William Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees follows Lily Owens, a 14-year-old girl, who lives a very difficult life. She believes she caused her mother’s death and is searching for the truth, but she does not get any answers from her father, T. Ray, who abuses her throughout her childhood. Lily eventually becomes fed up with the abuse and Lily and Rosaleen, their maid, run away to Tiburon, South Carolina in hopes of finding the truth about her mother’s death. In Tiburon Lily learns many life lessons, including the…

Since Lily has been taken in by the Boatwright sisters, May, June and August in The Secret Life of Bees, conclusions have been drawn about all three individual sister, each possesing diverse qualities that are easily shown throughout the story. August Boatwright is a welcoming and understanding older sister that takes care of the honey company along with Lily, Rosaleen and her two other sisters. August has taken it upon herself to give them a welcoming stay and convince June that Lily is no…

tween mistress who obviously hates being fused to her one and only daughter as much as she does to grant her freedom. Charlotte knows that the road will be difficult, but she obviously sees Sarah say yes, but she wants her “swearing it.” – Sue Monk Kidd, (31) because throughout her life, she has lost trust in white people after seeing her mother and her being separated from her father, never to be seen again. As Sarah is only an eleven-year-old girl, the promise is already nearly impossible to…

from their own personal memories when writing. Sue Monk Kidd is no exception. Kidd is a feminist and a writer-activist known for writing fiction reflecting the context of the civil rights movement in The United States. Combining the best aspects of fiction and broad conceptual ideals, Kidd used narrative as a tool for igniting social change. The significance of Sue Monk Kidd’s life, work, and legacy will last for years to come. Sue Monk Kidd was born and raised in the south, in the town of…

mother within themselves. (SS) Since August practiced the philosophy of the Black Madonna, she tells Lily, “You have to find a mother inside yourself” (Kidd 288). (SS) She expresses that Lily does not need to put her hand on Mary’s heart in order for her to “get strength and consolation and rescue, and all the other things we need to get through life” (Kidd 288). (SS) The faith enclosed by the Black Madonna not only improves Lily’s life, but the Boatwright’s as well.…

In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the time period is set when the Civil Rights Act was just put into place. This time period affects the way Lily views, racism and her opinions on segregation and inequality. This novel discusses real world problems that happened back in the '60s and are even occurring to this day. Lily Owens lived at a peach farm in North Carolina with her abusive father and black housekeeper Rosaleen. When Rosaleen gets arrested and the abuse is getting…

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, demonstrates the primary character flourish throughout the novel and face realities in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement. A fourteen-year-old girl named Lily Owens born on a peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina, lives with an abusive father, T. Ray. When Lily’s mother died, her black nanny, Rosaleen, took on the role as her fill in mother. On Rosaleen’s way to obtain her voters card she is sentenced to imprisonment. After T. Ray had mentioned…

Sue Monk Kidd’s coming of age novel The Secret Life of Bees has many themes, a major one being that women are powerful. There is no lack of female characters, and each is strong in their own way, and as a community they are an incredible force, something the protagonist Lily comes to realize over the course of the story. In the opening of this story, Lily is in a society where women are not highly valued. This is implied through the times; the sixties wasn’t exactly known for the best…

The ending of "The Secret Life of Bees" was a fantastic ending, and it was fantastic because most, if not all of the loose ends of the story were all solved. To show all the resolved conflicts, the reader has to list the conflicts. One conflict was T Ray's return. The readers reading will and should anticipate when and if T Ray will return. Also, if he returns, will Lily have to leave. Another conflict was Lily and Rosaleen's charges, and whether if they will have to return, or will they be let…

In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the author makes me admire Lily the most. Since the beginning of the novel, she was very loving and curious. When she first saw the huge flock of bees flying above her in her room, her first response wasn’t to swat or kill the bees, but to watch them and try to figure why, how, and where the bees were flying to. She always treated everyone and everything with respect and care. When Rosaleen had just moved in, T. Ray was very abusive, mean, and very cruel to…