The Secret Life Of Bees Literary Analysis

The effect of economy is clear and significant to the story. The dominant social class, which are the white males, are shown to have more power. During this time period, white men were typically supported by the black community, such as people like Rosaleen, a black servant on Terrence Owen’s (Or T-Ray) Peach Farm and the caretaker of Lily Owens (T-Ray’s daughter). Rosaleen was one of many whom, “Worked as one of his pickers,” (2), and without the many laborers like Rosaleen, none of the work would have gotten done on the peach farm. Thus, the story sets up a setting where the dominant white community was supported by the black community, which creates a great lead into the struggle against oppression later in the story. Because of how The Secret Life Of Bees sets up the white community as the dominant class and the black community as the less significant/poorer class , it creates a greater emphasis on the struggle against oppression. The Boatwright sisters, which consists of August, June, and May, are described by Lily as, “‘The [women] who [make] the Black Madonna Honey,’” (68). When Lily enters their home, she even states that, “Each chair had its only little velvet stool sitting before it. Velvet,” (70). Through Lily, we can see that she is shocked that the lower class is not only running their own business and making a good amount of capital, but have enough capital to afford a luxury such as velvet.