Author Sue Monk Kidd was raised in a small town named Sylvester, Georgia, a town that had a deep influence in the writing of her first novel The Secret Life of Bees. She went to school and graduated from Texas Christian University in 1970 and after took creative writing courses at Emory University and Anderson College, as well as studying at Sewanee, Bread Loaf, and along with going to many writer’s conferences throughout the years. This book is a coming of age fiction book. a coming of age book is a genre in literature that mostly focuses on the growth of a young charter and his or her journey to adulthood. And is mostly aimed towards young teen readers. These types of stories usually emphasize more about the dialogue rather than the action
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Ray is very abusive and never not believe anything she says. Rosaleen, her nanny and housekeeper does believe Lily but also thinks Lily isn’t very smart and a bit childish for wanting to collect the bees in a jar. Lily often recalls her very last memory of her mother, she died when Lily was very young. Lily believes that she is the reason her mother died. In a flashback, T. Ray tells Lily that she accidentally shot her mom while she and T. Ray were fighting. Later her nanny gets arrested and lily breaks her out, afraid that she might lose the only person she thinks loves her. Later Lily notices that some of the bees she collected have escaped from the jar she put them in, this leads her to think that it’s a sing for her to run away….and that’s exactly what she does. She runs away in search of answers about her mother, following the only clue she has, which is the name of a town called Tiburon on the back of a piece of wood with a black virgin Mary printed on the front. When she gets to Tiburon she she’s the same picture printed on jars of honey and finds her way to the house where the honey is made. There she meets the Boatwright sisters who take her and let her work for them by collecting …show more content…
Lily breaks Rosaleen out jail after her 14th birthday and since then gained that pushes her to go searching for her mothers past. Lily has a deep deep need to be loved, so much so, in fact, that she risks her life and freedom to break Rosaleen out of jail, thinking she is the only person who loves her. August Boatwright is the women who takes Lily in, after she randomly shows up at her door step unexpectedly. August is not only a free black women living in the south, she is a successful business owner, along with owning a great deal of land along with being very educated. She also doesn’t even think twice when the opportunity to take in a young white runaway girl. This one act shows a lot about her personality. A major theme through out the book is the Power of Female Community. Since Lily is motherless she has always been in search of a material love, after she finds the Boatwright’s. They act as a sort a mother figure in her eyes. When she moves in with them she learns the power of a strong female community. At the beginning of this story, Lily is always longing for her mother. She shows an awareness of her femininity when she is around all these women because she has missed out on many female lessons because her mother is dead. For example, she clings to every little thing that she has ever found of her mothers, even if she has no idea
Ray is very abusive and never not believe anything she says. Rosaleen, her nanny and housekeeper does believe Lily but also thinks Lily isn’t very smart and a bit childish for wanting to collect the bees in a jar. Lily often recalls her very last memory of her mother, she died when Lily was very young. Lily believes that she is the reason her mother died. In a flashback, T. Ray tells Lily that she accidentally shot her mom while she and T. Ray were fighting. Later her nanny gets arrested and lily breaks her out, afraid that she might lose the only person she thinks loves her. Later Lily notices that some of the bees she collected have escaped from the jar she put them in, this leads her to think that it’s a sing for her to run away….and that’s exactly what she does. She runs away in search of answers about her mother, following the only clue she has, which is the name of a town called Tiburon on the back of a piece of wood with a black virgin Mary printed on the front. When she gets to Tiburon she she’s the same picture printed on jars of honey and finds her way to the house where the honey is made. There she meets the Boatwright sisters who take her and let her work for them by collecting …show more content…
Lily breaks Rosaleen out jail after her 14th birthday and since then gained that pushes her to go searching for her mothers past. Lily has a deep deep need to be loved, so much so, in fact, that she risks her life and freedom to break Rosaleen out of jail, thinking she is the only person who loves her. August Boatwright is the women who takes Lily in, after she randomly shows up at her door step unexpectedly. August is not only a free black women living in the south, she is a successful business owner, along with owning a great deal of land along with being very educated. She also doesn’t even think twice when the opportunity to take in a young white runaway girl. This one act shows a lot about her personality. A major theme through out the book is the Power of Female Community. Since Lily is motherless she has always been in search of a material love, after she finds the Boatwright’s. They act as a sort a mother figure in her eyes. When she moves in with them she learns the power of a strong female community. At the beginning of this story, Lily is always longing for her mother. She shows an awareness of her femininity when she is around all these women because she has missed out on many female lessons because her mother is dead. For example, she clings to every little thing that she has ever found of her mothers, even if she has no idea