Relationships In The Secret Life Of Bees

Mildred and Richard Loving were two people who had fallen in love. This wasn’t your ordinary couple, however. This relationship was between a white man and a black women, an act that was illegal at the time. Following their marriage in 1958, the newlyweds were arrested by the state of Virginia for violating anti-miscegenation laws, which was legislation that prohibited interracial marriage. Choosing to be exiled from the state rather than face prison, the two moved to the nearby city of Washington, D.C. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Lovings reached out to Attorney General Robert Kennedy for assistance. The National Capitol Area office of the American Civil Liberties Union eventually took on their case.

The real-life story of Mildred and Richard Loving’s marriage connects to that of Lily and Zach’s budding relationship in the Secret Life of Bees. In chapter seven, Lily and Zach both appear to take a liking to each other. In the novel, Lily thinks, “It was foolish to think some things were beyond happening, even being attracted to Negroes. I’d honestly thought such a thing couldn’t happen, the way water could not run uphill or salt could not taste sweet” (Kidd 125). Here, Lily is under the impression that it isn’t possible for a white person to love a black person. As a result of the same anti-miscegenation laws that affected Mildred and Richard, Lily is misled into believing that this can’t happen. Therefore, it is challenging for her to visualize herself with Zach because she has never seen or heard of something similar occur