Lily Owens In 'The Secret Life Of Bees'

Lily Melissa Owens, also known as Lily is the protagonist in the book The Secret Life of Bees. She lives in 1964 which is in also know and is turning 14. I feel sympathy for her because she has lost her mother when she was about 4 years old and her father, isn’t a nice person. He is mean and sets harsh rules for her and always tells her that her mother died because of her. On the other hand, Rosaleen, a black woman who worked at the peach farm which Lily’s father owned is like Lily’s mother. She is strong and clear with what she saids and has fortitude to stand up for herself. They leave the town to go find about Lily’s mother's past. I haven’t read a lot of the book yet and so far, the title of the book has no direct relation with the story but it has shown some indirect relations with the story. The story starts with Lily finding bees in her bedroom which is significant to the title, The Secret Life of Bees. Bees always have a queen. They lay eggs and basically control the whole swarm. It shows the power of female community. I think that this relates to the book because the protagonist is a female and her actions show that Lily is a strong character, like a queen bee.

I found one quote that is a metaphor. “The queen, for her part, is the unifying force of the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence. After a few hours, or even less, they show unmistakable signs of queenlessness.” (Sue Monk Kidd 1) This metaphor in the first page of the book compares the death of the queen bee to the death of Lily’s mother. Lily’s mother, like the queen, kept the family together. After she died, Lily and her father fell apart just like the bees making unmistakable signs of