1). You can see that lily shows signs of queenlessness, on page 8 it states " I wore clothes I made for myself". This shows that she was missing someone, a mother figure, that helped or even made her clothes. The closest thing she had to a mother figure was Rosaleen who worked for her dad. "Rosaleen knew less about fashion then T. Ray did," This shows that the mother figure she had knew less then her dad who didn't know much about fashion (Kidd 9). Also, lily's hair was messy because she ddin't have a mother to help her straighten it and make it look nice. This is how lily showed signes of queenlessness and how her fashion suffered because of it. Dan T
2.) What can we determine about the "rules" for black and white people, during this time period, during this chapter? During this time period it was very racist especially in the south who were still angry at losing slavery and thought that was all the black people deserved. Their was a strong rivalry between black and white people during this time period. The whites believed that the blacks were second class citizens and didn't deserve to walk on the same side of the street as them and the black people only wanted freedom and equal rights. Even though black people were about to have a breakthrough by having even rights their was still a lot of racism. In this chapter on page 9, Lily was so unpopular, when she had her chance to fit in " at the Women's Club last spring, Friday afternoons for six weeks; but i got barred because i didn't have a mother, grandmother, or even a measly aunt to present me with a white rose at the closing ceremony. Rosaleen doing it was against the rules." Even though Rosaleen has been taking care of Lily and her father for most of Lily's life and is a nanny/mother figure Rosaleen isn't allowed to do it because she is black. Frazer W
Trevor G 3. Today in modern society there are displays of Jim Crow Laws that don’t relate to race. For example today states are not passing gay-marriage laws. This is due to the fact that the church does not believe in this; in fact they strongly oppose this. Another example is how some woman try to apply for jobs that normally a man would do. For example when [[Culture Group#|the armed forces]] are looking at two recruits and one is a man the other a woman they are most likely to pick the man because they think that he could be a lot faster and stronger than a woman. Rosaleen decided to stand up today because civil rights had just passed and she had-had enough of segregation towards her so she responded I think she did not want to be a compliant person because if she opposed a white man she would several punished. I do think she changed because he was almost like she was a hungry dog on leash that had a plate of meat in front of it and someone finally let him go and she was so called “uplifted” from her curse of segregation.
4) In The Secret Life of Bees, there is discrimination throughout the first chapter. Towards the end of it, Rosaleen was put “under arrest [for] assult, theft, and disturbing the peace,” (Kidd 33). Before this happened, Rosaleen was harassed by the dealers because of her race. She was called a “nigger” and “negro” multiple times. Then she spit on the [[Culture Group#|dealer]] and she was arrested under false charges. In today’s world, Jim Crow type laws are followed by many people. Such as discrimination towards sexuality, or the way somebody looks. These are only a couple real-world discriminations. In high school, people tend to hide their sexuality because they know that they will get abused if it’s not the “norm.” Also, if somebody doesn’t look right, or wears the nicest clothes, they are made fun of as well. -Matt S
question #5
On page 12, when Rosaleen stands up to T. Ray about the chick Lily said “his boots whispered uncle all the way down the hall.” She means that he gave up. When you are fighting with someone and you want to give up you yell uncle! It means you forfeit. And Rosaleen stood up for Lily, which was the first time she felt loved. The first time T. Ray lost. I think this is foreshadowing something very big that will happen later in the book I believe. Something when T. Ray, or someone else, is overpowered and forced to give up. Shea T.
Chapter 2:
Question # 4 On page 39 when it says “The truth is, your sorry mother ran off and left you,” is a big part in why lily left. Her dad told her that her mom left her when really her mom came back for her. This made lily mad because she thought that her mom wanted nothing to do with her when she was going to leave with her. Dan T. Question #5
I think that Lily is angry with Rosaleen because Rosaleen didn’t say sorry to the three white men for spitting on their shoes. If she had apologized, she wouldn’t have gotten beat up and she wouldn’t have had to go to the hospital. Another time, Lily was mad at Rosaleen because Rosaleen got angry and left her. In Rosaleens defense she had a good reason to be angry, Lily hadn’t really thought of Rosaleen when she decided to run away with her. Rosaleen figured they were completely lost and didn’t have a home and they would probably be better off staying with T. Ray. But almost like a mother and a daughter,they make up in the end and it brings them closer together. Shea T.
Question #3
3. We don’t know for sure the reasons around Deborah leaving T.Ray or the cause of her death. Do you think that Lily is ready to handle the truth, whatever it might be? How has wishful thinking helped Lily to survive?
I think that T.Ray is just lying to her because T.Ray basically is just trying to make Lily’s life a living hell. So he lies to Lily and said that her mom was going to leave her and that she just came back for her luggage. So I do think that Lily is ready for the truth because both Lily’s mom and her both did not want to stand with the nastiness of T. Ray anymore. Wishful thinking helped her get through the thoughts in her heads that T. Ray had placed in her mind.
Trevor G
Question 1
There is a degree of racism, but its not a big degree, you can be racist or not racist or only racist so you can fit in and be “respected” by white people in the south. Lily’s dad, T-Ray is in my point of view only racist to fit in. He allowed Rosaleen to work inside his house and take care of his daughter and also allow her to have some lip back to him. “She dumped snuff juice on three white men! What the hell was she thinking?” (Kidd 37.)
T-Ray says this in private to Lily, in public he would have called her a nigger to so he would not look soft towards black people, he has to keep up appearance. When he says “what the hell was she thinking,” he is showing concern for her, asking why she would do this.
Frazer W
Chapter 3/4:
Chapter 3: Question #2
Egocentric means you think that it’s all about yourself. When Lily thanked god for the, “poor news reporting,” Lily was being sarcastic because she wanted the attention of the people worrying about her and Rosaleen. Dan T.
Question 3
Rosaleen had this odd dream because she wanted to be noticed for what she did. Because she stood up for herself with the three other men. She wanted to be recognized by Martin Luther King and she thought that what she did is a major step in the Civil rights Movement. And the red spit is the blood, the pain that all of the African-Americans are going through at this time. Shea T.
