Freedom is the breeding ground of success or failure. The theme of freedom presents itself often in The Secret Life of Bees, By Sue Monk Kidd. It shows itself often with the protagonist, Lily. Lily is the daughter of T-Ray and Deborah, whom she accidentally killed when Lily was 4. Lily and the housekeeper, Rosaleen, run away after Rosaleen is beaten by racist whites, and end up at the Boatwright sister’s house, where they work off their debts by working on the honey farm. T-Ray attempts to take Lily back, but Lily resists and lives with the Boatwrights until the end of the book. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the theme of freedom can build up or destroy a life, is shown in the exposition, rising action, and denouement.
A lack
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‘Get over here and kneel down.’ I’d been kneeling on grits since I was six but still, I never got used to that powdered-glass feeling beneath my skin.” (Monk Kidd 24) Lily’s freedom is all but free …show more content…
T-Ray tracks down where Lily lives via a phone bill from her lawyer. He comes to the house to take Lily back with him, but Lily resists. With support from Rosaleen and the Boatwrights, she “looked at August and Rosaleen and the Daughters on the porch. This is the moment I remember clearest of all-how I stood in standing there waiting. All these women, all this love, waiting.” (Monk Kidd 299) Lily believes her life with the Boatwrights has offered her more freedom and will, and she wants to continue with her life with them, as she is more successful with the freedom she has with the Boatwrights. With the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and Rosaleen of legal age, she decides she will register to vote for the second time. The first time, she was beaten by racists, but this time, “‘I’m gonna finish what I started,’ Rosaleen said, lifting her chin. ‘I’m gonna register to vote.’” (Monk Kidd 281) Rosaleen wants to use the newfound sense of freedom she finds at home with the Boatwrights, and translate that into having her voice spoken through the ballot. Lily and Rosaleen officially recognize their freedom through voting and concluding connections with
The Secret Life of Bees By: Sue Monk Kidd 1. Character List Lilly Owens is the main characters, narrator and the protagonist of this novel. She is fourteen years old and lives on a peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina with her father who she calls T-Ray because they are not close and “daddy never fit him”. She also lives with their housekeeper Rosaleen. Throughout most of the novel, Lilly believes that she killed her mother when she was four years old during an argument between her and her father.
In Tiburon Lily finds herself with August, the women who took care of her mother and knew the answer to Lily’s most asked question. When she and Lily finally have their conversation about her mother, August reveals the grand answer. August states “No, honey, she came by herself. ”(Kidd, 251) By the time August tells Lily the truth about her mother, Lily gets emotionally destroyed.
It was not easy for Lily to live in the household of a father with no care for her. Everyday she felt as if she was never loved. Lily never had knowledge T. Ray as a father, “ because ‘Daddy’ never fit him-.”(Kidd, 2). T. Ray would never talk about Lily’s mother and had told her that her mother never wanted her. Lily was all alone to put the puzzle pieces
In hopes of discovering more about her mother, Lily travels to Tiburon but unexpectedly develops a maternal relationship with August, ultimately compelling her to lie about her identity and purpose in Tiburon because “[She] love this place with [her] whole heart” (225), and is certain that this is the life she wants.
Lily arrives at the Boatwright sisters house and sees the statue of the black Mary for the first time. While she is viewing the black Madonna, she gets mixed feelings of hating herself and adoring herself and begins to feel guilt. “Everything about that smile said, Lily Owens, I know you down to the core. I felt she knew what a lying, murdering, hating person I really was. How I hated T. Ray, and the girls at school, but mostly myself for taking away my mother”(71).
After fleeing their little town, Lily and Rosaleen hitchhike to a place Lily knows her mother once visited (Kidd 51). They are fugitives from the law, and Lily is far from T. Ray, her father. However, this turn of events isn’t so bad. T. Ray is not at all caring or nurturing, Lily had relied of Rosaleen and the faint memory of her mother for any feelings of
After being abused by her father for so long, Lily decides to run away with Rosaleen to Tiburon, a town that was written on the back of one of her mother’s pictures. Fantina 3 the author say that “Lily finds a picture of a black Virgin Mary with Tiburon S.C. on the back so, blindly, she and Rosaleen head there”(Zaleski). Lily finds a family in Tiburon, the Boatwright’s that will let her stay as long as she wants to. With the Boatwright’s
Bees are a mysterious species who have an incredible life that we know nothing about; in connection we live crazy, mysterious, lives with ups and downs; goods and bads. The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd is an extraordinary story about a teenager Lily Owens, her abusive father, her mother, and numerous friends. Lily lost her mother at a young age, so she runs away; she ends up living with a loving family of women and finds mothers within them. She learns about friendships, overcoming, forgiveness, and love. In The secret Life of Bees the author shows theme through conflict and symbolism.
Despite this, at the end of the novel Rosaleen goes with August to attempt to register to vote again: “ ‘I’m gonna finish what I started,’ Rosaleen said, lifting her chin. ‘I’m going to register to vote,’ “ (Kidd 281). Lifting one’s chin is commonly associated with pride, and so because
Lily carries the burden of shooting and killing her mother and she is not very close with her distant and abusive father. Lily and her caretaker Rosaleen began a journey to Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily tries to find a sense of belonging and discover more about her mother. In Tiburon, Lily finds independence and a sense of self. May, June, and August take care of Lily and Rosaleen just as they did Lily's mother Deborah. The Boatwrites help Lily heal from her past trauma and Lily helps the sisters with their beekeeping and honey business.
Her major themes are motherhood, the transference of misery, dependence, bees as an example of human society, and race relations. Motherhood is totally one her major theme because the protagonist only wants to understand her true mother and wants to know if her she really loved her. Also, I like how one of the theme is the race relations in American history because Kidd pictured the life during the time in the setting. In addition, I feel like I relate to August because I would also want to help others who is needing it and believes something good will happen, always being
To start, Lily and Rosaleen stop at church but are quickly told to leave because of Rosaleen’s colour. Lily realises how insignificant race is when she forgets “the rules. She was not supposed to be inside here. Every time a rumor got going about a group of Negroes coming to worship with us on Sunday morning, the deacons stood locked-arms across the church steps to turn them away.” (Kidd 30).
Lastly, August gives Lily a new perspective on Deborah, her mother. When Lily encounters the three sisters, she lies about who she is out of fear that they would know her mother. One of the sisters, May, confirms this when Lily asks if she knew Deborah. Later on in the story, August has a talk with Lily and reveals that she knows who Lily is. Lily finds out that Deborah did run away, and Lily becomes angry.
Kidd uses the characterization of Lily, T. Ray, May, and Deborah to demonstrate the theme that people’s lives are more complex than they appear. By using these characters, Kidd demonstrates how judgements are made about people based on their actions. People don’t always think about how a person really feels on the inside and they do not know about everything that goes on in their head. This is a theme that is significant to the world at any time period because everyone can relate to it. Therefore, the theme of this story is significant in people’s lives
She finds herself in a small town called Tiburon in South Carolina, living with August Boatwright who was once her mother’s maid. After staying in Tiburon for a while, Lily calls her father, curious if he knows what her favourite colour is. They only spoke for a short period of