The Secret Life Of Bees Theme Essay

In the story “Lily Daw and the Three Ladies”, we are introduced to our three ladies who are: Mrs. Carson, Mrs. Watts and Aimee. These three ladies speak about a young girl who seems to have some sort of disability or as mentioned in the story was “feebleminded”, this young girl goes by name of Lily Daw. I assume that Lily has a disability not only because the three ladies are trying to send her to this mental institute for the “feebleminded” but because the author portrays Lily’s character with a very special tone of voice and her character is also not able to make-out correct full sentences like the rest of the characters in the story. The author Eudora Welty introduces this story as, “a half-witted girl in the grip of social forces represented by a group of earnest ladies bent on doing the best thing for her, no matter what the consequences”

“They were pure and innocent—something that wasn’t often found in this world of greed, disgrace, and self-gratification” (Preston 88). Clover often thought of the girls in his cellar as flowers; his mother taught him that flowers were pure and beautiful, and that is what he wanted his family to be similar too. One night, Summer Robinson is walking alone in the dark, something her crazy-hot-protective boyfriend ☺ always tells her not to do. She suddenly hears and sees a man walking toward her saying “Lily”, and he soon calls her Lily. Because of this, Summer feels uneasy and tries to find an escape route; the man kidnaps her and brings her to his cellar. This is the place where she meets 3 other girls, Poppy, Rose, and Violet. Now the conflicts

Forgiveness is defined as the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense. Additionally, the victims release themselves from any negative emotion such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender away. Lily, the protagonist, in The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, undergoes a change from feeling angry about the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death, to feeling forgiveness for all the hurt along way. In this bildungsroman, Lily narrates herself as a courageous and intelligent girl with many insecurities as well as prejudices. Furthermore, Lily has much animosity towards herself. She states, “She was all I wanted. And I took her away” (Kidd 8). Additionally, “The day she died was December 3, 1954” (Kidd 5). As a child Lily involuntarily discharged a gun, causing the death of her mother (Deborah Fontanel). This event would thusly cause the theme of forgiveness to recur multiple times throughout the

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. 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

Sue Monk Kidd once said, "In a way, humans are not made of skin and bones as such, as we're made of stories" ("Sue Monk Kidd Quotes"). Through her novels, Sue Monk Kidd tells people's stories. She writes realistic accounts of every day people and the hardships they encounter. Of course, many people have stories that include mature content, but the purpose of telling them is all the same; she wants to make others aware of issues that are present in today's society. The Secret Life of Bees is the story of a girl who runs away from her life along with her black "stand-in mother". Including this in school curriculum is a good decision that would bring many positive effects. Although this novel expresses controversial themes related to religion

In the novel, Secret Life of Bees, Lilly has major changes in her life. Throughout the novel Lilly struggles to find her true self. But eventually she ends up figuring out everything. Lilly had a very rough start to her life. But this makes her become stronger than everyone else that had it easy. She becomes a better person

Coming of age can be defined as an person’s journey of facing challenges that make them into a mature individual. Although coming of age is a different experience for each individual, some experiences are commonly found among pieces of work. Common experiences of coming of age are demonstrated in Marigolds by Eugenia W. Collier, involving Lizabeth’s loss of innocence, the struggle of internal conflict in Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bees, and Mattie Ross’ journey of coming of age in True Grit by Charles Portis.

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. Also, society is turning more towards religion as guidance and strength to move along in life. Sue Kidd Monk prove these views and incorporates her own perspective of society. In her novel, The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd reveals the complexity and

The bees and photographs in the book all link together and help Lily deal with her pain but also find answers she was looking for. Kidd notes, “The bees came the summer of 1964, the summer I turned fourteen and my life went spinning off into a whole new orbit, and I mean whole new orbit. Looking back on it now, I want to say the bees were sent to me” (Kidd, 2). The bees first appeared in Lily’s room. Later in the book she was training to become a beekeeper. This connects with Lily’s mother because Deborah had lived with bees for a few months when she left T. Ray. In a way the audience can interpret the bees as a way of communication for Deborah and Lily. The surprising next quote reads, “...when I found myself looking at a picture of the black Mary. I do not mean a picture of just any black Mary. I mean the identical, very same, exact one as my mother’s. 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. When she meets the Boatwright sisters, the creators of the honey, she soon finds out the importance of why her

In the novel, The Secret Lives of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily, the main character and May, one of the Boatwright sisters are conflicted with many events. One of the life lessons that were in this novel was, family, is a big part of who you are or who you turn out to be. Lily and May are the characters whose family is a big factor in who they are.

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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.

The novel, House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, documents the struggles of beautiful Lily Barton as she attempts to both find suitable husband and be accepted into New York City’s elite class during the turn of the nineteenth century. Being a part of this class herself, Wharton uses this novel to comment on the true nature of the rigid social hierarchy that dictated one’s survival during this time period. Using her plethora of different characters as examples, Wharton states that one’s place in this social hierarchy is dictated by the amount of money one has and in order to be accepted into the elite class, one must bend morals to succeed; furthermore, Wharton reveals that despite its innocent and revered exterior, the upper class is made up of

“This is the moment I remember clearest of all how I stood in the driveway looking back at them. I remember the sight of them standing there waiting. All these women, all this love, waiting.”(Kidd 299) Although Lily did suffer a great loss from losing her mom, she gained so much more with the love and support that the Boatwrights and their group gave her. She has gained friends, someone to look up to, and the sense of family from all of them. Without the loss of her mom and the abuse of her dad she would never of gotten the experience of such powerful female role models and a new

“The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd explores the way of life through the metaphor of a bee’s. Bees represent people and their lives within a home that no one may notice. A range of characters are developed throughout the story from a young girl who escapes a troubled home to a black woman who leads a honey company during the Civil Rights Movement. However, the character I particularly admire is May, a black woman who cares for all creatures while dealing with severe depression.