Preview

Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
536 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees
In Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, August acts as the unorthodox religious leader of the Daughters of Mary and contributes to Lily’s character and growth. August proves to be a leader, and a positive influence towards Lily in every action she performs. She welcomes Lily, a white girl, into her house during the 1960s, a time when racial segregation was prominent. By doing so, August goes against the popular social views, and jeopardizes her reputation for Lily. August teaches Lily many life lessons such as love, hope, and the importance of religion. Because of August, Lily becomes stronger, and more aware of the society in which she lives in.
August’s religious leadership is demonstrated throughout the novel because of her
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Summary Of The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd
    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Summary Of The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

    The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is a story about the power of women and their ability to overcome, growing up and love. The protagonist, Lily Owens, lives in South Carolina with her widowed father T. Ray. When Lily was four, her mother died somehow, T. Ray blames her death on Lily. All Lily wants is her mother and to be away from her abusive dad. She is raised by an African – American nanny named Rosaleen. The day the Civil Rights Act is passed, Rosaleen decided to go exercise her newly acclaimed right to vote and is thrown in jail by some racist men in town. Lily wants to save her nanny as well as get away from T. Ray, so she helps break out Rosaleen and they head across South Carolina in search of something better. They are…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees
    • 231 Words
    • 1 Page

    Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

    In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd alludes to the first lunar landing to communicate that the mystery of the moon is more intriguing than its discovery. For example, August explains her distress when she hears of Ranger 7’s mission to the moon: “‘Now it won’t ever be the same, not after they’ve landed up there and walked around on her [the moon]. She’ll be just one more big science project’” (114). August further explains that the moon is fascinating because of its ambiguity, and now that humans have access to it, the moon’s mystery is uncovered. Thus, the reality of scientific discoveries replaces the mystical beauty that the previously untouched moon once held. On July 31, 1964, Ranger 7 lands on the moon and sends pictures back to…

    • 231 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd
    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

    This heartfelt, captivating novel starts out with a very troubled fourteen year old girl named Lily Owens who lives with her father and their black maid Rosaleen. Her mother is dead due to an accident partially caused by Lily. As the story begins, Rosaleen gets thrown in jail and beaten up by three white men because all she wanted to do was to go into town and vote. Lily then decides it’s the time for them to run away to find the town Tiburon, South Carolina. This was the town written on the back of a picture of black Mary, which belonged to Lily’s mother.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Secret Life Of Bees Literary Analysis
    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page

    Secret Life Of Bees Literary Analysis

    One of the main literary elements in Sue Monk Kidd’s Secret Life of Bees, is conflict. The author displays this conflict through racial prejudice, Lily Owens and her father, Terrence Ray Owens (T. Ray), and through Lily and her mother, Deborah Fontanel. This book is set in 1964, when African American’s had just gotten the right to vote. T. Ray and Lily lived just outside Sylvan, South Carolina (The Secret Life of Bees, page…

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bees? No, Let's Talk About Dollars And Cents By Ben Stein
    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Bees? No, Let's Talk About Dollars And Cents By Ben Stein

    In the article “Birds and Bees? No, Let’s Talk about Dollars and Cents” the author, Ben Stein writes to his son and addresses the most valuable life lesson there is in Stein’s eyes. This life lesson is capital, and the positive effects it can provide to your life. Stein is writing to his son to inform him about the “smart way” to invest your money, Stein uses past generations as an example to show just what capital can do for you. The purpose of this letter/article is for a father to have a heart to heart with his son and to instill an important life lesson to him, to teach and prepare as a parent is supposed to. Stein loves Tommy, his son, and just wants the best for him. You really know he is down to earth and genuinely believes in the advice…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees
    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

