ipl-logo

Lily's Hatred In 'The Secret Life Of Bees'

683 Words3 Pages

The Secret Life of Bees Essay

“Parents aren’t the people you come from. They’re the people you want to be, when you grow up.”-Jodie Picoult. Parents are the people who are there for their children and who children look up to. In The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens is raised by her abusive father, T. Ray, because her mother died when she was young. Despite Lily’s negative upbringing, her nanny, Rosaleen Daise, and friend, August Boatwright, fill in for Lily’s mother’s absence and her father’s poor parental influence. T. Ray Owens raises Lily with discrimination and violence which encourages her to be the opposite. Lily’s father is very sexist and teaches her that girls are not as good as boys. T. Ray does not want Lily to read books because reading leads to college and he thinks that college is a waste of money for girls. Lily has to deal with extreme violence and T. Ray’s bad temper. “T. Ray has slapped me [Lily] …show more content…

Rosaleen is Lily’s maid/nanny but she cares a lot more about her than most black nannies would have at the time. “You hurting?...Why don’t we sit down on the road awhile?” (28) Lily’s knees are raw from the grits T. Ray made her kneel on and, even though Rosaleen really wants to get her voter’s card, she puts Lily’s needs ahead of her own. Lily’s nanny is also very loving towards her. She buys Lily a bunny for Easter and when T. Ray tries to take it away and threatens to fire Rosaleen, she stands up to him in order to keep her child happy. Lily says that was the first time she really knew that Rosaleen loved her. Rosaleen is a very strong woman and Lily follows her example. When Lily’s friend, Zach, starts school at the white high school, students throw things at them because he is black but she stays by his side and does not run away. Rosaleen fills in for Lily’s parents with her openness and determined

Show More
Related

  • The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

    644 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Color of Your Skin Means Nothing When a little girl runs away, wouldn’t you want to know what happens to her? Well in Sue Monk Kidd’s book, The Secret Life of Bees a little girl named Lily leaves home. While she is gone she learns a bunch of life lessons, one of them being about the color of your skin. In the book The Secret Life of Bees, Sue shows us that the color of your skin does not mean anything.

    Read More

  • Pride In The Secret Life Of Bees

    1298 Words  | 6 Pages

    After Lily confesses to August that Lily was the one who killed her mom, Lily says, “You will hear a dark whispering spirit, a voice coming from the center of things. It will have blades for lips and will not stop until it speaks the one secret thing at the heart of it all… It said, You are unlovable, Lily Owens.” (Kidd 242). Lily created the dark spirit.

    Read More

  • Relationships In The Secret Life Of Bees

    718 Words  | 3 Pages

    Coursework 1 In the secret life of Bees Sue Monk Kidd makes the relationship between her and her parents really interesting because throughout the novel all kinds of things start to happen between them. In the beginning of the novel, Deborah wasn't really there for Lily when she was growing up. The reason behind that is because there was an accident with Deborah, Lilly and T. Ray.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Secret Life Of Bees

    565 Words  | 3 Pages

    This book called” The Secret Life Of Bees “ written by Sue Monk Kidd , took place in 1974 when the Jim law was still occurring since 1874 .A law that discern black and white people and giving it difficulties for a black person to vote .Jim crow did not allow black to have the same rights as white people .For example Rosa park whites sat different sides of the bus . In the book ,The Secret Life Of Bees , a young white girl who runs away from home with her nanny rosaleen who was African american . She is also on a look out to find a place to where her mom probably was before ,because of a found of a old picture of a virgin Mary as a African american.

    Read More

  • Insecurity In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

    489 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lily’s insecurity is displayed through her actions in school when encountering the more popular girls, “I started picking scabs off my body and, when I didn’t have any, gnawing the flesh around my fingernails until I as a bleeding wreck” (Kidd 9). For instance, Lily’s act of shying away from others and picking at her scabs helped to emphasize her discomfort when people she considered her betters, in style at least, surrounding Lily and reminding her about her own less than satisfactory personal looks. Furthermore, her self-consciousness, along with her inborn daringness led her to run away from home, and take Rosaleen with her. In brief, the lack of parental guidance for Lily led her to be slightly unstable, and embarrassed about herself in general led her to run away from home, and the instability caused her to start stealing and lying.

