect on May, the audience can also see that August is lighthearted as an effect of May radiating her happiness. August talks about how “. . . we’ll have half the town talking about us . . .” if the house is painted pink (Kidd 146). Having chosen an untraditional house color, August is made aware of the gossip that could sprout from it. Her consideration of the town’s thoughts indicates that August is self-conscious of other people’s judgment. As a result, she allows this consciousness to cloud her judgment for a split second before reaching a final decision. Lily, finally understanding, says “‘All this time I just figured you liked pink’ . . . She laughed again” (Kidd 147). Combined with the use of short syntax, it proves once again that August is caring, acknowledging that Lily is able to grip what she said, …show more content…

Confused by her choice, Lily asks August “How come if your favorite color is blue, you painted your house so pink?” (Kidd 146). The color blue is symbolic of August’s own preference, an easy choice she is eager to make, but knows she can not without taking into account the opinions of her sisters. August replies, “I had a nice tan color in mind, but May latched on this sample called Caribbean Pink” (Kidd 147). The tan color represents a neutral ground, an okay color that would be accepted by both parties, rather than choosing one color over the other. August understands that choosing one particular color over the other would cause a disagreement, which is why she settles on a neutral color. The metaphor used compares May’s fascination and intrigue of the color, to something that quite literally clamps onto something. The pink color she chooses is a direct representation of her happiness, a vibrant color that emits joy from just the sight of it. This indirectly characterizes May as she is seen enthralled by a bright hue, someone easily enticed through sight. Stuck between options, August explains her love for May “but it was still so hard to choose Caribbean Pink” (Kidd 147). The pink that is painted on the Boatwright house is a portrayal of August’s love for May. She decides to make it pink given how happy it makes May. Knowing that it will keep May happy longer than it will make

Show More
Related
441 Words | 2 Pages

She juxtaposes the colors of the flamingos by saying, “The hues were forward-looking rather than old-fashioned…” By saying this Price is giving the reader the idea that the embellishment of the colors are a “much needed” addition because of the opaque strain the Great Depression had on the nation.

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

Journal #7 On page 182, Lily thinks to herself, “If August is the red heart on Mary’s chest, Rosaleen is the fist.” Lily believes August has the heart of Mary because she puts everyone before herself. For example, August tells Lily, “If it (the Caribbean Pink House) can lift Mary’s heart like that, I guess she ought to live inside it” (147). August wanted to choose a different color, but what mattered to her more was her little sister, May. August believes that with all the pain and grief May suffers from she deserves to have things that make her happy.

Read More
156 Words | 1 Pages

Sue Monk Kidd applies indirect characterization in her novel The Secret Life of Bees to Lily, describing her as a free-spirited person in order to develop Lily’s growing desire to leave T Ray. One example demonstrated in the novel is found where Lily and Rosaleen watch President Lyndon Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act. Lily thinks about her opinion toward the wife of the President, ‘Lady Bird,’ while Johnson signs the act. “I did admire his wife, Lady Bird, though, who always looked like she wanted nothing more than to sprout wings and fly away” (20).

Read More
499 Words | 2 Pages

The author uses a simile to describe the attraction stating that “the color draws them like heat-seeking missiles” (Orenstein 35). The simile compares the young girls’ attraction to pink to heat seeking missiles which is an exaggeration that helps show how strong the attraction is. This however, was not always the case as other adults revealed they “do not remember being so obsessed with pink” (Orenstein 35). The author corroborates this statement with evidence from Jo Paoletti who is a professor of American studies at the University of Maryland. He argues

Read More
936 Words | 4 Pages

As the title of the novel suggests, the color yellow is one of the largest and most important symbols in A Yellow Raft in Blue Water. The color’s effects can best be seen in Rayona with the yellow raft at Bearpaw Lake, but can also be seen in Christine and Ida’s stories. The color yellow clarifies many of the novel's themes, including how each individual perceives the same situation differently, how reality shatters illusions, and how characters seek feelings of internal peace and permanence. Native Americans find symbolism in many everyday objects, including colors. They believe yellow is an opposing symbol, on one hand it denotes happiness, joy, and content, but on the other it is a color of cowardice, deceit, and hurt.

