The Secret Life of Bees: EXPOSED: Themes

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Themes

The Secret Life of Bees demonstrates the irrationality of racism by portraying black and white characters with dignity and intelligence, and also demonstrating how Lily struggles with her own racism. Lily is not racist in the way that the group of men that harass Rosaleen are. Although she does show some prejudice and stereotypes at the start of the novel. She assumes that all African Americans are like Rosaleen, an uneducated laborer. Lily imagines that all African Americans are the same. When Lily meets, intelligent, educated August Boatwright, she must change her assumptions and overcome her prejudice. At first, Lily feels shocked that a black person could be as smart as August. Lily learns to realize the truth about the cruelty and irrationality of racism. She also learns that individuals can have different traits and characteristics regardless of their skin color or ethnicity. Later in the book, Lily begins to develop strong feelings for Zach. Once again, Lily has to face her own prejudice. Zach is a nice, handsome African American young man. As a child in Sylvan, Lily was raised to believe that a black man could not be handsome. When she realizes that this is not the case with Zach, she becomes more open minded and aware of the untrue things she was raised to believe. Although Lily and Zach realise that because of the racist South at that time, they could never be together. Lily again discovers the irrationality of racism, and the harmful and hurtful effects of it.

-Maggie Todaro

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sue Monk Kidd was born on August 12, 1948, in Sylvester, Georgia. She spent all of her childhood in Sylvester, a rural town that was the site of racial injustices so prevalent in the South during that time. As a child, Kidd observed the segregation between white and black southerners. Nevertheless, she recalls listening to the stories of the African American women that worked in the domestic realm of her home. As a teenager, she witnessed the beginnings of desegregation. The injustices she had encountered left a lasting impression on her. The Secret Life of Bees comes from Kidd's personal experience as a child growing up in the segregated South. Kidd has used the storytelling influences of her father and of the African American maids who worked in her home as a child. Both of these things helped shape the novel.

Before she began her writing career, Kidd majored in nursing and graduated in 1970 from Texas Christian University, then worked throughout her twenties as a registered nurse and as a college nursing instructor. During that time, she married Sanford Kidd, and they had two children, Bob and Ann. Her first book was a spiritual memoir: God’s Joyful Surprise, published by Harper SanFrancisco in 1988. Her second book, When the Heart Waits, published by Harper SanFrancisco in 1990. In 1997 she began writing her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, and worked on it for the next three and a half years. The Secret Life of Bees has sold more than 3.5 million copies, spent over eighty weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and been published in more than 20 languages. It was awarded the 2004 Book Sense Paperback book of the Year, nominated for the Orange Prize in England and chosen as Good Morning America’s Read This! Book Club pick.Sue began writing her second novel, The Mermaid Chair in 2002, completing it in 2004.

- Maggie Todaro

http://www.suemonkkidd.com/

Plot

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is the story of Lily, a fourteen-year-old white girl, who lives alone with her father, a peach farmer, in Sylvan, South Carolina. Every night Lily waits around for the bees living in her walls to come out. T. Ray, her father, is abusive and does not believe her story about the bees. Lily's nanny and housekeeper, Rosaleen, believes Lily but also thinks Lily is dumb for trying to collect the bees in a jar as proof. Lily was forced to grow up with T.Ray. As a child, her mother left her but when she came back one day a tragic accident occurs. Lily accidentally shot and killed her mother. The next morning after their fight, Lily accompanies Rosaleen into town. This period of time in the book is during the Civil Rights movement. Blacks were finally allowed to register to vote and that is exactly what Rosaleen had planned to do that day. Instead while on the way, a group of white racists harass Rosaleen. They accuse her of disturbing them and winds up getting arrested. T. Ray picks Lily up at the prison. There he tells her that the men who harassed Rosaleen will most likely kill her. This news frightens and worries Lily. Rosaleen is the only person in her life who truly loves Lily so she is very sensitive and devises a plan to set Rosaleen free. At home, Lily and T. Ray get into an argument. He tells Lily that on the day her mother died, she had returned home to pick up just her clothes, intending to leave Lily behind. When Lily is sitting in her room that night, she notices that the bees have escaped from the jar she put them in, which leads her to have an epiphany; she needs to run away from her father and learn what really happened.

Lily finds Rosaleen at the hospital, where Rosaleen has been taken after being beaten up by the arresting police officers. Lily devises a plan to break Rosaleen out of prison. This plan leads them to hitchhike toward a town named Tiburon, S.C. The reason for going to Tiburon was that had Lily found the towns name written on the back of a picture of a black Mary that once belonged to her mother. On the way, Lily feels free, as if a new life has begun for her and as if she has all the opportunities in the world. Once in Tiburon, Lily tries to find where to find out the label of the honey maker. The search isn't as hard as Lily thought it would be. At a local shop, Lily finds the house of the honey maker. She comes across the house of August Boatwright and her sisters. After Lily lies about the need for a place to stay, August offers them a place to stay and jobs around the house and with beekeeping.

Lily and Rosaleen become members of the Boatwright house.They act as a tight group of African Americans women, who call themselves the “Daughters of Mary” and worship a three-foot-tall statue of a black Mary. Lily meets the honey farm helper, Zach, who is a handsome, intelligent, African American boy on whom she develops a crush. He also develops feelings for her and buys Lily a notebook where she can write stories. Lily grows closer and closer to August, beginning to love her and to find in her a surrogate mother. August tries to convince Lily to open up about her past and what lead her to Tiburon. In the meanwhile, Lily also learns how to care for bees and to understand her own prejudices. One day Lily visits a white lawyer in town who is helping Zach reach his goal of becoming a lawyer. At the lawyer's office, she breaks down and calls her father. T. Ray is furious. The experience makes her miss her mother but also helps her realize her decision to run away was the right one.

One day, Lily asks May if she ever knew anyone named Deborah Fontanel and learns that she has. Once Lily learns this, it is the absolute confirmation that her mother once spent time at the Boatwrights house. Lily is excited to find out more to expose her true identity as Deborah's daughter. On her way to talk to August, Lily ends up riding with Zach into town to buy pieces for the car. There, Zach sees a group of black boys that assault a white man, and the entire group gets taken to jail. When Lily returns home, the lawyer, has arrived to tell the Boatwrights that Zach has been arrested. August decides to hide the news from May, the most sensitive sister, because they know how upset she'd be. Even through all their efforts, May finds out and leaves the house alone. She commits suicide by drowning herself in the river. The next week is filled with mourning and a funeral. Eventually, another boy confesses, and Zach is let out of jail.

After all the mourning is complete, two-day celebration begins. Lily finds herself alone with Zach where he kisses her, and the two promise to try to be together in the future even though they both realize it is near impossible. Later on, when August arrives, Lily tells her the truth of her past, how she ended up in Tiburon, and of how she killed her mother. August admits that she has known Lily's true identity all along. This leads Lily to believe that her mother truly never loved her and only came home to get her belongings. Lily feels upset, and begins to miss her mother. Days later when she is back to herself again, her father arrives at the Boatwrights house. T. Ray is angry and violent, but Lily finally has the strength to reach out to him about the past and to call him “Daddy.” August convinces him to let Lily stay in Tiburon for good. Lily learns to accept her father and realizes there is no changing him. Lily starts school again but in Tiburon. Lily learns love through the Boatwright family. She learns how to love, how to accept it, and what the true meaning of it is. Lily also realizes that she is a good person who can't control the past but has to go on with her future.

- Sophia Chronopoulos

The Secret Life of Bees: EXPOSED

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Themes

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Sue Monk Kidd

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Plot

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