Chapter 3: #4) In my eyes, when Lily was looking for a sign, it was a childish behavior. We were told, “I’ll take nine steps and look up. Whatever my eyes light on, that’s my sign,” (Kidd 60). This shows that she was despirate for an answer or even just a direction to go in. She is starting to have childish decisions because she has no idea what to do next. She doesn’t have a plan anymore, and she is scared. She just wants a sign to help her continue to learn more about her Mother. -Matt S
Chap 3/4
Lily describes her church’s attitude toward Catholics. What does this tell you about Lily?
Lily describes herself as a very strong catholic. She carries around a wooden picture of the Virgin Mary. However though she also has the plastic gloves which show the steps from pinkie to thumb.
Trevor G
5.) I would find this is a sign because her mother had owned a black Madonna honey jar/plague and Lily had kept it as one of her mothers few possessions. And when she sees the picture she automatically connects it with the picture her mother has and also on the back of the jar it says the name of the town Lily picked for her and Rosaleen to run away to,” Tiburon.”
Frazer W
Chapter 5
1) The revelation that June told August, Lily overheard it. June saying, “But she’s white,” (Kidd 87), she clearly showed that she is racist towards whites. Lily starts to comprehend that “June might not want me here because of my skin color. I hadn’t known this was possible-to reject people for being white,” (Kidd 87). This show the irony of the situation, the revelation of the other side of the story, the other side that whites couldn’t see, discrimination. And now this is showing the opposite of what the time period allotted, Blacks discriminating against Whites. -Matt S
Trevor G
Question 3
June lets lily know that she doesn’t want her there when she says, “But she’s white, August.” (Kidd 87) This shows how June is a racist and doesn’t want lily there just because she is white. On page 86 when it says, “You know she’s lying,” said June. This quote shows how June doesn’t trust Lily, which would cause June not to want Lily around. Dan T.
5. What does Lily mean when she says, “Since Mr. Johnson signed that law, it was like somebody had ripped the seams right out of American life.”
5. Lily means that with the civil rights movement society, goes from being whites are superior and blacks lower in society to everyone being equal. This is in a way traumatizing for the American people of blacks and whites because never in the history of the United States had everyone been equal so no one really knows what is going to happen to this great nation.
Question 4: In the beginning of this chapter the quote says bees have to live in the darkness. Lily has to live in the darkness because she is guilty. She has to live in the shadow of her killing her mother. She can’t really come out of that, she has to live with it for the rest of her life, even if it was an accident. She can’t undo what happened. Lily is living in the darkness like bees live in the darkness. Of course, bees can come out of the hive into the light, just like Lily can come out of her “hive” into the light, but bees always have to go back to their hives after a while back into the dark. Shea T.
Frazer Warner Number 6
Lily says, “I overheard her talking to August one night on the back porch as I was coming across the yard to go to the bathroom in the pink house, their voices stopped me beside the hydrangea bush”(86). Lily didn’t mean to overhear them but she did and now knows that June does not like Lily and wants to get rid off her. Here we find out June is the one that doesn’t like Lily much. We hear her point of view. “We can’t keep a runaway girl here without letting somebody know.” (86) June doesn’t want to keep her because they know the trouble they could get in, them being black women and helping a white child. Lily hears August speaking to June about Lily and what they should do about the situation Lily. Know we hear June and August talking about Lily.
Chapter 6
Question 2 August reads the bible verses to them t give them hope, they are black and are extremely abused and upset at the white people. For example, when June says “But she’s white, August.” (87). You can just fell the anger she has towards white people. But these bible verses helped keep them from fighting back and they helped so that they knew that there was something to look forward to and to never give up. Shea T.
Question 3
I think that the queen bee is august because runs the house and also, they all listen to her. August also, took Lily and Rosallen into the house. She gives them a home/ somewhere to sleep. I don’t think there can be more than one queen because in a bee hive there is only one queen that runs everything. If there was more than one queen they would have to both decide things and it could lead to the hive falling apart.
Dan T.
5)
If I was Lily, I would be offended by June and would be mad about it. Due to her racist comments such as how she doesn’t want Lily at the house, as her earlier comments stated, “But she’s white,” (Kidd 87). Also, June shows her hatred towards Lily by “[Pinching her lips] tight along her teeth,” (Kidd 105). This happened while Lily was determining how much long she was going to stay, and by doing this June clearly was hoping that it was going to be soon. This action is very rude and if I were Lily, I would be angry about the discrimination. -Matt S.
4. Why does Lily cry?
4. Zach teaches Lily about a famous Tiburon resident, Willifred Marchant. Willifred has won Pulitzer Prizes for his books about trees in South Carolina. Tiburon celebrates Willifred one day each year. Lily accuses Zach of not believing that she will be successful as a writer, and she begins to cry. Zach pulls her close to him to comfort her. Lily realizes that she is actually crying for Zach, but Zach assumes she is crying because of his supposed lack of confidence in her writing ability. That is why Lily cries in chapter 7.
Trevor G
1.) The most asked question in South Carolina is, “ Where do you come from.” (Kidd 105.) It is asked because people want to know “if your cousins know our cousins, if your little sister went to school with our big brother, if you go to the same Baptist church as our ex-boss.” (Kidd 105.) The number one question asked in our school is probably, “Whats up,” this is the modern and new way just to say “hello, hi, how are you doing. It is asked just as a way to say hi and seem “Cool.”
Frazer W
Chapter 7
Question #3
Zach gets upset with Lily when Lily asks if he wants to be a professional player because he thinks that white people only think Negros can do sports. He wants to be a lawyer, but Lily said that she’s never seen a black lawyer. But Zach says something that is really true, “You gotta imagine what’s never been” (121). That is the only way you can move forward if you try something you haven’t seen done before.
Shea T.
6)
It has changed throughout the book through her mingling with the other race. At her school, “they made fun of colored people’s lips and noses. I made myself laugh at these jokes, hoping to fit in,” (Kidd 116). This passage shows that society is prejudice, or pre judging, the blacks. Lily is starting to realize that Blacks are just regular people like everybody else. They have feeling and they can live just as successfully as Whites. They have similar values such as family and religion. In the book, August holds the Daughters (and Son) of Mary meetings on Sunday instead of going to mass, which is what Lily would do. Lily is trying to find traces of her deceased mother, which shows her family values; while August and her sisters show the same values as Lily by sticking together.