Read More
1146 Words | 5 Pages

At this stage, Lily has really own known one African American: Rosaleen. While she cares for Rosaleen, maybe even loves her, Lily still sees Rosaleen is a domestic figure—as a woman who fits into the stereotypical role of a southern, uneducated housekeeper. Later, readers learn that August once worked as a housekeeper as well, but like Lily readers learn that August chose another life for herself. Lily believes that people have set roles, which they cannot transcend: black women work as housekeepers, black men do not become lawyers, and poor white women like Lily go to beauty

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

the colours silver and gold symbolize wealth It also suggests he was eager he is to show Daisy how wealthy he was as he was dressed in his “Sunday best”.quote also

Read More
1112 Words | 5 Pages

His anger got in the way, and he lashed out on Myrtle. The reason for his lashing out, Myrtle saying Daisy’s name over and over again, might correlate to false love and the fact that Myrtle lets Tom treat her that way only makes Tom more powerful and angry. It associates with the color red because it represents love and passion, but in this case, is really indicates false love because she’s simply a mere object that Tom needs to feed his power, and she has to be kept in secret, while Daisy gets to roam around with Tom as she pleases. On another note, even his house is filled with the color red. “ We walked through a high hallway into a bright rosy-colored space, fragile bound into the house by French windows at either end” (7-8).

Read More
1062 Words | 5 Pages

For example, Nick narrates, “gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes- a fresh, green breast of the new world. ”(189) Symbolism is demonstrated in the color green, representing ambition and greed. Here, the color expresses the hope and aspiration that it took for the Dutch to fulfill their American Dream. Earlier in the text, green is also incorporated through the light at the edge of Daisy’s dock on the opposite side of the sound from Gatsby’s house.

Read More
1294 Words | 6 Pages

The next thing where color can be used to symbolize change is within the setting of Pleasantville itself. As characters begin to make new and different decisions, the setting around Pleasantville begins to ooze bright colors compared to its once drab black and white world. The first big example of the setting changing with colors happens after the sex scene in the car between Reese Witherspoon’s character Jennifer and Skip Martin. The first thing we see that has changed post sex is the rose in skip’s front yard “Red, of course, is the color of both passion and danger, and we’ve seen a little bit of both here, and Skip’s puzzled reaction is just the dawning of the raising of consciousness that goes on all over town in the days to come. I think the use of the rose itself is a little joke.

Read More
1369 Words | 6 Pages

The Effects Of Growing Up Realization can impact a person's life negatively and positively and as a whole someones character. Coming of age is the event that occurs when one starts to see how life really is throughout the journey of growing from experiences to construct an exceptional life to become a better person. The components that play into the characters' coming-of-age development are their perception of parents and their experience of loss. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the central character Lily goes through the development of really realizing who her parents are in the present time and how they acted in the past before and after her birth. In the second novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Read More
755 Words | 4 Pages

The colours brown, white and green strongly emphasises the natural atmosphere and rocky setting. We can also see that the browns and greens are the colours of her accomplices, these colours are darker and do not stand out, signifying the audience that her companions are inferior to her. There inferiority can be established as they are all hiding behind her and do not contribute with no dialogue. (NEXT

Read More
855 Words | 4 Pages

The green showed her connection to nature. It is important it was not scarlet like her mothers. The scarlet color resembles the devil and the sin that Hester committed. Pearl doesn’t completely understand what the A means, but she knows that it has something to do with her. She doesn’t understand that it has to anything with sin.

Read More
682 Words | 3 Pages

The color pink represents the feeling of “true love”. In The Sun Is A Star, Daniel’s goal is to make Natasha believe that “love” is a real feeling, and that it isn’t “something temporary” (Yoon 77 ; “list”). Natasha slowly begins to believe that love is real after calling her ex-boyfriend; after the phone call she “[doesn’t] believe in true love… but [she] might want to. ”(Yoon 243) . Natasha is rethinking her mindset about love while being with Daniel and is starting to fall in love with him.

Read More
921 Words | 4 Pages

For instance, in passage eighteen, she states that she goes to a hotel to have sex with her lover, but at the end she says, “It was a smear of the quotidian, a bright blue flake amidst all the dank providence. It was the only time I came” (7). She has a good time with her lover, but the things impressed her most is the bright blue flake. She looks at her lover, but sees the color blue instead. At that time, maybe only the color blue can best describe her enjoyment and happiness.

Read More

More about Direct Characterization In The Secret Life Of Bees

Related Topics

Open Document