    Read More

  • Lily In The Secret Life Of Bees

    160 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lily was responsible for the death of her mother, she was holding the gun, but it was all an accident. I think that having the guilt of knowing that she killed her own mother is terrible for her and having her father T-Ray blame her for it is worst. He treats her bad and that is a reason why they do not get along

    Read More

  • Racism In T. Ray's The Secret Life Of Bees

    275 Words  | 2 Pages

    This secret made her desire to know more about her mother. The secret life of bees reveals the irrationality of racism, demonstrating how lily struggles with racism and overcomes it. At the start of the novel lily assumed that all colored people were like Rosaleen;Course and uneducated. "I thought they could be smart but not

    Read More

  • Secret Life Of Bees Theme Analysis

    807 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1960’s, racial inequality was widely shown but can be easily overcome.(2) In the novel Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, racial inequality is shown a lot through the book. The author puts out the theme in many different parts of the book of racial inequality to prove that is one of the greater themes in the book. Racial inequality is where two specific races are not equal to each other. In the book it is the whites vs the blacks.

    Read More

  • The Secret Life Of Bees Book Report

    736 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lily’s father is disrespectful to women and belittles her and other women throughout the entire book. Since she didn’t grow up with a mother,only her undermining father, Lily doesn’t realize her true value and capabilities she has. To help her Lily is guided by many strong women throughout the book that help her realize her true potential. One is a English teacher, who encourages her to become a teacher as well, which is a stronger profession then what Lily thought she was capable of. August Boatwright is one of her biggest role models.

    Read More

  • The Secret Life Of Bees Theme Essay

    1401 Words  | 6 Pages

    Although Lily is young, she feels that she has the right to make this statement because she has already experienced so much in her life. With that being said, people may judge Lily because of what she says or does but that is because not everyone knows about

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In The Secret Life Of Bees

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    Two of her sisters have this problem and it has genuinely affected August for better or worse. Lily’s father, T-Ray, deals with his mental illness by using violence and taking his anger out on Lily because of what happened with his wife Deborah. This causes Lily to feel unloved by her father. In the beginning of the story, Lily runs away from home to escape her tragic life with T. Ray.

    Read More

  • May Boatwright Character Analysis

    112 Words  | 1 Pages

    Lily finds freedom for herself and her nanny after breaking her out of prison, setting them on a life away from her abusive household. They escape to Tiburon as an attempt to learn more of Lily 's late mother 's past, finding mothers in the Boatwright sisters. There she is forced to encounter bouts of racism as she gets involved in the black community. Her boyfriend, Zach, is put unjustly into jail, which brings much heartache to said community, resulting in May Boatwright 's suicide. Her boyfriend is set free, as well as Lily herself, whom escapes her father 's isolating grasp once more, staying with the family she made and not the one

    Read More

  • Lily's Bees Symbolism

    1148 Words  | 5 Pages

    Every little thing wants to be loved” (Kidd 92). This quote shows that the bees need love, but so does Lily. The misinterpretation is that Lily feels that she must gain this affection from her mother, but through the bees’ guidance and the help of August, she comes to realize that all she needs is to accept and love herself and accept the love she receives from others (which also helps along in her journey to become a young woman, as previously mentioned). Lily is able to realize this through the guidance of supporting characters. One quote from the novel is, “And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life.

    Read More

  • Themes In The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

    621 Words  | 3 Pages

    Being mistreated and neglected on a daily does not seem enjoyable at all. T. Ray, father of Lily, abuses his role as the only parent by dictating Lily's life. T. Ray was an unkind father who does not understand Lily's wants. Being the only parent, T. Ray also tends to blame Lily for the death of her mother. T. Ray damages Lily physically and emotionally to take out his anger and resentment about his wife.

    Read More

  • Lily Atwood's The House Of Mirth

    1030 Words  | 5 Pages

    Lily fears that now she is twenty nine and still has no husband. She knows that she has to find someone quick that she can marry, and someone whom she can live a comfortable life with. While Lily is still trying to win over Mr. Gryce, she was supposed to go on a walk with him, until she cancels thinking it would be the best idea, since she has been told before that she takes things too fast. Since Lily canceled the walk with Mr. Gryce he feels that Lily has snubbed him and decides that he will leave Bellomont. “'You've known Laurence Seldon for years- why did you behave as if you had just discovered him?

    Read More

More about Lily's Hatred In 'The Secret Life Of Bees'

Open Document