-Matt S
5.) Love is a way you feel about someone else or something. It is a sign of passion. Many people are in love all over the world more then one time, and not all love work out. “I can tell you this much: the word is a great log thrown on the fires of love.” (Kidd 133.) This means that Lily is in the warm feeling of love, she likes Zach even though she thinks that Zach is “impossible.” Her love for Zach is one that other people on the world are feeling at the same time as her.
Frazer W
Chapter 8
7) People make sacrifices everyday for their beliefs, whether it is for religion, culture, or just for friends. Zach makes this decision by being quiet when the police and white men question him, he decided to stay there and be strong with his friends and show their unity. People in real-world situations might do this to stick by their friends, or to stick up for them when they’re in trouble. I’ve made many sacrifices to stick by friends. One specific time was that my friend popped his knee cap; I was there every step of the way to help him get back into baseball and basketball. I sacrificed time I could be out doing my own thing, so I can help him get back to himself. -Matt S.
Question #5
The Black Mary coming unglued is a metaphor for Lily’s life because Lily’s life fell apart too. It really started to fall apart when her mother died and the Black Mary completely falling off was like when she ran away. But I think that her life is slowly being put back together at the pink house. She is slowly becoming accepted, becoming family there. She never really had a real family, somebody to rely on when you need someone. And I think she has that with August now.
Shea T.
Frazer Warner
Chapter 8Question #4
When June couldn’t do what she wanted to do, she had to become what a house maid. She wanted to become more then just another black house maid. She wanted to achieve more in her life and not be the stereotypical black women in that time period. She was then treated badly by her employers so she then got a racist feeling to all white people because she could not do what she wanted to do in her life.
Chapter 9
Question 7
Someone might have to take the blame for something they are being blamed for but they didn’t do. Someone might have to do this to gain the respect of their friends or family. For example, on page 179 were it says “He would never open his mouth. He was trying to say to me, I’m sorry, but these are my friends.” This shows how Zach wouldn’t say who did it because he wanted to gain the respect of his friends and if he told who did it he would have lost their respect. The outcomes of this situation depend on the decision you made and how you went about it. I can relate to this because sometimes I have taken the blame for my brother because he didn’t know better and also, because it was the right thing to do.
Dan T.
8.) Lily has had a hard life, she has not know about her mother as much as she would like to and she has been not popular at school and bullied. She has found it hard to fit in and her father has been very hard on her. Lily says “I watched him, filled with tenderness and ache, wondering.” (Kidd 171.) Zach has also had a hard life but with different reasons, he is black and is treated badly, he is not able to fit in with most white people in the south and he and his other black people are tired and aching of being treated bad and being “second class citizens.”
Frazer W Chapter 10
1) August sensed that there was something wrong when May’s trip to the wall became a little extended. After 5 minutes, “August got up and started pacing,” (Kidd 189). She started getting antsy; she didn’t know how May was letting out her feelings. 20 minutes after May left, August needed to “go get her,” (Kidd 189). She knew that there was something wrong because May normally takes everything out of proportion. It was just a matter of how far she went. When they walked towards the river, all hope was gone for if she was going to be okay because they couldn’t find her anywhere. August sensed there was something wrong due to the fact of the extreme amount of time May was gone and the way she takes things out of proportion. -Matt S.
Question 2
The wailing wall has been mays outlet for sorrow. Why didnt it sustain her throughh zachs incarcerati? How might things have been different for may if she lived today instead of the 1960s.
It didn’t sustain her because her pains was to much and people didn’t understand how depression worked in those days. If she had been born in today she would still be alive because medical science technology is at a higher level. There are organization to help people with depression and there are suicide watches. There are also doctors that could help with your feelings.
Frazer Warner
Question #3
“This had been the thing they’d been waiting for half their lives without even realizing it” (194)
This quote means that it’s a blessing in disguise. Now they don’t have to worry about May having a panic attack. Now August and June can work on a lot of other things and concentrate more on their bees and their work. This quote is saying that is a good thing that May decided it was the end.
Shea T.
Question 4
When the author writes, “I knew it would be selfish to pour this into her cup when it was already to the brim with grief for May” (Kidd 201). Lily didn’t want to pour it into her cup because she knew it was a bad time for august to tell her the news. Because of what is taking place lily has to figure out how she is going to tell august how she found out about her mom. I feel when Kidd writes, “I knew it would be selfish to pour this into her cup when it was already to the brim with grief for May,” shows how lily was thinking of august and how much she has been through lately. Lastly, this shows how if lily told august she would be thinking about her self instead of thinking of august.
Dan T.
Chapter 11
Question 2
I think the quote in the beginning of the chapter shows how much work bees put into gathering nectar and how little they get from each trip. Also, I think it shows how hard they work and how they all contribute to making the hive run smoothly. I think it is relatable because it shows how in order to succeed you need to work hard in order to achieve your main goal.
Dan T.
4)
Routines help everybody go with the flow. Routines run your life, whether it be in the morning to go to school or work, or to practice sports. June’s routine helped her cope with May’s death by keeping her mind going and having her move on. When Kevin Gilbert died, a month and a day ago, routine kept me going like it did to June. It was hard for me and all the people around me, but with the routine it allowed me to get me up and moving again. With August, she shut down all honey operations so she can cope with May’s death because the bees reminded her of May. If the weather permitted her to be on bee patrol, I think she would’ve sent Lily to do the job instead of herself. Life is one big routine, and without the women’s routines, I don’t think they would be able to cope with their sister’s suicide.
-Matt S.
Question #5
Me and my brother share a bedroom and I don’t really mind because I don’t spend a lot of time there but my brother gets upset because I always wake him up when I’m getting ready for school in the morning. So he wants to move into a different room so he can sleep in. But I don’t think of it as being rejected, he has a good reason why he wants to be left alone. And everybody needs some time alone and I think that’s what happened to Lily.
Shea T.
2.). What do you think is the relevance of the quote at the beginning of this chapter?
