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Racism In The Secret Life Of Bees

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The Secret Life of Bees The novel The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, demonstrates racism with stereotypes and on how a fourteen-year-old girl named Lilly Owens struggles with her own racism. She assumes that like Rosaleen, all African Americans are uneducated housekeepers. But when Rosaleen and Lilly run away from T. Ray’s house in search for information about Lilly’s mother. They encounter a black, women named August Boatwright and her two sisters June and May Boatwright. August surprises Lilly that a black person can be creative, sensitive, and smart. This helps allow her to realize the truth about the irrationally of racism. Later, she meets a young African American named Zach that she starts having feelings for. The two become very close when they work together on taking care of the bees and honey. Things began taking a downfall when Zach was taken by the policemen for getting in a fight with three boys. But just when Lilly was about to give up everything changed for the better. Firstly, Sue Monk shows many of Lilly’s needs and wants throughout the novel “You are unloved, Lilly Owens. Unlovable. Who could love you? Who in the world could ever love you” (Kidd 242)? Lilly expresses that she …show more content…

At thirty feet your skin will start to vibrate. The hair will lift on your neck. Your head would say, Don’t go any farther, but your heart will send you straight into the hum, where you will be swallowed by it. You will stand there and think, I am in the center of the universe, where everything is sung to life” (Kidd 286). The quotes main idea is that the little things in life can change people for the better. In the novel, August and her sisters allow Lilly and Rosaleen to stay at their house. This small act of kindness changed Lilly’s point of view of African Americans and her point of view of her

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The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is a novel about Lily, who runs away from home to Tiburon, after she and Rosaleen, her “stand-in mom” were arrested. Lily killed her mother at a young age, and she feels guilty about it. When Lily and Rosaleen are at Tiburon, Lily finds a picture of The Black Madonna at a store, which was the same picture that Lily’s mom had. This leads them to a pink house, where they meet August, June, and May. August is the oldest and is seen as the leader of the house. Before each chapter of the novel, there is a quote.

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Through indirect characterization, Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees, displays Rosaleen as an obstinate character in order to exhibit the southern racism at hand. For example, Rosaleen is indirectly characterized when she comes into contact with the town’s most notorious racist, Franklin Posey, and will not apologize for standing up for her beliefs. Recalling the event, she exclaims, “‘he hit me till the policeman said that was enough. They didn’t get no apology, though’” (46).

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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.

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