ipl-logo

Secret Life Of Bees Prejudice Quotes

1068 Words5 Pages

The theme of racial prejudice and injustice, is threaded throughout the course of Lily’s journey in The Secret Life of Bees. Racism is a type of prejudice, which in a nutshell, is basically a prejudgment based on generalizations and flawed reasoning, targeting a particular race. In other words, racial prejudice can lead to discrimination, stereotyping, irrational hatred, or suspicion, based on decisions before the facts were known. Lily exemplifies many of the white community’s prejudices about black people. Lily finds herself to possess prejudice at times, due to the influence created by the whites around her. For the Caucasians in the book, it’s almost natural for them to think that black people have lower morals, lower IQ, less civilized …show more content…

Lily spots the shelf of honey jars in a store, with a black Mary pictured on them. “I pointed to the honey jars. 'Where did you get those?’ He thought the tone of shock in my voice was really consternation. 'I know what you mean. A lot of folks won't buy it 'cause it's got the Virgin Mary pictured as a colored woman.” (Kidd 64) In this quote, Lily is actually taken by surprise when she finds out that the black Mary on the honey jar was identical to the picture of Mary she had. Naturally, the store owner assumed she was shocked because of the fact that there was a colored woman on the jar; he jumps straight to a prejudiced …show more content…

“T. Ray did not think colored women were smart...I thought they could be smart, but not as smart as me, me being white… all I could think was August is so intelligent, so cultured, and I was surprised by this. That's what let me know I had some prejudice buried inside me.” (Kidd 78) Caucasian people such as T. Ray are always reckoning that colored people lack the same degree of intelligence or cultivation as Caucasians, and this prejudice thought goes against the fact that colored people can be just as educated as whites. This bias coming from Lily’s father is impacting her and even though Lily never tries to be prejudiced on purpose, she admits that she has a hint of prejudice in her. After spending time with colored people, Lily realizes she had been making flawed assumptions about how blacks weren’t as educated as

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Brownies And Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

    1054 Words  | 5 Pages

    Many of the differences are purely imaginary because of how others perceptions of whites have rubbed off on them “Man, did you smell them?" (pg. ) These imaginary ideas stem from racial prejudice and the hostility history and current segregation at their time had pushed into their

    Read More

  • How Did Jim Crow Laws Affect Society

    258 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book "The Secret Life Of Bees," it affected Lily because she had a black women who worked for them named Rosaleen, When they were walking in the street on their way to vote, a white man said many stuff to Rosaleen. After Rosaleen threw something on the mans shoes they told her to say sorry. She

    Read More

  • The Secret Life Of Bees Rhetorical Analysis

    1302 Words  | 6 Pages

    She stared at me from the labels of a dozen jars of honey. BLACK MADONNA HONEY, they said” (Kidd 63). At this point Lily was shocked. The photo of a black Mary that Lily had belonged to her mother, and now she is seeing selves of them on honey. She begins to realize the name of the town, Tiburon, SC, on her mother's copy, must really have a meaning and she most be close to figuring it out.

    Read More

  • Discrimination In Tim Wise's 'White Like Me'

    405 Words  | 2 Pages

    Omar LAVISH Soc 217 Tim Wise – White Like Me In Tim Wise’s reading, the focus is how discrimination, prejudice and racism is due to the miscommunication between whites and blacks and how for a white man to understand the true evil that is happening would be for him to enter the shoes of a black man. This was mentioned by Wise as he said, “How else except by becoming a negro can a white hope to learn the truth” (Wise, 225). Miscommunication and lack of acknowledgments causes setbacks which in return leads to racism and discrimination and this was shown in “White Like Me” when a white man had to temporarily become black to bring out the truth.

    Read More

  • The Autobiography Of An Ex-Colored Man By James Weldon Johnson

    1416 Words  | 6 Pages

    The concrete evidence of what is means to be “white” comes when the narrator says, “I think that white people somehow feel that colored people who have education and money, who wear good clothes and live in comfortable houses, are ‘putting on airs’… or are, at best, going through sort of a monkey-like imitation” (Johnson 822). In this case whiteness can be performed, and everything good that a normal person would want is considered white. This statement is very similar to the statement made by the millionaire, that says, “my boy, you are by blood, by appearance, by education,

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Prejudice Quotes

    1230 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Curse of Prejudice Albert Einstein once said, “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.” This quote demonstrates the ubiquitous plot in the novel on how people usually follow what others think instead of thinking for themselves. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee suggests that one of the significant ways to circumvent the prejudice that arises from deceiving appearances is by a personal connection to others. This is evidenced by Boo Radley, Mrs. Dubose, and Atticus Finch.