May is dead and her family and friends are lost in a complicated sadness. They are sad with her death but life most go. To help with the pain people have to be there to help and comfort others and try and make everyone happier. “It takes honeybee workers ten million foraging tips to gather enough nectar to make one pound of honey.” (bees of the world 214.) This quote means that if they are all there together to help each other with the grief and sadness it will be easy to get full or back to normal or in the quote, it would be all of the honeybee’s helping to get the whole one pound of honey.
Frazer Warner
Chapter 12
2) I would reevaluate my last answer from chapter 5, I don’t think she should take it so offensive because it’s really retaliation towards Deborah. August states this to Lily, “And June, despite her ways, loves you, too. It just took her a while longer because she resented your mother so much,” (Kidd 242). This explains why June was so bitter towards Lily. I would say that June disliked Lily due to the relationship with Deborah.
-Matt S.
I think that lily has found the mother in herself. At first Lily does not like her mother because August tells her how her mother has really left her and she even repeated to herself “Left you, left you”. This means that her mother left her-Lily. But then she sees tha picture of her mom and her and realizes that her mom really did care about her. So Lily found the mother in her by realizing the love that her mother loved her but in a unorthodox style. I know because she goes from hating her to loving her. Trevor G
1.)
Lily and Deborah are a like because there both dislike T-Ray, he is mean to both of them and makes them both sad and unhappy. Also they both run away to a “better and happy” place to get rid of T-Ray and for them to enjoy life more. As Lily was punished by T-Ray she ran away, so did Deborah because of T-Ray. Deborah also ran away to think about her life and relax, she wasn’t used to being a mother and needed some time. Lily and Deborah are different because they both ran away for their own separate reasons but the reasons are similar and related. Deborah ran away due to the stress of being married to an abusive husband and had to live with a new baby child that she is not use to taking after. Lily on the other had ran away because her father was just mean to her and she accused him off “not loving her.” My mother used to stay home all time and then she got a full time job so now she has to go to work all the time so this shaped me up because I now have to be independent and responsible. I would make the same choice when my kids are at an older enough age when they know what the difference between right and wrong is so they can become independent and strong.
Frazer w
Chapter 13
1)
Lily is a perfect example of a worker bee. Although she carries metaphorical weight from the death of her mother, it is the pressure that makes her collapse with emotion. At one point, Lily “looked toward the window, wanting to smash the panes out of it. I wanted to throw something all the way to heaven and knock God clean off his throne. I picked up the honey jars and hurled it as hard as I could,” (Kidd 259). This is showing how Lily is harboring anger about the situation with her mother.
-Matt S.
Question #3
I think the events in this chapter help Lily understand her mother a little more, and she moves toward peace with he mother. She understands why her mother tried to leave, she understands what she was going through. In chapter 11, Lily was really angry at her mother because she found out that she was left by her mother. But I think she has calmed down and had time to think about, and she understands now. And she feels a lot better now and knows that she loves her mother and that her mother loved her.
Shea T.
Question 2
I disagree; you can talk yourself out of anger. It does depend on what is making you angry and what level of anger you are at. If you are really upset and all you can think about is the thing that is making you angry then you can not be talked out. In lily’s case she was really angry and she had found out the answer for something she had been looking for in many years. She had to take her anger out and after the anger was taking out she felt a lot better. She was relieved. Smashing someone else’s honey is not good because it is not her property and she doesn’t own it. As It was the nearest thing to Lily it was used.
Frazer W
Chapter 14
3)
In the beginning of the book, Rosaleen knows her role as a servant. She doesn’t know her rights as a citizen. Throughout the book she realizes how she is becoming an American citizen and if she is a citizen, then she needs to be able to vote. So she gains the courage, from August and June, to go out and register. This foreshadows that later that summer Blacks will become nearly or completely equal to Whites.
-Matt S.
7)
T Ray got mad because Deborah left him. He got mad because she left him because he loved her and didn't want her to leave him. I feel that anyone in his position would be mad if there husband or wife. I also, feel it was wrong to blame lily because he mad mistakes and he shouldn't take his anger out on her because it is unfair to lily.
Dan T.
Question 11
Lily was the one that shot Deborah, but it was by an accident. She was only a baby girl and she was very young. Deborah and T-Ray were having an argument and was on the ground near her parents, “When I saw the gun in her hand, I ran toward her, clumsy and falling, wanting to save her, to save us all. Time folded in on itself then. What is left lies in clear yet dis-jointed pieces in my head pieces in my head. The gun shining like a toy in her hand, how he snatched it away and waved it around. The gun on the floor. Bending to pick it up. The noise that exploded around us This is what I know about myself. She is all I wanted. And I took it away.” Lily probably didn’t know what the gun was and just picked it up because it was in her reach and then she accidently pointed it up and her mother was standing there and then she was shot and killed.
Frazer Warner
Final Analysis
The book contained many cultural aspects from the 1950s and 1960s. Throughout the book, culture affected every decision. Such as when Rosaleen went “alongside the men, [she] lifted her snuff jug, which was filled with black spit, and calmly poured it across the men’s shoes,” (Kidd 32), after trying to register to vote. This followed the event of the dealers insulting her by asking a rhetorical question, “Did you ever see one that black?” (Kidd 32); Also, the 2nd man answer with, “No, and I ain’t seen one that big either,” (Kidd 32). This shows the racist nature of the South during the 1950s and 1960s. In this time period, the South was still pro-slavery and had “white power” groups such as the KKK. They didn’t believe Blacks should have the same rights as Whites. Earlier in the book, “President Johnson faded in and out, lost in the blizzard… [Lily] had to get the news from the TV man. ‘Today, July 2nd, 1964…the president of the United States signed the Civil Rights Act into law,’” (Kidd 20). This important event enabled blacks to do what they believed in and to do what the want. -Matt S.
