“Love is All Around You” is a poem that parallels the novel The Secret Life of Bees in many different ways. Love is portrayed as a simple entity that is achieved on many different levels. The motif of love is presented in both pieces of literature allowing for a comparison to be drawn between the literary works.
“Love is All Around You” are the first 5 words in this twelve line poem. This statement represents what “The Secret Life of Bee’s” is all about. Lily, the protagonist of the novel, struggles to find love within her biological family after her mother died when she was four years old and her father, T-Ray, became bitter towards her and the world around him. After Lily was older she gained a boost of confidence when her housekeeper, Rosaleen, who was also the only person who loved lily when she was growing up was beaten down by a group of racist that attacked her. When
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T-Ray, the father of lily was an abusive figure throughout the beginning of the novel as well as the beginning of his daughter’s life. He was also prone to telling lily that the death of her mother and the reason for their loss was because of her. He blamed her for everything and his appearances throughout the novel were often the saddest moments that were occurring. Despite having such a negative figure in her life, lily was still able to overcome many obstacle and find a loving family that gave her the love that she deserved and the love that her father never provided her with. While Lily was able to find happiness in a caring family, her father still attempted to hurt Lily and take her away from her loved ones by reappearing later in the novel. His reappearance goes along with the poems line “The saddest day”, because upon her father's return she was scared for her future and what was going to happen if he were take her home