Bees

Secret Life of Bees Theme “People, in general, would rather die than forgive.” (Kidd 277) Though it might sound morbid, Sue Monk Kidd states the grim reality through a revelation of Lily Owens, the main character in her novel, The Secret Life of Bees. Lily must learn to receive and offer forgiveness as she matures throughout the novel, but as in all situations (and especially in her’s), forgiving is not easy. Growing up with her father, T. Ray, Lily has been the victim of abuse and negligence.…

Forgiveness does not always mean to forget. A traumatic event in someone’s life can often determine how they develop their relationships between the people around them. In the novel Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kid, the main character Lily and her father T-ray were both haunted by memories of her late mother. Being insecure and unassured, Lily had no friends, and the overbearing abuse from her farther lead her to run away to Tiburon with her housekeeper Rosaline. Towards the end of…

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…

The Secret Life of Bees: Growing up Lily During adolescence you begin to mature or grow more. People grow through experiences and challenges. In the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Lily also matured and grew up during the book. Three examples of how Lily matured and grew are becoming understanding, hard working and independence. “I turned my pillow over and over for the coolness, thinking about May and her wall and what the world had come to that a person needed something like that” (Pg 98…

T. Ray and Deborah are the mother and father of Lily, who is the main character in The Secret Life of Bees. Deborah was forced to marry T. Ray because she was pregnant with Lily and had to move in with him. This forced marriage sparked the rocky relationship between Deborah and T. Ray . When Lily was 4 years old, her mother died. Lily had accidently shot her mother and killed her. This tragic event sent both Lily and T. Ray into an emotionally unstable frenzy. Throughout the story Lily is trying…

to an abusive relationship with a guardian, or maybe their guardian is absent. As depicted in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and…

The Secret Life of Bees is an intense novel following the life of a young girl named Lily Owens. The suspenseful events throughout push the story to a dramatic yet expected ending. It includes a series of important characters, symbols and motifs, themes, and conflicts. Lily Owens is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. She lives a troubled life but views it blindly as decent living. She lost her mother at a young age and she now lives with her father, T. Ray, and nanny, Rosaleen. Lily…

Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees is an exemplary novel which reveals the racism, sexism, and overall discrimination that unfolded in the south. The Secret Life of Bees transports the reader to the year of 1964 in South Carolina, where racial tensions were almost as high as the temperature and people were surrounded by oppression. During this humid summer a girl named Lily Owens runs away from her abusive father T. Ray, in search of her mother's past and the truth behind her death. After a…

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…

Self-Reliance vs. Fellowship In the novels The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, main characters initially attempt to solve all of their problems on their own. In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens attempts to start a new life by herself but soon begins to depend on the Boatwright sisters to help her escape her father and the torture of living with him. In The Hunger Games, Katniss attempts to survive on her own in the dangerous arena but decides…