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 importance of community, spirituality, and love, which help guide her through her difficult past and ultimately to forgiveness.
After running away from home, the first thing Lily finds in Tiburon, South Carolina is community. Losing her mother at such …show more content…
None of the characters have much respect for churches, which is in part due to the hypocrisy seen within the church. The only priest in the book is portrayed as a bigot and Lily’s own father is cruel and abusive. After running away from home, Lily begins to see spirituality as something that should be explored in a personal, creative way as she begins to pick up the Boatwright sister’s faith. Through Lily’s journey the Black Mary helps to change her, by providing structure in her life. Every day Lily, Rosaleen, and the Boatwright sisters would gather with one another for the ritual, in which they would pray before the Black Mary. This provided Lily with time to focus on her thoughts and emotions, and it is during this time that Lily has some of her most important insights. Lily leaves a life of suffering and grief for a life marked by spiritual joy and growth, and she has done so not through the Baptist religion of her childhood, but through the unconventional religion of the Boatwright …show more content…
One of August’s most important lessons for Lily involves the Virgin Mary and appears to be a somewhat Christian ideology. August tells Lily that even though we can never be perfect, the Virgin Mary is “inside” all of us which can help us deal with mistakes and struggles. This is related to the idea of the Holy Spirit which is “inside” all believers and helps them through struggles as well as living a life pleasing to God. The movie also depicted that Lily could only reciprocate love to others after she knew she was loved by people around her. This is similar to what it says in the Bible in 1 John 4:19 which says, “we love because He first loved us.” The love we give comes from the love given by Jesus, and if we don’t believe Jesus loves us then we are incapable of pouring out that love to other people. Lily was incapable because she didn’t feel loved. We also see a glimpse of unconditional love from August to Lily because August accepts her no matter what, and even when Lily opens up about her past, August still loves her. This is similar to the unconditional love given by Jesus which we see in Romans 8: 38-39 which says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
After running away from home, the first thing Lily finds in Tiburon, South Carolina is community. Losing her mother at such …show more content…
None of the characters have much respect for churches, which is in part due to the hypocrisy seen within the church. The only priest in the book is portrayed as a bigot and Lily’s own father is cruel and abusive. After running away from home, Lily begins to see spirituality as something that should be explored in a personal, creative way as she begins to pick up the Boatwright sister’s faith. Through Lily’s journey the Black Mary helps to change her, by providing structure in her life. Every day Lily, Rosaleen, and the Boatwright sisters would gather with one another for the ritual, in which they would pray before the Black Mary. This provided Lily with time to focus on her thoughts and emotions, and it is during this time that Lily has some of her most important insights. Lily leaves a life of suffering and grief for a life marked by spiritual joy and growth, and she has done so not through the Baptist religion of her childhood, but through the unconventional religion of the Boatwright …show more content…
One of August’s most important lessons for Lily involves the Virgin Mary and appears to be a somewhat Christian ideology. August tells Lily that even though we can never be perfect, the Virgin Mary is “inside” all of us which can help us deal with mistakes and struggles. This is related to the idea of the Holy Spirit which is “inside” all believers and helps them through struggles as well as living a life pleasing to God. The movie also depicted that Lily could only reciprocate love to others after she knew she was loved by people around her. This is similar to what it says in the Bible in 1 John 4:19 which says, “we love because He first loved us.” The love we give comes from the love given by Jesus, and if we don’t believe Jesus loves us then we are incapable of pouring out that love to other people. Lily was incapable because she didn’t feel loved. We also see a glimpse of unconditional love from August to Lily because August accepts her no matter what, and even when Lily opens up about her past, August still loves her. This is similar to the unconditional love given by Jesus which we see in Romans 8: 38-39 which says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our