The Secret Life Of Bees Book Report

During the summer of 2016, I read a book that I would least expect to be meaningful to me. I read the novel as a book project that was one of the requirements to be admitted into my ninth grade honors class. It wasn’t the usually genre of book I preferred, so when I started reading I was surprised to find myself so engrossed in the book. Though I had the whole summer to read the book, I couldn’t help but read it all in the first couple days of summer break.The book captivated me with it’s strong messages that related to struggles I was dealing with at the time. The book was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. As I read it, I could connect with and feel the characters emotions and grief while they dealt with prejudice and female rights.

Lily’s father is disrespectful to women and belittles her and other women throughout the entire book. Since she didn’t grow up with a mother,only her undermining father, Lily doesn’t realize her true value and capabilities she has. To help her Lily is guided by many strong women throughout the book that help her realize her true potential. One is a English teacher, who encourages her to become a teacher as well, which is a stronger profession then what Lily thought she was capable of. August Boatwright is one of her biggest role models. August is a powerful women for her time, she is an African American woman with a self owned honey business, which was very uncommon in this time period. She is also happens to be extremely intelligent, educated, and intellectual. Finally she shows Lily a life without men or marriage. August chooses to not get married to her love because she loves her freedom from a man’s authority more. Lily had never imagined or considered any of August’s achievements possible before and has a new view of the strength and power a woman can have. That’s only women Lily found encouragement by, she also had a spiritual role models, which were Black Mary and the Daughters of Mary. They show Lily what it means to be a powerful woman. They do this by showing how women can stick together and help each other, which Lily was used to being put down and bullied by other girls from school. The Daughters of Mary are always there for each other and stand together during rough times, and show her the beauty of female empowerment. After Lily realizes her value as a woman, she implements all she learned to better herself. She had a new sense of pride and confidence, and even pursues her dream career as a