The Secret Life of Bees One of the greatest cruelties one can do upon another is to rob them of their human rights. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd takes place during the fight for civil rights in the United States. One theme presented in the novel would be one should not discriminate or make assumptions about another person due to the color of their skin. The cruelty presented in this novel was the robbing of human rights of blacks, which revealed the true nature of“The Daughters of Mary” of how they were going to raise Lily to be as the society they wanted to see. Now the fight for civil rights was and is the fight to be treated as equal human beings. From the novel, it highlighted this fact as it played a major role in the setting and who the characters were. As it began with the signing of the Civil Rights Act and Rosaline in excitement with every breath, “INSERT PASSAGE” (Kidd ). As one could analyze her the joy that could only come from the years of cruel turmoil of her history. In considering the past of how she and her fellow race were treated for over a century, now to finally have a glimmer of light to escape the racism. However, this would not be the end to this cruelty, because people can pass laws to try to stop the act of racism but one can not stop the act of racism within someone 's heart. With the law being passed it gave rights to colored people to vote, many were in great excitement; however, it would not be that easy. As it was shown as