Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird and The Secret Life of Bees, Harper Lee and Sue Monk Kidd took deliberate time to portray the details of our protagonist’s relationships with their ‘Stand in Mothers’, and how said relationships were developed. Furthermore, for the entire duration of both novels, Rosaleen and Calpurnia alike provide some form of maternal support to Scout and Lily throughout the varied conflicts that both children were forced to deal with. The relationships between Scout and Calpurnia, and Lily and Rosaleen present several interesting similarities, as well as several distinct differences.
The story of The Secret Life of Bees begins with Lily and Rosaleen living on Lily’s father Terrence Ray’s, (T. Ray’s) peach farm. When …show more content…
Rosaleen was directly involved in Lily’s conflict, and was also one main causes of the issue. After all, Lily left home and ended up at the Calendar sister’s home due to Rosaleen’s imprisonment. However, Calpurnia was not directly involved in Scout’s conflict, because she didn’t cause Atticus to receive the responsibility of the Robinson case, or cause the children at school to harass Scout because of it. Two obvious similarities between Rosaleen and Calpurnia’s relationships with the protagonists are that both women are Black, and both women were employed by our protagonist’s biological fathers to serve as caretakers of the children. Finally, one additional similarity of the women and their relationships with the protagonists is how both women show motherly affection to the protagonists in some form or another. For example, Rosaleen showed direct affection to Lily when she was having a mild breakdown about her mother’s abandoning her. Rosaleen reacts on page 100 by saying, “I don't’ have any idea about that,’ Rosaleen said. ‘I just don’t want you getting yourself hurt.’” Calpurnia provided motherly love in To Kill a Mockingbird on page 38 in the quote “Calpurnia bent down and kissed me. I ran along, wondering what had come over her. She had always wanted to make up with me, that was
The story of The Secret Life of Bees begins with Lily and Rosaleen living on Lily’s father Terrence Ray’s, (T. Ray’s) peach farm. When …show more content…
Rosaleen was directly involved in Lily’s conflict, and was also one main causes of the issue. After all, Lily left home and ended up at the Calendar sister’s home due to Rosaleen’s imprisonment. However, Calpurnia was not directly involved in Scout’s conflict, because she didn’t cause Atticus to receive the responsibility of the Robinson case, or cause the children at school to harass Scout because of it. Two obvious similarities between Rosaleen and Calpurnia’s relationships with the protagonists are that both women are Black, and both women were employed by our protagonist’s biological fathers to serve as caretakers of the children. Finally, one additional similarity of the women and their relationships with the protagonists is how both women show motherly affection to the protagonists in some form or another. For example, Rosaleen showed direct affection to Lily when she was having a mild breakdown about her mother’s abandoning her. Rosaleen reacts on page 100 by saying, “I don't’ have any idea about that,’ Rosaleen said. ‘I just don’t want you getting yourself hurt.’” Calpurnia provided motherly love in To Kill a Mockingbird on page 38 in the quote “Calpurnia bent down and kissed me. I ran along, wondering what had come over her. She had always wanted to make up with me, that was