    ‘Goodbye,’ I said, and there was a tiny spring of sadness pushing up from my heart.” Lily is aware that all of her memories are in that house and her town, but she takes the risk of never returning again to help the people she loves. This is a true act of heroism taking risks for the people who mean the most to you. In The Secret Life of Bees women are made to think that they are inferior to men and that men hold all the power. Lily’s father T-Ray treated women very unequally and often said that women had less opportunities and were not able to do all the things that men can do. Growing up her whole life with only T-Ray and no mother-figure has left Lily to believe that women really are inferior and not as capable as men. After meeting the daughters of Mary Lily started to no longer underestimate the power of women as she saw the example of Mary, who was a women that was able to do remarkable things. She also learns the power of women by meeting the boatwright sisters who are all remarkably strong. All the women in The Secret Life of Bees are inner heros in their own way and they all show the true…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees
    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page

    Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

    Another theme that Kidd would like to share is truth. She understands that hearing the truth isn't what everyone wants at some points, but some people rather hear lies. The emotions are confusing some people would like to hide away then facing the facts. Kidd constructs a flexible and logical life for lily. She applies the love and the past of Lilys mother. She wants the readers to understand no matter how many people lie to you that the truth will always hurt, that the truth is the truth, and there's nothing anybody can do to change it. Kidd’s second idea is that she wants people to adapt to what is real.…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of The Secret Life Of Bees
    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Analysis Of The Secret Life Of Bees

    Her abusive father blames Lily for the death of her mother, not that he seems to care much about it, just enough to point fingers. After an incident involving her African-American care-taker forces Lily to run, she searches for any little traces of her mother she can possibly find. Her search brings her to the Boatright sisters, where she finds a home, answers, and more of motherly figures then she would have if her mother hadn't died.The Secret Life of Bees is a coming of age fiction novel written by Sue Monk Kidd. The story is set in the early to mid 1960s where plaid mid thigh kilts and cashmere twinsets were in style, not that Lily Owens had ever been able to experience this fashion statement due to her fathers strict ways. Lily starts in Sylvan, South Carolina, but in her search for her mother she moves the story along to Tiburon, South Carolina. The books mood is serious, due to death, injury, and other hard circumstances. Lily fights through these rough circumstances making the mood of the book also inspirational. The main lesson learned is said by a character named August whom employs Lily “Most people don't have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside hive. Bees have a secret life we don't know anything about.” This goes along with the famous quote “don’t judge a book by its cover”, because you cant always see whats going on inside a persons…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Race-Based Prejudice In The Secret Life Of Bees
    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Race-Based Prejudice In The Secret Life Of Bees

    She is not like Rosaleen who cooks for her and cleans up for her but she is like a mother to lily. August is Lily's second surrogate mother, and she gives lily knowledge. She intuitively recognizes what lily needs and acknowledges immediately whose daughter lily is. She waits for her until she comes to tell August a story about her mother, and she holds lily while she lets out all her rage. August give lily the fearlessness to listen to herself and that a women could be strong and who does good in the world. Then is this quote it says,” There is nothing perfect,” August said from the doorway. “There is only life ( pg 256 ).” To me that quote is very strong and it would help Lily forget about her mother. To me i feel that August teacher's lily about life and that is why she has female…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Theme about "The Secret Life of Bee's"
    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Theme about "The Secret Life of Bee's"

    The Secret Life of Bees demonstrates the irrationality of racism by not only portraying black and white characters with dignity and humanity but by also demonstrating how Lily struggles with and ultimately overcomes her own racism. Kidd moves beyond stereotypes to portray whites and blacks with the multifaceted personalities that we find in real life. Lily is not a racist in the same way that the group of men that harass Rosaleen are racist, but she does evidence some prejudice and stereotypes at the start of the novel. She assumes that all African Americans are like Rosaleen, an uneducated laborer-turned-housekeeper. Lily imagines that all African Americans are likewise coarse and uneducated. But when Lily encounters unique, educated, thoughtful August Boatwright, she must change her assumptions and combat her prejudice. At first, Lily feels shocked that a black person could be as smart, sensitive, and creative as August. Recognizing and combating her shock allows Lily to realize the truth about the arbitrariness and irrationality of racism. Like Lily, June must also learn to overcome racial stereotypes. As individuals, humans can display a complex array of personality traits and characteristics, regardless of skin color or ethnicity.…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd
    • 2207 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Secret Life Of Bees By Sue Monk Kidd