    Read More

  • Scout And Lily Character Analysis

    885 Words  | 4 Pages

    Scout and Lily Compare and Contrast Essay Both Scout, from To KIll a Mockingbird and Lily, from The Secret Life of Bees uphold their beliefs regarding race and personal prejudices in their own pieces of literature. Although these stereotypes belong to two different characters, some similarities can be found between them as well. Lily and Scout have had different ranges of exposure to African Americans, however they both eventually developed mature thoughts involving race and represented strong female characters in the midst of male-dominated societies. Scout and Lily were both constantly considering and believing what they heard regarding African Americans from their guardians and classmates at the beginning of each novel.

    Read More

  • Interracial Relationships In The Secret Life Of Bees

    1919 Words  | 8 Pages

    A New Family: Interracial Relationships and Religion in The Secret Life of Bees In such a diverse world where different races come together and interact, the early 1960s reveal society’s surprised reaction to these relationships. Interracial relationships are strongly frowned upon during this time, almost as if they are illegal. Fortunately, over time, people begin to accept those with different backgrounds and can easily communicate with each other. Hardships are still present today, but society in moving in a better direction.

    Read More

  • Summary: A Genealogy Of Modern Racism

    703 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the essay, “A Genealogy of Modern Racism”, the author Dr. Cornel West discusses racism in depth, while conveying why whites feel this sense of superiority. We learn through his discussion that whites have been forced to treat black harshly due to the knowledge that was given to them about the aesthetics of beauty and civility. This knowledge that was bestowed on the whites in the modern West, taught them that they were superior to all races tat did not emulate the norms of whites. According to Dr. West the very idea that blacks were even human beings is a concept that was a “relatively new discovery of the modern West”, and that equality of beauty, culture, and intellect in blacks remains problematic and controversial in intellectual circles

    Read More

  • The Secret Life Of Bees Rosaleen Character Analysis

    193 Words  | 1 Pages

    Through indirect characterization, Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees, displays Rosaleen as an obstinate character in order to exhibit the southern racism at hand. For example, Rosaleen is indirectly characterized when she comes into contact with the town’s most notorious racist, Franklin Posey, and will not apologize for standing up for her beliefs. Recalling the event, she exclaims, “‘he hit me till the policeman said that was enough. They didn’t get no apology, though’” (46).

    Read More

  • Coats 'What We Mean When We Say Race Is A Social Construct'

    158 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article “What We Mean When We Say ‘Race Is a Social Construct’,’’ Ta-Nehisi Coates asserts that the idea of race is not based on someone’s intelligence. People will always have a different opinion on intelligence. It is wrong to make the assumption that “blacks” are not as intelligent as “whites”. Coats says “There is no fixed sense of ‘whiteness’ or ‘blackness’.” He also explains how race is a social construct.

    Read More

  • Tom Robinson Stereotypes

    879 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every person young or old, is labelled with either a positive or negative stereotype. Stereotypes affect one’s social life, emotions, and how one interacts with the community. In the 1940’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, there are many stereotypes that are destructive and can prevent individual growth. The three stereotypes that will be focused on are, people who supposedly do bad things are evil and scary, people should not judge others by their actions, and black people are treated poorly based on their skin tone.

    Read More

  • Racial Discrimination In The Secret Life Of Bees

    1440 Words  | 6 Pages

    The act of racial discrimination impacts innocent people's lives in numerous, negative ways; hence why multiple people, worldwide can not tolerate racism and discrimination. The novel written by Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, displays a wide range of scenarios where racism results in suffering. Rosaleen, a black woman, will never forget how three white men negatively impact her life; she will remain scarred unto death. Also, ever since the racial incident involving April and her twin, May, pain is constantly accompanying April; consequently, she commits suicide. Finally, when May loses April, she endures all the various sufferings of the world, including racial discrimination.

    Read More

  • Segregation And Discrimination In The Secret Life Of Bees

    529 Words  | 3 Pages

    This past summer I read the novel the Secret Life of Bees. Set in 1964, around the time the Civil Rights Act was passed. The Civil Rights Act is basically like an embellishment upon The Jim Crow law. The law was enacted to pursue segregation between people of color and whites. When the Civil Rights Act was legislated it changed the law, giving civil rights to anyone and everyone regardless of their skin color.

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Racist Quotes

    1013 Words  | 5 Pages

    Racism springs from ignorance - Mario Balotelli. I think that this quote by Mario Balotelli, a soccer player from italy is right, because to be racist you have to be ignorant. Racism is a big issue in To Kill a Mockingbird and in real life. Harper Lee, through her characters of Bob Ewell, Atticus, and Scout illustrates that in her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, racist views are a choice one makes. In her descriptions of Bob Ewell’s actions and reactions to African Americans, Harper Lee shows that Bob Ewell chooses to be racist because she described him as a mean spirited person.

    Read More

More about Secret Life Of Bees Prejudice Quotes

Open Document