The Secret Life Of Bees Women Empowerment Essay

Throughout history, women have been the target of unrightful mistreatment and general injustice. This was especially true during the 1960s, particularly in the southern United States. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, a young white girl named Lily, is motherless and lives without a strong feminine role in her life. She is taken under the wing of the Boatwright sisters, three charismatic African-American women. With them, Lily learns strength and confidence, allowing her to grow into an influential woman in the world, despite everyone working against her. The Secret Life of Bees explores the empowerment of women through strong female characters. After accidentally playing a role in the death of her mother as a toddler, Lily Owens, from Sylvan, South …show more content…
Upon their arrival, Lily and Rosaleen find themselves among not only the Boatwright sisters, but their worship group as well. Similar to the sisters, this group consists of powerful, African-American women. As the story nears its conclusion, T. Ray finds Lily in Tiburon and threatens to take her back home, where she would live under T. Ray’s abuse and torment. The worship group, more commonly known as the Daughters of Mary, unanimously decides to try to help Lily as much as possible and drive out T. Ray. When T. Ray gives up on fighting the Daughters back, he reaches for the door and Lily recalls that, “we had to open up our wall of women to let him through” (298). This shows how the Daughters of Mary embrace Lily and include her as one of their own. The Daughters of Mary truly exemplify courage because of the strength that it takes to stand up to a white man as a black woman. Lily learns so much from the Daughters and becomes confident in herself because of how they treat her. The Daughters of Mary inspire Lily to stand up for herself against T. Ray, and become a role model for her in the