The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

In the 1960s, segregation and discrimination against African Americans were all over the south. African Americans had little to no rights or justice. The novel The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is about a young white girl, Lily, who lives in Sylvan, South Carolina, with her abusive father T.Ray and her African American housekeeper, Rosaleen. Lily also had lost her mother when she was four years old. The song “The Times Are A-Changin’” written by Bob Dylan, shows that the everything is changing. The article “A Long Road To Justice”, by Jeff Truesdell, is about the fight for justice for all African Americans. The article “A Comic Book for Social Justice” written by Grace Bello is about the struggle for the Civil Rights Movement. The

Her wicked father has told her that she had murdered her mother, even though she was four years old. The battle of skin color outside symbolizes the conflict within herself. The loss of her mother deeply affected her both mentally and emotionally. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, its states, “Time folded in on itself then. What is left lies in clear yet disjointed pieces in my head. The gun shining like a toy in her hand, how he snatched it away and waved it around. The gun on the floor. Bending to pick it up. The noise that exploded around us. This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted. And I took her away.” (Kidd 8) Kidd reveals how Lily’s mother’s death traumatized her and ruined her happiness. The violence and damage within Lily symbolizes the rampage outside her

African Americans did not have any freedom or justice. In the novel The Secret Life Of Bees, it states, “They lunged at her, and everything started to spin. There was Rosaleen, grabbed and thrashing side to side, swinging the like pocketbooks on her arms, and the men yelling at her to apologize and clean their shoes…. “Call the police,” yelled the dealer to a man inside. By then Rosaleen lay sprawled on the ground, pinned, twisting her fingers around clumps of grass. Blood ran from a cut beneath her. It curved under her chin the way tears do.” (Kidd 32/33) This supports the lack of respect and injustice that African Americans had to endure during the 1960s. African Americans were murdered for their skin color. They were slaughtered because of the something that the could not change. The article “A Long Road to Justice”, written by Jeff Truesdell, states “She was walking along the side of a road, searching for the wallet she'd lost on her way from the grocery store, when someone in a speeding black Plymouth fired at Johnnie Mae Chappell, 35, hitting her in the belly. Testimony later revealed the occupants were looking for a black person to shoot. "If it was four months earlier, I would have been in her stomach," says her son Shelton. His only photograph of his mother shows her at the morgue, his father peering down sadly at her lifeless body.” (Truesdell) The hatred toward African Americans is exerted