The Secret Life of Bees
By: Sue Monk Kidd
1. Character List
Lilly Owens is the main characters, narrator and the protagonist of this novel. She is fourteen years old and lives on a peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina with her father who she calls T-Ray because they are not close and “daddy never fit him”. She also lives with their housekeeper Rosaleen. Throughout most of the novel, Lilly believes that she killed her mother when she was four years old during an argument between her and her father. Her father convinces Lilly that her mother left them and did not love her. Lilly decides to runaway with Rosaleen to Tibourn to find out about her mother and herself, but most of all, to find love.
Terrance (T-Ray) Owens is the antagonist and Lilly’s father in this book and
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She is an educated, independent black woman living in the south at a time when that was very uncommon. From the second she is introduced into the story, until the end, you can feel her kind, calming and loving personality. When Lilly and Rosaleen come to her house asking for a place to stay, she opened her arms and house for them. She helps Lilly to find love, trust, and peace within herself and reveals that she cared for Lilly’s mother when she was depressed and ran away from …show more content…
where Lilly is in search of clues for her mother from a picture she left behind. They end up at the door of August Boatwright and her sisters, May and June, who own the Black Madonna Honey farm. August welcomes them and cares for them and for the first time, treats the both with love and respect. August reveals that she cared for Lilly’s mother when she was young and that she had come to stay at the honey farm 3 months before she died. She reveals that Lilly’s mother ran away because she was depressed and troubled and that she had loved Lilly very much and was going back to get