Maxim Martin
Mr. Hickey
C Block/ 3rd Period
8/22/14
The Secret Life of Bees Reader Responses
1. PROTAGONIST “As I stepped inside my room, he stopped inside the doorway. ‘I have to go settle the payroll for the pickers,’ he said. ‘Don’t you leave this room. You understand me? You sit here and think about me coming back and dealing with you. Think about it real hard.’ ‘You don’t scare me,’ I said, mostly under my breath. He’d already turned to leave, but now he whirled back. “What did you say?” ‘You don’t scare me,’ I repeated louder this time. A brazen feeling had broken loose in me, a daring something that had been locked up in my chest. He stepped toward me, raising the back of his hand like he might bring it down across my face. …show more content…
On the back of the picture, there is a small caption, “Tiburon, SC.” So, when Lily decides to leave T-Ray, she chooses to go to Tiburon, which is near the town that she lives in, Sylvan. When she travels to Tiburon, she realizes that her mother’s picture is the same as the picture on the side of a jar of honey made in the town. So, after Rosaleen and Lily ask a local general store owner about where the honey is made, they set off to the home we know and love throughout the rest of the book. Here, she learns exactly who the colored Virgin Mary is, and learns her true name is the Black Madonna. The three Boatwright sisters (August, June, and May) and their “prayer group,” The Daughters of Mary, worship her. For Lily, the Black Mary means something major. In the novel, Lily is motherless. But, she always carries around the small photograph of the Black Mary with her, because it was one of her mother’s possessions. Perhaps it represents her mother? Also, to prove my point, when she is examining the sculpture of Mary in the living room of the home, she says, “But what I felt was magnetic and so big it ached like the moon had entered my chest and filled it up.” Isn’t that what love feels like? From my perspective, this is foreshadowing the care and love she will soon receive at the home of the Boatwrights. Doesn’t August become, in a certain …show more content…
Throughout the novel, Lily says how she wishes that she could live with the beekeepers for the rest of her life, and in the end, she finds herself with that outcome. I think the ending is extremely hopeful for Lily. Previously in her life, she has never truly had love, quality care, or even a long-term mother. But now, she does. I think that August Boatwright will go on to be Lily’s true mother, and along with June Boatwright, provide the girl with all of the love and care that she can take in. The ending means a new beginning for Lily, a rebirth of sorts. She will now truly be a Daughter of Mary. She will now work full time on the bee farm, and most importantly, be a true Boatwright. There is such a contrast between her previous life with T- Ray and her life now in Tiburon. For one, she went ten years with no mother, only Rosaleen and T- Ray (although you could say Rosaleen was a mother of sorts). Now, she has August, June, the Daughters of Mary, and of course, the Black Madonna (the mother of thousands) to take care of her. I was expecting this to be the ending. But, I was not sure if T- Ray would never her, or he would come and leave her. But, earlier in the novel when Zach and Lily are at the office of Clayton Forrest, and she calls her father, he does say that he will find her. So yes, the fact that T- Ray would come and find Lily
Mr. Hickey
C Block/ 3rd Period
8/22/14
The Secret Life of Bees Reader Responses
1. PROTAGONIST “As I stepped inside my room, he stopped inside the doorway. ‘I have to go settle the payroll for the pickers,’ he said. ‘Don’t you leave this room. You understand me? You sit here and think about me coming back and dealing with you. Think about it real hard.’ ‘You don’t scare me,’ I said, mostly under my breath. He’d already turned to leave, but now he whirled back. “What did you say?” ‘You don’t scare me,’ I repeated louder this time. A brazen feeling had broken loose in me, a daring something that had been locked up in my chest. He stepped toward me, raising the back of his hand like he might bring it down across my face. …show more content…
On the back of the picture, there is a small caption, “Tiburon, SC.” So, when Lily decides to leave T-Ray, she chooses to go to Tiburon, which is near the town that she lives in, Sylvan. When she travels to Tiburon, she realizes that her mother’s picture is the same as the picture on the side of a jar of honey made in the town. So, after Rosaleen and Lily ask a local general store owner about where the honey is made, they set off to the home we know and love throughout the rest of the book. Here, she learns exactly who the colored Virgin Mary is, and learns her true name is the Black Madonna. The three Boatwright sisters (August, June, and May) and their “prayer group,” The Daughters of Mary, worship her. For Lily, the Black Mary means something major. In the novel, Lily is motherless. But, she always carries around the small photograph of the Black Mary with her, because it was one of her mother’s possessions. Perhaps it represents her mother? Also, to prove my point, when she is examining the sculpture of Mary in the living room of the home, she says, “But what I felt was magnetic and so big it ached like the moon had entered my chest and filled it up.” Isn’t that what love feels like? From my perspective, this is foreshadowing the care and love she will soon receive at the home of the Boatwrights. Doesn’t August become, in a certain …show more content…
Throughout the novel, Lily says how she wishes that she could live with the beekeepers for the rest of her life, and in the end, she finds herself with that outcome. I think the ending is extremely hopeful for Lily. Previously in her life, she has never truly had love, quality care, or even a long-term mother. But now, she does. I think that August Boatwright will go on to be Lily’s true mother, and along with June Boatwright, provide the girl with all of the love and care that she can take in. The ending means a new beginning for Lily, a rebirth of sorts. She will now truly be a Daughter of Mary. She will now work full time on the bee farm, and most importantly, be a true Boatwright. There is such a contrast between her previous life with T- Ray and her life now in Tiburon. For one, she went ten years with no mother, only Rosaleen and T- Ray (although you could say Rosaleen was a mother of sorts). Now, she has August, June, the Daughters of Mary, and of course, the Black Madonna (the mother of thousands) to take care of her. I was expecting this to be the ending. But, I was not sure if T- Ray would never her, or he would come and leave her. But, earlier in the novel when Zach and Lily are at the office of Clayton Forrest, and she calls her father, he does say that he will find her. So yes, the fact that T- Ray would come and find Lily