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Secret Life Of Bees Character Analysis

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Lily had a significant change on how she viewed race throughout the novel, Secret Life of Bees. Lily grew up in South Carolina in 1964, during the civil rights movement, and had the mindset that colored people were inferior to white people at the time. Lily’s mind changed after Rosaleen was put in jail and Lily realized she did nothing wrong. When Lily and Rosaleen run away they end up at the Boatwright’s house, Lily has a change in her mind set about race. Later, in the novel Lily meets a boy named Zach. Zach is a big impact on her change of mindset on race. Because of Rosaleen, the Boatwright sisters, and Zach Lily’s concept of race changes throughout the novel. Firstly, Lily’s concept of race changed when Rosaleen went to jail. In the novel, Rosaleen is arrested while she was going to register to vote. Rosaleen goes to a church to steal some fans which did not help her situation. In the novel, there is very unnecessary comments made to Rosaleen. Rosaleen had walked past a gas station on her way to vote and got into an altercation with some men (Kidd 32). …show more content…

Zach wants to become a lawyer (Kidd 121). When Lily listens to how Zach feels about how he feels about becoming a lawyer and her mind changes on the concept of race. Zach makes her realize that if you want something bad enough and you work hard for it then you can do anything no matter what race you are (Kidd 121). Zach and Lily went to an auto parts store and had an altercation with the men that were standing around. Zach’s friend Jackson had gotten mad at the man and threw an “R.C. Cola bottle over the man’s head” (Kidd 178). Zach ended up going to jail because he would not tell on his friends, so the police arrested him because he was wrongly accused (Kidd 179). This upset Lily because she knows Zach did nothing but she realized because of his race he was treated much differently. Later in the novel, Zach becomes her love interest (Kidd

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In fact, it is my belief that she gains hope from these interactions and this is in turn what fuels her interest in the civil rights movement. In the book, Coming of Age in Mississippi there are many instances where the African American community were treated poorly. In one incident, a house was set on fire and an entire black family was murdered. “That house didn’t just catch on fire.

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It was Nanny who told her the significance of observing the social order and follow the will of the white. For example, Nanny had experienced the cruelty of slavery. To help her grand-daughter live a good life, Nanny bought some land and a house finally and decided only marry Janie to a rich white person could Janie be prevented from the disasters as hers. She caught Janie with Johny and married her to Logan, a wealthy farmer. However, threatened by the terror of social tradition, she does not fight aggressively against this order.

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We know that she has insecurities because of the false accusations about Twyla kicking Maggie. In the weeks to follow Roberta and Twyla protest on opposite sides of the civil rights movement. It is here that we find out that Roberta might be the white character and Twyla may be the african american. This is significant because it shows the mysterious ways that the author is used to develop Robertas

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Throughout The Secret Life of Bees bees play a recurring role in the novel, repeatably being mentioned during the novel in epigrams before the start of each chapter and within the story itself. Unfortunately, on certain occasions the reason why bees are included in a certain part of the story can be unclear and confusing to readers, causing them to occasionally misinterpret the importance of bees throughout the novel. Regardless, the bees throughout play a very important role in understanding many of the themes and symbolism that Kidd included within the novel. In The Secret Life of Bees Kidd symbolizes Lily’s experiences and situations through the bees frequently present in the novel to show that seemingly different things can function in the same way.

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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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To begin, the fact that Lily was white and Rosaleen was black shows the audience that racism was irrational. Even though at first, Lily thought all blacks were uneducated, we see her grow and learn. They bring characters like August that opened Lily’s eyes to a new world. When she begins to develop feelings for Zach it is a totally new world. In school she was taught that they were just trouble, but fell for him anyway and realized everyone was wrong.

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Mental Illness affects an immense amount of individuals no matter their race, culture or age. It is everywhere we go, yet still an issue some choose to ignore; whether it is the person facing the illness or those around them. People handle their sickness in a variety of ways. Some by using violence as their only answer, others run away from their issue and majority choose to accept and make the best of it. After reading the novel The Secret Life of Bees, it would be easy to think that the main theme is discrimination or family, but in reality it is actually focused on the toll that mental illness takes on a family.

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Daisy realizes how women during her time were always led by men without a voice since their decisions, opinions, and thoughts were second to those of males and their everyday lives were determined men. Daisy is expressing how due to their marginalization women are better off being fooled and dumb because the voice of women did

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A New Family: Interracial Relationships and Religion in The Secret Life of Bees In such a diverse world where different races come together and interact, the early 1960s reveal society’s surprised reaction to these relationships. Interracial relationships are strongly frowned upon during this time, almost as if they are illegal. Fortunately, over time, people begin to accept those with different backgrounds and can easily communicate with each other. Hardships are still present today, but society in moving in a better direction.

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The character of Lily Owens evolves and changes as any young woman would throughout the course of her life. Lily begins the book as an insecure, detached, and unaware teenage girl. We see how Lily changed into a wise young woman as she solves the mystery of her mother’s life. Towards the end of the book Lily transforms into a young woman who is much more confident, happier, and vicarious. Lily has learned about love and biases.

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The act of racial discrimination impacts innocent people's lives in numerous, negative ways; hence why multiple people, worldwide can not tolerate racism and discrimination. The novel written by Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, displays a wide range of scenarios where racism results in suffering. Rosaleen, a black woman, will never forget how three white men negatively impact her life; she will remain scarred unto death. Also, ever since the racial incident involving April and her twin, May, pain is constantly accompanying April; consequently, she commits suicide. Finally, when May loses April, she endures all the various sufferings of the world, including racial discrimination.

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“A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love” (Connie May Fowler). This quote reflects the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd because the protagonist in the story, Lily Owens, her mother have died when she was four years old and she didn’t feel loved by her abusive father, T. Ray Owens, until she met the Boatwrights family with the housekeeper, Rosaleen, and stayed with them. The Boatwrights family are the three black sisters who are August, May, and June. This novel took place in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily grew up and where she found the answer to her questions.

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