At the beginning of The Secret Life Of Bees Lily is a lost person. She is sad, lonely and she feels like something is missing in her life. One of the missing things is her mother. Her mother is not there to take care of her and her appearance and stand up for her, her father is not up to date and is a hard man, lily needs a woman’s touch, “I watched my reflection in the mirror, but in store windows and across the television when it wasn’t on, trying to get a fix on my looks. My hair was black like my mothers but basically a nest of cowlicks, and it worried me that I didn’t have much of a chin. I kept thinking I’d grow one the same time my breast came in, but it didn’t work out that way. I had nice eyes, but still, even the boys who wore their hair in ducktails dripping with Vitalis and carried combs in their shirt pockets didn’t seem attracted to me, and they were considered hard up.” (Kidd 8). Her character changes more in the middle of the book because she has found out about her leaving her and how she was the one that killed her, she was so upset and she blamed her mother’s death all on her mother leaving her,
“ How dare she? How dare she leave me? I was her child. I looked toward the window, wanting to smash the panes out of it. I wanted to throw something all the way to heaven and knock god clean off his throne. I picked up one of the honey jars and hurled it as hard as I could. It missed the black Mary’s head by inches and smashed it against the back wall. I picked up another one and threw it too. It crashed on the floor beside a stack of supers. I threw everywhere, flung cake batter from electric beaters. I stood in a gooey room full of broken glass, and I didn’t care. My mother had left me. Who cared about honey on the walls.” (Kidd 288)
August helps Lily with her pain and tells her that even if your mother runs away you still have to help yourself and you have to fill the empty part of your life with new happy memories. “You have to find a mother inside yourself. We all do. Even if we already have a mother , we still have to find this part of ourselves inside.” (Kidd 288
Lily finally understands what August is talking “I closed my eyes, and in the coolness of morning, there among the bees, I felt for one clear instant what she was talking about.” (Pg 280 Lily)
Frazer W
Relationships
Lily and June
The relationship between Lily and June is not a good relationship due to the fact that June doesn’t want Lily around because she is white and also, because June doesn’t trust Lily. June lets lily know that she doesn’t want her there when she says, “But she’s white, August.” (Kidd 87) This shows how June is a racist and doesn’t want lily there just because she is white. On page 86 when it says, “You know she’s lying,” said June. This quote shows how June doesn’t trust Lily, which would cause June not to want Lily around. Also, the owner shows that June doesn’t want lily around and wants nothing to do with her when she states, “I don’t see that we owe her anything.” (Kidd 87). This was said while August and June where talking about Lily and Rosaleen. This shows how June wanted nothing to do with lily and only wanted her to leave. This shows how the relationship between Lily and June is tense and they don’t really want anything to do with each other.
Dan T.
Relationships Lily and Zach
The relationship between Lily and Zach started off friendly but they began to like each other. Zach said “Lily, I like you better than any girl I’ve ever known, but you have to understand, there are people who would kill boys like me for even looking at girls like you.” (171) Even though they knew people wouldn’t like them together because Lily is white and Zach is black. It was almost something like love at first sight though, right after meeting Zach she says, “He smiled then, and I saw he had a one-sided dimple. It’s a feature that has always gotten to me” (116). And then towards the end of the book, after they both know that they like each other, Zach tells Lily something they both probably knew, “We cant be together now, Lily, but one day, after I’ve gone away and become somebody, I’m gonna find you, and we’ll be together than” (231). He says this from the bottom of his heart and he gives Lily his dog chain so she never forgets him. And that’s how the relationship stays until the day Zach comes and finds her again.
Shea T.
Themes:
In The Secret of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, one of the themes that are represented throughout the novel is motherhood. The definition of motherhood is the state of being a mother. This is tough because Lily’s mother Deborah was killed when she was a little girl. However when she is reminded of her mother whether it was one of belongings or someone mentions her she feels the state of motherhood with her even though her mother is long gone. On page 3 Lily says, “That night to be mother in I lay in bed and thought about dying and going to paradise. I would be her saying, “Mother Forgive. Please Forgive and she would kiss my skin till it grew chapped and tell me I was not to blame. She would tell me this for the first ten thousand years.” In this quote Lily portrays that her one paradise would be to quit the miserable life she has now and die so that she can be which her mother who she so deeply misses. On page 39 T. Ray says to Lily, “You listen to me, he said, his voice deadly calm. “The truth is, your sorry mother ran off and left you….” T. Ray is saying that the loving mother of Lily did not only leave her nasty husband, but her little 4 year old daughter. Then Lily goes on to say on page 40, I could understand her leaving him, but leaving me? This would sink me forever. Lily here is saying that it is a huge mystery to her and it would stay in her mind and keep haunting her.
1). You can see that lily shows signs of queenlessness, on page 8 it states " I wore clothes I made for myself". This shows that she was missing someone, a mother figure, that helped or even made her clothes. The closest thing she had to a mother figure was Rosaleen who worked for her dad. "Rosaleen knew less about fashion then T. Ray did," This shows that the mother figure she had knew less then her dad who didn't know much about fashion (Kidd 9). Also, lily's hair was messy because she ddin't have a mother to help her straighten it and make it look nice. This is how lily showed signes of queenlessness and how her fashion suffered because of it.
Dan T
2.) What can we determine about the "rules" for black and white people, during this time period, during this chapter?
During this time period it was very racist especially in the south who were still angry at losing slavery and thought that was all the black people deserved. Their was a strong rivalry between black and white people during this time period. The whites believed that the blacks were second class citizens and didn't deserve to walk on the same side of the street as them and the black people only wanted freedom and equal rights. Even though black people were about to have a breakthrough by having even rights their was still a lot of racism. In this chapter on page 9, Lily was so unpopular, when she had her chance to fit in " at the Women's Club last spring, Friday afternoons for six weeks; but i got barred because i didn't have a mother, grandmother, or even a measly aunt to present me with a white rose at the closing ceremony. Rosaleen doing it was against the rules." Even though Rosaleen has been taking care of Lily and her father for most of Lily's life and is a nanny/mother figure Rosaleen isn't allowed to do it because she is black.
Frazer W
Trevor G
3. Today in modern society there are displays of Jim Crow Laws that don’t relate to race. For example today states are not passing gay-marriage laws. This is due to the fact that the church does not believe in this; in fact they strongly oppose this. Another example is how some woman try to apply for jobs that normally a man would do. For example when [[Culture Group#|the armed forces]] are looking at two recruits and one is a man the other a woman they are most likely to pick the man because they think that he could be a lot faster and stronger than a woman. Rosaleen decided to stand up today because civil rights had just passed and she had-had enough of segregation towards her so she responded I think she did not want to be a compliant person because if she opposed a white man she would several punished. I do think she changed because he was almost like she was a hungry dog on leash that had a plate of meat in front of it and someone finally let him go and she was so called “uplifted” from her curse of segregation.
