Monk

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…

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 temperature and people were surrounded by oppression. During this humid summer a girl named Lily Owens runs away from her abusive father T. Ray, in search of her mother's past and the truth behind her death. After a…

Secret Life of Bees Theme “People, in general, would rather die than forgive.” (Kidd 277) Though it might sound morbid, Sue Monk Kidd states the grim reality through a revelation of Lily Owens, the main character in her novel, The Secret Life of Bees. Lily must learn to receive and offer forgiveness as she matures throughout the novel, but as in all situations (and especially in her’s), forgiving is not easy. Growing up with her father, T. Ray, Lily has been the victim of abuse and negligence.…

her abusive past with her father, but Lily did not take the journey by herself. The honeybees of Tiburon, South Carolina showed Lily a new path to take. The bees have a great impact on Lily’s new life. In the novel, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the bees symbolize Lily in several ways. First, other worker bees do not know much about the queen; just as Lily does not know about her mother. The queen bee always stays in the hive and hides from other bees. Lily’s mother was…

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…

From the time any living creature emerges into this world, their life becomes dedicated to growing and developing. Humans are especially suited to survive and endure the harsh attributes of life. Through each challenge that a person conquers, they become increasingly wiser. As life progresses, more and more challenges are brought on. As a result, as one grows older, they realize that they are capable of more than they’d ever thought. Set during the sixties in the fictional town of Sylvan,…

In Song of the Hummingbird, Graciela Limon illustrates how her life and the lives of other Mexica people were destroyed by the Spanish conquest and Cortés. A young monk, Father Benito Lara, is called to hear the last and only confession of an old woman named Huitzitzilin. Huitzitzilin had much to say about her life and the coming of Cortés and the Spanish which intrigued father Benito therefore he begins to listen to her stories everyday and writes down what she was saying to record her side…

There are many secret meanings to words and things all throughout The Secret Life of Bees. In this novel, the title relates to the book in a way that might take the readers by surprise. The bees have a secret life outside of making honey, it’s a life humans just don’t understand. A bee hive represents people working together. The hive is overseen by the queen, which acts as a mother to the bees. When the queen bee dies she can be replaced, even though all the bees are lost without her. If…

Since Lily has been taken in by the Boatwright sisters, May, June and August in The Secret Life of Bees, conclusions have been drawn about all three individual sister, each possesing diverse qualities that are easily shown throughout the story. August Boatwright is a welcoming and understanding older sister that takes care of the honey company along with Lily, Rosaleen and her two other sisters. August has taken it upon herself to give them a welcoming stay and convince June that Lily is no…

In the beginning of The Secret Life of Bees, we see Lily Owens as a childish teenager. Lily lives in a racist southern town and runs away from her home to leave her abusive father and she is also in search of the truth about what happened to her mother. Throughout the book, Lily learns to be more confident and mature. The nature of her growth to a secure person is greatly affected by her relationships. These relationships force Lily to undergo difficult emotions, but also help her become more…