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Secret Life Of Bees Theme Analysis

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Recommended: Racism in literature

In the 1960’s, racial inequality was widely shown but can be easily overcome.(2) In the novel Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, racial inequality is shown a lot through the book. The author puts out the theme in many different parts of the book of racial inequality to prove that is one of the greater themes in the book. Racial inequality is where two specific races are not equal to each other. In the book it is the whites vs the blacks. The whites are living the better life and are mistreating the blacks throughout the book. The whites use many ways to make the blacks feel like unequal. For example they discriminate them and use racism towards them in the book. Not only does the whites use racism but also kids. The book shows this through lily and how she changes over the course of the book. In the novel racial inequality is shown many times throughout white people, and Lily. Not only is it shown but is easily overcome with lily in the book.
One way how racial inequality is shown is by the whites throughout the book. Kidd shows many different examples of racial inequality with …show more content…

Lily is a small and smart, a girl going through a race shift throughout the book.(1) In the beginning of the book Lily is shown as a little racist girl but by the end she changes and understands what racial inequity is. In the end Kidd shows Lily as a girl who has changed and a girl who cares about blacks. In the end of the book Lily explains what teenagers caller her at school because of her change. Lily says “Becca and I watch for Zach in the lunchroom and sit with him every chance we get, we have a reputation as nigger lovers.”(301) This shows how Lily has easy overcomes racial inequality. Lily is shown as racist in the beginning and a “nigger lover” by the end. Kidd wants to give the readers a message that racism is not right and can be changed, she shows this through lily in the

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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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Another prevalent literary device in the novel is Kidd’s use of metaphors. As the novel is titled The Secret Life of Bees, unsurprisingly enough, the main metaphor of the novel are bees and their hive. The fact that there is a whole dynamic of jobs and responsibilities that go into running a successful hive is unknown to a lot of people compares to Lily’s life with the Boatwright sisters, since Lily and Rosaleen arrive at the Boatwright sister’s house unknown and unexpected. Lily describes this time as her “secret life,” shown by the quote: “‘Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about.’

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Lily has a coming of age moment when she realizes she is loved. “You are unlovable, Lily Owens. Unlovable. Who could love you? Who in this world could ever love you?”(Kidd 242).

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Rosaleen was a African American so lily did experience the racial hatred Rosaleen received but Lily did not care what color she was all she cared was what the person she was in the inside. The author portrays their relationship as a family. Kidd showed how Lily and Rosaleen cared and loved each other more like a family would than a friend would since all they had were each other cause T-ray, ( Lily’s fathers ) who wasn’t all that such a father figure in her life. She showed them sticking through everything not giving up on each other. When Rosaleen got into the conflict with the white men lily was the one who helps her out of the hospital where the arresting officers had beaten her up.

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The main example in which Kidd used throughout The Secret Life of Bees novel was with the symbolism of Lily by bees. When this book was written its purpose was to represent racism within the US around the civil rights movement. But racism is really just taking two different parties which appear different but are equally smart, can perform the same tasks, and are emotionally equal, Caucasians and African Americans. So the real importance of the way Kidd uses bees as a symbol within the novel is to understand what Kidd is representing at a larger scale, not just within the story itself, racism present within the

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In the story, Kidd’s use of characterization successfully reveals the theme that people's lives are more complex than they appear. Kidd demonstrates this theme using the characterization of Lily, T. Ray, May, and Deborah. One character that Sue Monk Kidd uses to portray the theme, is the main character Lily. In the beginning of the story, the author shows that Lily can be both mature and immature at times. An example of her maturity in the text is when she says, “People who think dying is the worst thing don’t know a thing about life” (Kidd 2).

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Continuing, another theme that led us through Lily’s adventure of growing up was her discovering how important storytelling was. She was going through gruesome horrid things, and when she read things like Shakespeare she realized how important it was because it helped her escape to a fantasy world for a little bit of time. Lastly, Lily learns the power of the female community. Lily grew up without a mother, so for a large chunk of her life she didn’t know the real power the female community held.

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Since the 1930’s, milestones have been reached as to racial equality and equal rights in America, but there are still issues between black and white. Today, racism is an existing part of society. News headlines of “Police Brutality” flash across the television screen from time to time. Racial stereotypes are a common mindset for some people. Back in the 1930’s however, racism and segregation was everywhere.

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Lily barely knew her own mother, and T. Ray, her father, abuses her and could care less. Lily gets to experience the parent-child love from Rosaleen. Kidd asserts that the interaction between different races can lead to loving

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Eventually, Lily grows to stands up to T.Ray. Throughout the novel she has a sarcastic response to everything. However, towards the end of the novel she begins to have an actual voice. She even learns about prejudices. Since is she not prejudice towards blacks, Lily thinks others aren’t either.

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The problem is more than race, it is about how humans treat other humans and how little respect we give to those we deem lower than us. The author used the characters to show that the desire to be superior among others goes further than race. She also used a real tragedy, the murder of the NAACP Field Secretary, which allows readers to connect the novel to real life and making the novel more compelling. These key issues make the readers think deeper, allows the novel to surpass others like it, and connect to many human interactions even in today’s

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When Lily lost her mother and has T. Ray taking care of her, she starts questioning her mother of why she left them. “Your sorry mother ran off and left you. The day she died, she’d come back to get her things, that’s all,” (Kidd, 40). When Lily heard T. Ray say this to her, she was shocked with depression and thinking that T. Ray might of lied to her about what he said about her mother. The lesson is that Lily is depressed and questioning herself on why her mother decided to leave her.

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Social inequality is overlooked by many. It affects so many of us, though we have yet to realize how extreme it is. Lee argues in this novel how much stress social inequalities put on the black and white races throughout the 1930s. Although, social inequalities did not just affect different races, it also affected poor people and family backgrounds. These are proven in the novel multiple times through Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, and the Cunninghams when the book is looked at more in

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(Lee 269). This shows conflict between classes because white people are giving black people a hard time. Black people were perceived as the lowest class and throughout the story people would treat them as if they were dirt. Being in the lowest class, they would have to do all of the terrible work. They never had a chance to get a good job and be successful because of the white people.

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