    When Lily arrived at Tiburon, she, “found [herself] looking at a picture of the black Mary… exact one as [her] mother’s. She stared at [Lily] from the labels of a dozen jars of honey. Black Madonna Honey, they said” (Kidd 63). Although bees did not exactly tell her to go to the town, the picture of the black woman was printed on honey jars, which are a part of bees. In a sense, the bees are sending Lily signals by appealing to her fondness of bees and of her mother’s belongings. If it were not for her mother’s picture of the black woman, Lily would have overlooked the honey jars in the store and would have never found the place where her mother had been referring to in the picture. In addition, the concept of the bees led Lily and Rosaleen to a sheltered home, which can be seen as a blessing brought on by Lily’s curiosity. In the end, the black Mary picture from the honey jars is one of the main reasons that pushed her to leave her house and begin her…

    • 2207 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Secret Life Of Bees Literary Analysis
    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Secret Life Of Bees Literary Analysis

    The poet Maya Aneton once said “It [is] one of the greatest gifts [a person] can give [him or herself] to forgive. Forgive everybody.” It is difficult sometimes for people to forgive themselves for past issues or transgressions. The result often becomes an inability to exculpate others as well. However, if a person can seek forgiveness, then happiness will become more apparent in his or her life. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd demonstrates how contentment becomes prevalent in a person's life through the characters Lily and June once they seek forgiveness. Lily, a fourteen-year-old runaway white girl, not only struggles to forgive herself, but her father, T Ray, and her mother for their wrongdoings in her lifetime. Similarly, June, one of the Boatwright sisters that takes in Lily when she runs away, strives to pardon her ex fiance and Lily’s mother due to the undeserved way they treated June in her past.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Fear Of Church Bombing In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees
    • 171 Words
    • 1 Page

    Fear Of Church Bombing In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

    Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees, alludes to the 1963 Birmingham church bombing in order to display the fear of racial protest present within the era. For example, throughout the book May Boatwright writes her worries upon pieces of paper and places them within a “wailing wall” of worries. On one of the pieces of paper, she writes: “Birmingham, Sept 15, four little angels dead” (98), depicting her worries of the recent church bombing in Birmingham. This violent act within the Civil Rights movement was significant for multiple reasons. To start, a church is traditionally a place where people feel safe and comforted. Through bombing this church, the attackers shattered the activists’ feelings of safety, exhibiting what may happen…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Secret Life Of Bees Analysis
    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Secret Life Of Bees Analysis

    Lily’s father, T. Ray, only deepens this conviction, telling Lily that her mother only came back for her things, not for her daughter. This false belief that her mother died regretting her existence destroys Lily. She grows to have such a strong desire to feel loved that it begins to control her in a negative way, making her feel constantly unwanted. Meeting the Boatwright’s, she finally is surrounded by the kind of love and affection she so desperately needed. Staying at the honey house, she learns more than the honey business itself, she begins to realize that the same lessons they teach her about the bees can apply to her life. When explaining how to handle the bees, August says, “Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.” (92) To be loved is all Lily has ever wanted, and once she begins living in the honey house, she realizes how loved she truly is, and has been all of her life, even though she didn’t know it. The love that nearly all the people in Lily’s life have for her is as immense as Pip’s love for Estella, but for her, it took many years of darkness before she could finally see the light. Once Lily opens her heart, she realizes how extraordinary it can be to both love and be loved: “I myself, for instance. It seemed like I was now thinking of Zach forty minutes out of every hour, Zach, who was an…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Miss
    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Miss

    The Secret Life of Bees has more than just one theme. The first is racism. The author demonstrates Lily struggling with the fact that colored people aren’t very different from whites. Her first thoughts about them were…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics