Secret Life Of Bees

Improved Essays
In Sonsyrea Tate's quote, "You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you," Tate explains that home will always have a significant impact on someone's life. Sue Monk Kidd's novel, The Secret Life of Bees, exemplifies Tate's quote. Lily Owens leaves her home in Sylvan to discover answers to her lifelong questions in Tiburon. Although Lily believes that she as found her new home with the Calendar Sisters, Lily also realizes that her home with T. Ray still influences her in a multitude of ways. For Lily, home is where she finds the motherly love and individuality that she has been seeking. Lily discovers the characterics of a true home in Tiburon. However, Lily had to leave her home with her father, T. Ray, in order to have …show more content…
The Calendar Sister's home, in Tiburn, allows Lily to find what she is looking for. The three sisters provide the motherly role. Every child needs the feeling of a mother's love. Lily realizes this through her home in Sylvan and seeks to find it. The Calendar Sister's show Lily what she has been missing. The sisters also give her the protection and security that a mother give and that Lily has the desired for. For example, when T. Ray shows up in Tiburon, the Calendar Sister's stand behind Lily to make sure she is safe. This shows that the sisters provide Lily with protection. This also shows that the sisters love Lily. The Calendar Sisters make sure that Lily is not harmed because they love her too much to allow someone to hurt Lily. Lily's home in Tiburon also provides Lily with the independence and self-empowerment that Lily looks for in a home. For instance, the black madonna that the Calendar Sisters worship influences Lily to stand up for herself and express who she really is and how she really feels. This independence and love that Lily discovers in her home with the Calendar Sisters, allows Lily to finally find the home that Lily has been looking …show more content…
Lily leaves her home with T. Ray physically, but metally, T. Ray's home never leaves her. This is because Lily is shaped by that home. Her home with T. Ray influences who she is. Lily views hoe as a place of love and comfort. She leaves T. Ray in order to find these characteristics in Tiburon. Sonsyrea Tate's quote, " You can leave home all you want, but home will never leave you," describes Lily and her home. No matter where Lily goes, her personality and who she is will always be impacted by her home with T. Ray in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Since August practiced the philosophy of the Black Madonna, she tells Lily, “You have to find a mother inside yourself” (Kidd 288). (SS) She expresses that Lily does not need to put her hand on Mary’s heart in order for her to “get strength and consolation and rescue, and all the other things we need to get through life” (Kidd 288). (SS) The faith enclosed by the Black Madonna not only improves Lily’s life, but the Boatwright’s as well.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the novel, these literary devices identify the women’s inner struggles, their demons that they constantly live with. For Lily it is her insecurity, May deals with her inability to cope with suffering, and Deborah suffered from depression. In Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bees, the author indirectly characterizes Lily as insecure to display Lily's longing to fit in, especially when it comes to femininity. For example, this insecurity is revealed when Lily looks at a picture of her deceased mother, Deborah.…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Her only pleasure is in blood; her only salvation is the relationship she has with her infant child, the baby of unknown origins who brings her solace and stability. When Elder Harcourt summons Lily and her protector Antonio back to the United States, Lily thinks nothing unusual about the change of location. But a…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    August had treated Lily like a daughter loving her, caring for her, and giving her only the best that August herself could give. Lily wanted to please August and keep everything about her life with T-Ray a secret. Lily confessed everything about her life and Deborah and August confessed everything she knew about Deborah including how Lily’s “mother had left [her]” (Kidd 261). Lily looked to August for comfort and when she expressed her anger towards August “something about that punched a hole in [her]” (Kidd 263).…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Here, Woodson is not saying that that home is actually leaving her, but that the memories and idea of home she had relied on emotionally for so long was muddled by what her brother experienced. This matters because whatever happened to brother it affected her as well, and affected enough that it spawned a story. All in all, Woodson is trying to demonstrate to the reader that perspective can change as your experiences change. In the beginning, Woodson felt that the south was an accepting, or at least safe place, but because of whatever happened to brother, this changed. In the end, Woodson realizes she would not always be protected at home.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lily's Tragic Flaw

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages

    She is willing to give up a life of happiness and love for the more superficial aspects of a relationship. Due to the fact that Lily is aware of her own declining status, her story…

    • 1377 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Home is where the heart is” is the old famous quote that many people have said. But in some cases this is farthest from the truth. Tate’s statement suggests that “home” is a place, or even a state of mind. In the novel Wise Blood, the character Hazel Motes is far from home. A returning war veteran, Motes comes home to find his house in Tennessee abandoned and his family gone.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel, Victory by Susan Cooper main character Molly faces obstacles along the way like having to move from London to Connecticut and at the end, these obstacles made her stronger than she thought she was. I chose theme ¨home Is where the heart is. ¨ This means home is happy place or a place you feel the most comfortable. ¨ Molly stares at her, A miracle has exploded into her life like a meteor.¨ this quote tells me when she heard the good news her life went from a 3 to 1 million.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Then Lily and Rosaleen flee to Tiburon, South Carolina. Since the story takes place in the South during the 1960’s, racism is very strong. Racism leads Lily to get Rosaleen out of jail and flee to the town of Tiburon where they eventually meet the Boatwright family. Lily lives with her abusive father and caretaker, Rosaleen, on a Peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She is raised up to believe that blacks are second-class citizens, and the world is logically structured that way. Lily also thinks that all African Americans are likewise uneducated and ugly. However, when Lily meets the unique, educated, thoughtful August Boatwright, she must adjust her assumptions and combat her prejudice. At first, Lily feels stunned that a black person could be as creative, smart and sensitive as August. Combating and recognizing her shock allows Lily to realize the truth about racism.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One thing that Lily continues to struggle with is being motherless. Although the Boatwright sisters act as mother figures to her, she still does not have a real mother. To cope with her struggle, Lily goes to the places that her mother went to when she was at the house. For example, Lily goes to the honey house, the place that May said her mother stayed, and rests there. Physically being in the location that her mother once was soothes Lily.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Lily has spent numerous days, weeks, and months alone taking care of her child and unborn baby while also keeping the house protected. Doing this has made Lily a strong and brave woman. Lily has waited patiently on her husband, Ethan, to get home from the war. Throughout the time he was gone, she remained humble and had hopes and dreams of their life…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the beginning Lily would have thought nothing of the policeman's statement but now that she has a new lifestyle and influences it changed her mindset. The theme is also represented through plot structure which conveys don’t be afraid of change. T-Ray lily’s father goes searching for her and finds her.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I am saving the world in my backyard. Now, I know what you’re thinking, and I can assure you that I don’t have a secret lab. My version of saving the world is a little more natural; I raise bees. Bees are important to us because they pollinate the crops that we eat on a daily basis. If bees became extinct, our food source would rapidly disappear.…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Lily gains consciousness she calls Atlas for help, he takes her to the hospital. There Lily finds out about her pregnancy. She is really scared of Ryle so she hides in Atlas home for few days to heal herself and also to decide what she wants for herself and her baby. During her pregnancy Ryle maintains his distance from Lily and gives her space to choose whether she wants to get back together or wants a divorce.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays