Examples Of Social Issues In The Secret Life Of Bees

“And when you get down to it, Lily, that’s the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love – but to persist in love.” (289) August Boatright, South Carolina – Summer of 1964. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is dynamic and intense. This novel covers a variety of social issues such as cultural expectations, economic circumstance, and ethnicity. The novel is set in the 1960s, during this time many social norms were immoral. The racism, prejudice and stereotypical judgment of that society against the colored members were atrocious. Yet in this novel, although they stereotype the colored community as poor or of lesser value, Sue Monk Kidd introduced the Boatright sisters. Lily Owens constantly suffered from bullying and

Whilst opening up about her secrets to August, Lily uncovers information that leaves her very bothered. August tells Lily about her mother and answers questions Lily has, among those answers Lily pieces together that her mother may have only married her father because she was pregnant at the time. This upsets Lily because her whole life she has received nothing but hate and anger from T. Ray, perhaps if her mother had never gotten pregnant, she would still be alive. These thoughts haunt Lily. Lily’s mother, Deborah, did not have the financial means to raise a child on her own therefore her economic circumstances may have forced her to make tough decisions. Due to T. Ray’s financial situation, Lily was forced to make her own clothes in home economics class. T. Ray worked long hours on a peach farm he runs and also lives on. This family was not necessarily poor although the novel portrays a few financial problems. There is a slight irony in the novel when the Boatright sisters are introduced. They live in a very nice neighborhood in a nice pink house. The sisters are very well mannered and this surprises Lily as she states “August is so intelligent and cultured” (78) due to Lily’s prejudiced mind she did not believe black people could be so intelligent and well mannered. The irony comes from the comparison of Lily's house and neighborhood compared to the boat right sisters. When Lily

This novel shed light on the fact that everyone suffers from racism and discrimination. In the fourth chapter Lily expresses confused feelings as for the first time in her life, she’s the victim of racism. June and August Boatright are discussing Lily and Rosaleen arrival, August tries to reason with June and convince her to accept that the girls will be staying for a little bit. During their conversation Lily overhears June express her disapproval of a white girl staying in her house. To this Lily thought to herself “I hadn’t known this was possible- to reject people for being white “(87) All her life Lily has only known black people or a person of color to be the victim of racism, the fact that the tables have turned helps Lily on her path to overcoming her own prejudice. After Lily had been introduced to Zach Taylor, she realized after a few weeks that she had developed some feelings for him. This frightened Lily because she never thought that she could fall for a black boy. Frankly she never considered them attractive until she actually met and got to know him. In fact, Lily deemed her attraction to a “negro” (125) foolish. Yet again towards to end of the Novel, another prejudice inspired conception is changed due to experiencing things and stepping outside of social norms and typical racist views within that society. A closing example of the racism portrayed in this novel is