The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

Have you ever been curious about someone that you went to great lengths to learn more about? Well, a girl named Lily from the book “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd always wanted to know more about her mother as she died when she was very young. The only person that could possibly have told her anything was Ray, her father. But the relationship between Lily and her father was not so great. He never cared about what she wanted and would pay little to no attention. T. Ray has the most growth and influence on Lily’s actions and behavior. Due to his inability to show affection towards Lily is what caused Lily to run away in hopes of finding out more about her mother. In the story “The Secret Life of Bees” we see how one of the characters

Ray's stubbornness. This probably caused a barrier between T. Ray and Lily’s relationship. Overall, T. Ray could have prevented this distance between him and his daughter if he had just shown affection towards her, and not let his past get in the way of their relationship. Another reason why T. Ray has had the biggest impact on Lily is the way he treated her physically and mentally. Although T. Ray never cared to tell Lily anything about her mother, he also never cared to do anything special for Lily. T. Ray shows this here where it says, “I considered how to bring up the delicate matter of my birthday, something T. Ray had never paid attention to in all the years of my life, but every year, like a dope, I got my hopes up thinking this year would be the one.”(Monk Kidd, 36) As shown from this quote from the book, T. Ray never paid attention to Lily. It was as if she was a ghost. Birthdays did not matter to him, so he never got Lily anything. This probably made her feel sad and made her feel as if Ray T. did not care for her at all. Another way Ray impacted Lily physically is when he decided to punish her. Like every parent, there is a time to punish your children for something