4)
In The Secret Life of Bees, there is discrimination throughout the first chapter. Towards the end of it, Rosaleen was put “under arrest [for] assult, theft, and disturbing the peace,” (Kidd 33). Before this happened, Rosaleen was harassed by the dealers because of her race. She was called a “nigger” and “negro” multiple times. Then she spit on the [[Culture Group#|dealer]] and she was arrested under false charges.
In today’s world, Jim Crow type laws are followed by many people. Such as discrimination towards sexuality, or the way somebody looks. These are only a couple real-world discriminations. In high school, people tend to hide their sexuality because they know that they will get abused if it’s not the “norm.” Also, if somebody doesn’t look right, or wears the nicest clothes, they are made fun of as well.
-Matt S
question #5
On page 12, when Rosaleen stands up to T. Ray about the chick Lily said “his boots whispered uncle all the way down the hall.” She means that he gave up. When you are fighting with someone and you want to give up you yell uncle! It means you forfeit. And Rosaleen stood up for Lily, which was the first time she felt loved. The first time T. Ray lost. I think this is foreshadowing something very big that will happen later in the book I believe. Something when T. Ray, or someone else, is overpowered and forced to give up.
Shea T.
Chapter 2:
Question # 4
On page 39 when it says “The truth is, your sorry mother ran off and left you,” is a big part in why lily left. Her dad told her that her mom left her when really her mom came back for her. This made lily mad because she thought that her mom wanted nothing to do with her when she was going to leave with her.
Dan T.
Question #5
I think that Lily is angry with Rosaleen because Rosaleen didn’t say sorry to the three white men for spitting on their shoes. If she had apologized, she wouldn’t have gotten beat up and she wouldn’t have had to go to the hospital. Another time, Lily was mad at Rosaleen because Rosaleen got angry and left her. In Rosaleens defense she had a good reason to be angry, Lily hadn’t really thought of Rosaleen when she decided to run away with her. Rosaleen figured they were completely lost and didn’t have a home and they would probably be better off staying with T. Ray. But almost like a mother and a daughter,they make up in the end and it brings them closer together.
Shea T.
Question #3
3. We don’t know for sure the reasons around Deborah leaving T.Ray or the cause of her death. Do you think that Lily is ready to handle the truth, whatever it might be? How has wishful thinking helped Lily to survive?
I think that T.Ray is just lying to her because T.Ray basically is just trying to make Lily’s life a living hell. So he lies to Lily and said that her mom was going to leave her and that she just came back for her luggage. So I do think that Lily is ready for the truth because both Lily’s mom and her both did not want to stand with the nastiness of T. Ray anymore. Wishful thinking helped her get through the thoughts in her heads that T. Ray had placed in her mind.
Trevor G
Question 1
There is a degree of racism, but its not a big degree, you can be racist or not racist or only racist so you can fit in and be “respected” by white people in the south. Lily’s dad, T-Ray is in my point of view only racist to fit in. He allowed Rosaleen to work inside his house and take care of his daughter and also allow her to have some lip back to him. “She dumped snuff juice on three white men! What the hell was she thinking?” (Kidd 37.)
T-Ray says this in private to Lily, in public he would have called her a nigger to so he would not look soft towards black people, he has to keep up appearance. When he says “what the hell was she thinking,” he is showing concern for her, asking why she would do this.
Frazer W
Chapter 3/4:
Chapter 3:
Question #2
Egocentric means you think that it’s all about yourself. When Lily thanked god for the, “poor news reporting,” Lily was being sarcastic because she wanted the attention of the people worrying about her and Rosaleen.
Dan T.
Question 3
Rosaleen had this odd dream because she wanted to be noticed for what she did. Because she stood up for herself with the three other men. She wanted to be recognized by Martin Luther King and she thought that what she did is a major step in the Civil rights Movement. And the red spit is the blood, the pain that all of the African-Americans are going through at this time.
Shea T.
Chapter 3: #4)
In my eyes, when Lily was looking for a sign, it was a childish behavior. We were told, “I’ll take nine steps and look up. Whatever my eyes light on, that’s my sign,” (Kidd 60). This shows that she was despirate for an answer or even just a direction to go in. She is starting to have childish decisions because she has no idea what to do next. She doesn’t have a plan anymore, and she is scared. She just wants a sign to help her continue to learn more about her Mother.
-Matt S
Chap 3/4
Lily describes her church’s attitude toward Catholics. What does this tell you about Lily?
Lily describes herself as a very strong catholic. She carries around a wooden picture of the Virgin Mary. However though she also has the plastic gloves which show the steps from pinkie to thumb.
Trevor G
5.) I would find this is a sign because her mother had owned a black Madonna honey jar/plague and Lily had kept it as one of her mothers few possessions. And when she sees the picture she automatically connects it with the picture her mother has and also on the back of the jar it says the name of the town Lily picked for her and Rosaleen to run away to,” Tiburon.”
Frazer W
Chapter 5
1)
The revelation that June told August, Lily overheard it. June saying, “But she’s white,” (Kidd 87), she clearly showed that she is racist towards whites. Lily starts to comprehend that “June might not want me here because of my skin color. I hadn’t known this was possible-to reject people for being white,” (Kidd 87). This show the irony of the situation, the revelation of the other side of the story, the other side that whites couldn’t see, discrimination. And now this is showing the opposite of what the time period allotted, Blacks discriminating against Whites.
-Matt S
Trevor G
Question 3
June lets lily know that she doesn’t want her there when she says, “But she’s white, August.” (Kidd 87) This shows how June is a racist and doesn’t want lily there just because she is white. On page 86 when it says, “You know she’s lying,” said June. This quote shows how June doesn’t trust Lily, which would cause June not to want Lily around.
Dan T.
5. What does Lily mean when she says, “Since Mr. Johnson signed that law, it was like somebody had ripped the seams right out of American life.”
5. Lily means that with the civil rights movement society, goes from being whites are superior and blacks lower in society to everyone being equal. This is in a way traumatizing for the American people of blacks and whites because never in the history of the United States had everyone been equal so no one really knows what is going to happen to this great nation.
