Relationships In The Secret Life Of Bees

Coursework 1

In the secret life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd makes the relationship between her and her parents really interesting because throughout the novel all kinds of things start to happen between them. In the beginning of the novel, Deborah wasn't really there for Lily when she was growing up. The reason behind that is because there was an accident with Deborah, Lilly and T. Ray. T. Ray was pushing Lily around she was just a little girl and Deborah saw how he was treating Lily. They then start to go get into an argument and she pulls out a gun. T. Ray had knocked it out of her hand. Lily has seen this gun on the floor. On chapter one page 8, it says “The gun on the floor. Bending to pick it up. The noise that exploded around us” This quote is saying how Lily got the gun and killed her mother. She didn't mean to and that's when she realized she had messed up. Every day she would think about her mother and be so sad. She would always say to herself that it was her fault and how sorry she was about what she did. On the other hand, her father T. Ray was always so abusive and mean to Lily ever since she was a little girl. When Lily would do something bad she

While she's over there she writes a letter to T. Ray and writes all kinds of hate on it. She also then starts to believe that her mother left her. Lily tells August about it and August already knew about Deborah. I feel like Kidd wanted to make this connection between August and Lily so she could bond with her more. Lily still thinks about her mother and she says she can feel like she's close to her sometimes. In chapter 14, Page 278 it says “When I woke up in the mornings, my first thought was the hat box. It was almost like my mother herself was hiding under the bed. Sue Monk Kidd is making the connection between Lily and her mother by making the character feel like her mother is around her at times. This also creates a