Linda Sue Park

The ending of "The Secret Life of Bees" was a fantastic ending, and it was fantastic because most, if not all of the loose ends of the story were all solved. To show all the resolved conflicts, the reader has to list the conflicts. One conflict was T Ray's return. The readers reading will and should anticipate when and if T Ray will return. Also, if he returns, will Lily have to leave. Another conflict was Lily and Rosaleen's charges, and whether if they will have to return, or will they be let…

In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, the author makes me admire Lily the most. Since the beginning of the novel, she was very loving and curious. When she first saw the huge flock of bees flying above her in her room, her first response wasn’t to swat or kill the bees, but to watch them and try to figure why, how, and where the bees were flying to. She always treated everyone and everything with respect and care. When Rosaleen had just moved in, T. Ray was very abusive, mean, and very cruel to…

August Boatwright and Rosaleen Daise To me the most admirable characters in The Secret Life of Bees are August Boatwright, the oldest sister and who collects the honey from the bee boxes, and Rosaleen Daise, Lily’s mother figure and who goes to Tiburon with her. I think that August is one of the most admirable characters because of how compassionate and caring she is. “Some things don't matter much. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life. But lifting a…

Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees is an exemplary novel which reveals the racism, sexism, and overall discrimination that unfolded in the south. The Secret Life of Bees transports the reader to the year of 1964 in South Carolina, where racial tensions were almost as high as the temperatures and people were surrounded by oppression. During this humid summer a young girl named Lily Owens runs away from her abusive father T. Ray, in search of her mother's past and the truth behind her tragic…

The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem When August was telling Lily about May she said, “Everything just comes to her- all the suffering out there- and she feels as if it’s happening to her” (Kidd 95). The Secret Life of Bees is a story about a girl named Lily who runs away from home to find a family called the Boatwright’s. They are cultured woman who are like mothers to Lily. May, who stands in as one of Lily’s mothers, has a tough time coping with life so she builds her own little Wailing Wall in her…

The moon has always been a strong symbol throughout human culture, representing mystery and time and, throughout many cultures, femininity. In The Secret Life of Bees, the moon makes many appearances, from the space program to Lily’s dreams to it’s typical position in the sky. The author uses the moon to tie the whole story together through repeated symbolism and themes, serving as one of the many motifs of the book. One of the first major uses of the Moon comes from a dream Lily has after she…

Forgiveness does not always mean to forget. A traumatic event in someone’s life can often determine how they develop their relationships between the people around them. In the novel Secret Life of Bees written by Sue Monk Kid, the main character Lily and her father T-ray were both haunted by memories of her late mother. Being insecure and unassured, Lily had no friends, and the overbearing abuse from her farther lead her to run away to Tiburon with her housekeeper Rosaline. Towards the end of…

more. People grow through experiences and challenges. In the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Lily also matured and grew up during the book. Three examples of how Lily matured and grew are becoming understanding, hard working and independence. “I turned my pillow over and over for the coolness, thinking about May and her wall and what the world had come to that a person needed something like that” (Pg 98 Kidd, Sue Monk). This quote symbolizes understanding because Lily is beginning to…

Throughout the story Lily is trying to find her place and the find her mother figure she’s been missing in her life. The metaphor of bees going into a frenzy when they lose their queen is used to describe Lily’s and especially T. Ray’s life without Deborah. Sue Monk Kidd specifically chose bees to represent Lily’s and T. Ray’s struggle without their “queen”.…

sisters, three African American beekeepers. The setting takes place in South Carolina in 1964, a time when racism was provoked by the civil rights movement and often times turned violent. In the novel, Sue Monk Kidd portrays, through her characters, that racism creates negative impressions. Initially, Sue Monk Kidd demonstrates through her main character, stereotypes are often created about people of different races. When some cross paths with a person of…