Question 4:
In the beginning of this chapter the quote says bees have to live in the darkness. Lily has to live in the darkness because she is guilty. She has to live in the shadow of her killing her mother. She can’t really come out of that, she has to live with it for the rest of her life, even if it was an accident. She can’t undo what happened. Lily is living in the darkness like bees live in the darkness. Of course, bees can come out of the hive into the light, just like Lily can come out of her “hive” into the light, but bees always have to go back to their hives after a while back into the dark.
Shea T.
Frazer Warner
Number 6
Lily says, “I overheard her talking to August one night on the back porch as I was coming across the yard to go to the bathroom in the pink house, their voices stopped me beside the hydrangea bush”(86). Lily didn’t mean to overhear them but she did and now knows that June does not like Lily and wants to get rid off her. Here we find out June is the one that doesn’t like Lily much. We hear her point of view. “We can’t keep a runaway girl here without letting somebody know.” (86) June doesn’t want to keep her because they know the trouble they could get in, them being black women and helping a white child.
Lily hears August speaking to June about Lily and what they should do about the situation Lily. Know we hear June and August talking about Lily.
Chapter 6
Question 2
August reads the bible verses to them t give them hope, they are black and are extremely abused and upset at the white people. For example, when June says “But she’s white, August.” (87). You can just fell the anger she has towards white people. But these bible verses helped keep them from fighting back and they helped so that they knew that there was something to look forward to and to never give up.
Shea T.
Question 3
I think that the queen bee is august because runs the house and also, they all listen to her. August also, took Lily and Rosallen into the house. She gives them a home/ somewhere to sleep. I don’t think there can be more than one queen because in a bee hive there is only one queen that runs everything. If there was more than one queen they would have to both decide things and it could lead to the hive falling apart.
Dan T.
5)If I was Lily, I would be offended by June and would be mad about it. Due to her racist comments such as how she doesn’t want Lily at the house, as her earlier comments stated, “But she’s white,” (Kidd 87). Also, June shows her hatred towards Lily by “[Pinching her lips] tight along her teeth,” (Kidd 105). This happened while Lily was determining how much long she was going to stay, and by doing this June clearly was hoping that it was going to be soon. This action is very rude and if I were Lily, I would be angry about the discrimination.
-Matt S.
4. Why does Lily cry?
4. Zach teaches Lily about a famous Tiburon resident, Willifred Marchant. Willifred has won Pulitzer Prizes for his books about trees in South Carolina. Tiburon celebrates Willifred one day each year. Lily accuses Zach of not believing that she will be successful as a writer, and she begins to cry. Zach pulls her close to him to comfort her. Lily realizes that she is actually crying for Zach, but Zach assumes she is crying because of his supposed lack of confidence in her writing ability. That is why Lily cries in chapter 7.
Trevor G
1.) The most asked question in South Carolina is, “ Where do you come from.” (Kidd 105.) It is asked because people want to know “if your cousins know our cousins, if your little sister went to school with our big brother, if you go to the same Baptist church as our ex-boss.” (Kidd 105.) The number one question asked in our school is probably, “Whats up,” this is the modern and new way just to say “hello, hi, how are you doing. It is asked just as a way to say hi and seem “Cool.”
Frazer W
Chapter 7
Question #3
Zach gets upset with Lily when Lily asks if he wants to be a professional player because he thinks that white people only think Negros can do sports. He wants to be a lawyer, but Lily said that she’s never seen a black lawyer. But Zach says something that is really true, “You gotta imagine what’s never been” (121). That is the only way you can move forward if you try something you haven’t seen done before.
Shea T.
6)
It has changed throughout the book through her mingling with the other race. At her school, “they made fun of colored people’s lips and noses. I made myself laugh at these jokes, hoping to fit in,” (Kidd 116). This passage shows that society is prejudice, or pre judging, the blacks. Lily is starting to realize that Blacks are just regular people like everybody else. They have feeling and they can live just as successfully as Whites. They have similar values such as family and religion. In the book, August holds the Daughters (and Son) of Mary meetings on Sunday instead of going to mass, which is what Lily would do. Lily is trying to find traces of her deceased mother, which shows her family values; while August and her sisters show the same values as Lily by sticking together.
-Matt S
5.) Love is a way you feel about someone else or something. It is a sign of passion. Many people are in love all over the world more then one time, and not all love work out. “I can tell you this much: the word is a great log thrown on the fires of love.” (Kidd 133.) This means that Lily is in the warm feeling of love, she likes Zach even though she thinks that Zach is “impossible.” Her love for Zach is one that other people on the world are feeling at the same time as her.
Frazer W
Chapter 8
7)
People make sacrifices everyday for their beliefs, whether it is for religion, culture, or just for friends. Zach makes this decision by being quiet when the police and white men question him, he decided to stay there and be strong with his friends and show their unity. People in real-world situations might do this to stick by their friends, or to stick up for them when they’re in trouble. I’ve made many sacrifices to stick by friends. One specific time was that my friend popped his knee cap; I was there every step of the way to help him get back into baseball and basketball. I sacrificed time I could be out doing my own thing, so I can help him get back to himself.
-Matt S.
Question #5
The Black Mary coming unglued is a metaphor for Lily’s life because Lily’s life fell apart too. It really started to fall apart when her mother died and the Black Mary completely falling off was like when she ran away. But I think that her life is slowly being put back together at the pink house. She is slowly becoming accepted, becoming family there. She never really had a real family, somebody to rely on when you need someone. And I think she has that with August now.
Shea T.
Frazer Warner
Chapter 8Question #4
When June couldn’t do what she wanted to do, she had to become what a house maid. She wanted to become more then just another black house maid. She wanted to achieve more in her life and not be the stereotypical black women in that time period. She was then treated badly by her employers so she then got a racist feeling to all white people because she could not do what she wanted to do in her life.
Chapter 9
Question 7
Someone might have to take the blame for something they are being blamed for but they didn’t do. Someone might have to do this to gain the respect of their friends or family. For example, on page 179 were it says “He would never open his mouth. He was trying to say to me, I’m sorry, but these are my friends.” This shows how Zach wouldn’t say who did it because he wanted to gain the respect of his friends and if he told who did it he would have lost their respect. The outcomes of this situation depend on the decision you made and how you went about it. I can relate to this because sometimes I have taken the blame for my brother because he didn’t know better and also, because it was the right thing to do.
