The book “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd is a book about a fourteen-year-old white girl named Lily Owens who lives on a peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina with her father T. Ray who is abusive and neglectful. Lily lives with a secret that many people do not know about, she believes she shot and killed, Deborah, her mother when she was just four years old. This memory has been haunting her for many years, and she would like to learn more about her mother. Ever since Deborah passed away, Rosaleen, Lily’s nanny, has been taking care of her. When the Civil Rights Act was signed, Rosaleen decided she would go and register to vote.
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens, a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father T-Ray, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping. Bees operate on many levels in this story: The epigrams at the beginning of each chapter concern bees; the bees in Lily's room reach out to her and show her she must leave; and the bees at the Boatright house are instrumental in teaching about community, life, and death.
In Kidd’s novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the author alludes to a bombing of a Baptist church in Birmingham to emphasize the terror that multiple characters, such as May, felt. In the novel, August clarifies the meaning of the wailing wall to Lily with one of the events that caused May’s sadness, “Birmingham, Sept 15, four little angels dead” (98). To further explain, the church in Birmingham had a large African-American congregation and served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Therefore, the Ku Klux Klan felt intimidated, so on September 15, they bombed the church and killed four little girls. So with the result of that, the Ku Klux Klan members hoped to scare African-Americans from trying to earn their civil rights.
The Secret Life of Bees By: Sue Monk Kidd 1. Character List Lilly Owens is the main characters, narrator and the protagonist of this novel. She is fourteen years old and lives on a peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina with her father who she calls T-Ray because they are not close and “daddy never fit him”. She also lives with their housekeeper Rosaleen. Throughout most of the novel, Lilly believes that she killed her mother when she was four years old during an argument between her and her father.
Bees are a mysterious species who have an incredible life that we know nothing about; in connection we live crazy, mysterious, lives with ups and downs; goods and bads. The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd is an extraordinary story about a teenager Lily Owens, her abusive father, her mother, and numerous friends. Lily lost her mother at a young age, so she runs away; she ends up living with a loving family of women and finds mothers within them. She learns about friendships, overcoming, forgiveness, and love. In The secret Life of Bees the author shows theme through conflict and symbolism.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a book about a lost girl, who only seeks to learn more about her mother by traveling to the place she truly believes she will find answers, Tiburon, South Carolina. Her journey to find her long-awaited answers begins with her father and ends with August, the oldest of the Boatwright sisters. She hears various stories all of which form an idea in Lily’s mind of who her mother was. Of course, there were some details that Lily didn’t want to hear, but it was apart of her journey. Each and every single answer that she receives is unique and describes who Deborah was in different ways.
Chapter 1 The five aspects of a quest are: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there. A book that uses the aspects of a quest very nicely is the secret life of bees. (a) The quester in this story is a young girl named lily owens who fights with her father and does not have a mother because lily accidently shot her when she younger.
This story takes place in Maycomb, Alabama during the year 1929. A young white girl, Mayella Ewell, tries to seduce an African-American man, Tom Robinson. Later she accuses him of raping her. She knew she would win the case because she was a female and the jury would lean to her side, considering it was an all white jury. Also, the Ewells were known for being the poorest family in Maycomb.
Although losing her mom was a great tragedy it led her to where she is now and where she found the Boatwright family. Killing her mom was the only way she would have found the picture of the black Mary with Tiburon, S.C. on the back.
Symbolism: ‘The Secret Life Of Bees’ “Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open.” (Kidd, 41). Just like the bees escaped the jar, Lily has to, in able to find her freedom. Lily Owens, the main character, is living with an abusive father, who won’t let her out of her ‘jar’ (home). ‘The Secret Life Of Bees’ is set in 1964, during the Civil Rights Movement.
The story begins to unfold as fourteen-year-old Lily Melissa Owens lies in her bed, watching the bees she is often visited by buzz around her room in Sylvan, South Carolina during the year of 1964. As she lies there, she thinks about her deceased mother, Deborah Fontanel Owens. Lily believes that she was the one who shot her mother when she was only four years old. Since she was so young, she does not remember the exact details. All she can remember is that her parents were arguing, and she picked up the gun that her mother had dropped.
The Secret Lives of People The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is an interesting story that connects human lives to bees. The story takes place in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement and fourteen year-old Lily Owens leaves her abusive father and her home in Sylvan, South Carolina to go to Tiburon with hopes to find information on her mother. Throughout the story, Lily struggles with many internal conflicts and also meets several mother figures along the way.
The book takes place in the 1930’s, Maycomb County, Alabama where some segregation still exists. This novel shows how segregation and racism still existed and how it affected everyone in the County. Also, throughout this book, the children experience different events that cause them to have to grow up and see things from different perspectives.
Dakota was a senior in high school when she turned to Planned Parenthood for birth control. She felt that everyone from the front desk to the doctors welcomed her. Dakota was able to get control over her period cramps and know that if she was going to have sex, she would not get pregnant. She said that if it were not for Planned Parenthood, she would not be the person she is today. (Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc., 2023).
“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.
