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Gender Roles In The Secret Life Of Bees

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In the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, the roles of women are represented by the women who help with Lily and her struggles throughout the story. Lily interacted with lots of women in the story that helped her through her tough times in her quest to find out more information about her dead mother, Deborah. Primarily, Lily interacted with people such as Rosaleen, August, and June that helped out with Lily’s struggles. One of the most helpful women in the book to Lily was Rosaleen. Rosaleen helped take care of Lily’s house once her mother perished. She cleaned, cooked, basically did all of the work Lily’s mother would have done. Rosaleen was one day going out of the house and Lily decided to come with her. Little did Rosaleen know about Tiburon, South Carolina, but agreed to come alongside Lily. Rosaleen sleeps through the nights with Lily in nearby streams and eventually arrived in Tiburon to find …show more content…

At first, June very much disliked Lily and would do things on purpose to make Lily look like a fool. One example was when Lily was going to touch Our Lady of Chains’ heart, June was playing music for everyone and stopped in the middle of Lily going to touch her heart. Lily felt like a fool and August was displeased of June’s behavior. Finally towards the end of the novel June came around and started to help Lily out and would even play with her in the back yard. June’s resentment started to loosen up when they had a water gun fight.Towards the end of the novel June even hugged Lily and it was something Lily would remember.

In conclusion, women play a large role in this story. They guided Lily throughout the story. These women include Rosaleen, August, and June. Rosaleen aided Lily in finding her way to August. August helped Lily learn life skills and more about her mother. Lastly, June’s resentment towards Lily helped her because it represents the resentment of the

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