The Secret Life Of Bees Summary

How “The Secret Life of Bees” and Real Life
Lily in “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd is a big social change in the society of their time, she did not find black people as being less of a human being. “Then he saw Rosaleen and started to rub the bald space on his head with such agitation I thought he might rub down to the bone”(Sue Monk Kidd page 30). 1964 in the United States, racism toward the black community was still very present, especially in the South, which is where Lily and her African American friend Rosaleen lived. For something as simple as walking into a prominently white church blacks were looked down upon and sometimes forced out, but Lily brought Rosaleen in like she was no different than herself. “So you’ve been here the whole time, staying with colored women”(Sue Monk Kidd page 291). Lily staying with the calendar sisters, which were three black women, is something people never see in that period of time. This shows the world that no matter what color you are you

“For the Fourth of July they’re holding a voters’ rally at the colored church”(Sue Monk Kidd page 27). When Rosaleen and all the colored people were finally allowed to vote, it was one of many occasions that led to racial equality in the U.S.A. All people nowadays have equal rights, there is no longer segregation in the United States, and everyone can vote. “This white girl, Lil, is staying with the colored Boatwright sisters”(Sue Monk Kidd page 157). Most White people thought of black people as lesser than a white person in the days of Lily. In modern American Society, it is not really socially acceptable to be racist or to use racial terms, but there are still groups in the world that think others are lesser than them because of the pigmentation of their skin. The book is the history of what people felt in the 1960’s and has affected what people are like