Comparing Secret Life Of Bees And The Fault In Our Stars

The Secret Life of Bees and The Fault in Our Stars are both “coming-of-age” novels. In the Secret Life of Bees, the main character Lily, a fourteen year old girl with a devastating past. In The Fault in Our Stars, the main character Hazel, a 16 year old girl fighting cancer. Lily and Hazel both share similar “coming-of-age” experiences. They both share innocence at the beginning and maturation by the end, face test and challenges throughout the novels, and have mentors that help and guide them. In both ‘coming-of-age” novels, Lily and Hazel share the innocence and maturity throughout the novels as teenagers. Lily, without a mother to look up to while growing up never felt that motherly love most children get which most likely lead her to believing in the best of her mother, “I could understand her leaving him. But leaving me? That would sink me forever” (Kidd 40). What this quote shows is that Lily would not believe anything bad about her mother. By the end of the book, Lily matured greatly after learning about her mother and understanding what she did. Now living in a house with people who love her, …show more content…
August was always there for Lily, “You know, don’t you, that the two of us need to have a talk. And not about me. About you” (Kidd 152). This quote shows that August was always around for Lily, and helped her understand more about what her mother did and why she did. August always gave good advice to Lily, and they got really close when Lily and Rosaleen stayed at her house. “Make friends!” (Green 8). Hazel’s biggest mentor was her mother. Her mother always pushed her to do things, like going to that support group and making friends. Whenever Hazel needed someone, her mother was there for her. Hazel talked about how her mom job is to take care of her so they are around each other a lot, and that lead them to be best