Dan T.
8.) Lily has had a hard life, she has not know about her mother as much as she would like to and she has been not popular at school and bullied. She has found it hard to fit in and her father has been very hard on her. Lily says “I watched him, filled with tenderness and ache, wondering.” (Kidd 171.) Zach has also had a hard life but with different reasons, he is black and is treated badly, he is not able to fit in with most white people in the south and he and his other black people are tired and aching of being treated bad and being “second class citizens.”
Frazer W
Chapter 10
1)
August sensed that there was something wrong when May’s trip to the wall became a little extended. After 5 minutes, “August got up and started pacing,” (Kidd 189). She started getting antsy; she didn’t know how May was letting out her feelings. 20 minutes after May left, August needed to “go get her,” (Kidd 189). She knew that there was something wrong because May normally takes everything out of proportion. It was just a matter of how far she went. When they walked towards the river, all hope was gone for if she was going to be okay because they couldn’t find her anywhere. August sensed there was something wrong due to the fact of the extreme amount of time May was gone and the way she takes things out of proportion.
-Matt S.
Question 2
The wailing wall has been mays outlet for sorrow. Why didnt it sustain her throughh zachs incarcerati? How might things have been different for may if she lived today instead of the 1960s.
It didn’t sustain her because her pains was to much and people didn’t understand how depression worked in those days. If she had been born in today she would still be alive because medical science technology is at a higher level. There are organization to help people with depression and there are suicide watches. There are also doctors that could help with your feelings.
Frazer Warner
Question #3
“This had been the thing they’d been waiting for half their lives without even realizing it” (194)
This quote means that it’s a blessing in disguise. Now they don’t have to worry about May having a panic attack. Now August and June can work on a lot of other things and concentrate more on their bees and their work. This quote is saying that is a good thing that May decided it was the end.
Shea T.
Question 4
When the author writes, “I knew it would be selfish to pour this into her cup when it was already to the brim with grief for May” (Kidd 201). Lily didn’t want to pour it into her cup because she knew it was a bad time for august to tell her the news. Because of what is taking place lily has to figure out how she is going to tell august how she found out about her mom. I feel when Kidd writes, “I knew it would be selfish to pour this into her cup when it was already to the brim with grief for May,” shows how lily was thinking of august and how much she has been through lately. Lastly, this shows how if lily told august she would be thinking about her self instead of thinking of august.
Dan T.
Chapter 11
Question 2
I think the quote in the beginning of the chapter shows how much work bees put into gathering nectar and how little they get from each trip. Also, I think it shows how hard they work and how they all contribute to making the hive run smoothly. I think it is relatable because it shows how in order to succeed you need to work hard in order to achieve your main goal.
Dan T.
4)
Routines help everybody go with the flow. Routines run your life, whether it be in the morning to go to school or work, or to practice sports. June’s routine helped her cope with May’s death by keeping her mind going and having her move on. When Kevin Gilbert died, a month and a day ago, routine kept me going like it did to June. It was hard for me and all the people around me, but with the routine it allowed me to get me up and moving again. With August, she shut down all honey operations so she can cope with May’s death because the bees reminded her of May. If the weather permitted her to be on bee patrol, I think she would’ve sent Lily to do the job instead of herself. Life is one big routine, and without the women’s routines, I don’t think they would be able to cope with their sister’s suicide.
-Matt S.
Question #5
Me and my brother share a bedroom and I don’t really mind because I don’t spend a lot of time there but my brother gets upset because I always wake him up when I’m getting ready for school in the morning. So he wants to move into a different room so he can sleep in. But I don’t think of it as being rejected, he has a good reason why he wants to be left alone. And everybody needs some time alone and I think that’s what happened to Lily.
Shea T.
2.). What do you think is the relevance of the quote at the beginning of this chapter?
May is dead and her family and friends are lost in a complicated sadness. They are sad with her death but life most go. To help with the pain people have to be there to help and comfort others and try and make everyone happier. “It takes honeybee workers ten million foraging tips to gather enough nectar to make one pound of honey.” (bees of the world 214.) This quote means that if they are all there together to help each other with the grief and sadness it will be easy to get full or back to normal or in the quote, it would be all of the honeybee’s helping to get the whole one pound of honey.
Frazer Warner
Chapter 12
2)
I would reevaluate my last answer from chapter 5, I don’t think she should take it so offensive because it’s really retaliation towards Deborah. August states this to Lily, “And June, despite her ways, loves you, too. It just took her a while longer because she resented your mother so much,” (Kidd 242). This explains why June was so bitter towards Lily. I would say that June disliked Lily due to the relationship with Deborah.
-Matt S.
I think that lily has found the mother in herself. At first Lily does not like her mother because August tells her how her mother has really left her and she even repeated to herself “Left you, left you”. This means that her mother left her-Lily. But then she sees tha picture of her mom and her and realizes that her mom really did care about her. So Lily found the mother in her by realizing the love that her mother loved her but in a unorthodox style. I know because she goes from hating her to loving her.
Trevor G
1.)
Lily and Deborah are a like because there both dislike T-Ray, he is mean to both of them and makes them both sad and unhappy. Also they both run away to a “better and happy” place to get rid of T-Ray and for them to enjoy life more. As Lily was punished by T-Ray she ran away, so did Deborah because of T-Ray. Deborah also ran away to think about her life and relax, she wasn’t used to being a mother and needed some time. Lily and Deborah are different because they both ran away for their own separate reasons but the reasons are similar and related. Deborah ran away due to the stress of being married to an abusive husband and had to live with a new baby child that she is not use to taking after. Lily on the other had ran away because her father was just mean to her and she accused him off “not loving her.” My mother used to stay home all time and then she got a full time job so now she has to go to work all the time so this shaped me up because I now have to be independent and responsible. I would make the same choice when my kids are at an older enough age when they know what the difference between right and wrong is so they can become independent and strong.
Frazer w
Chapter 13
1)
Lily is a perfect example of a worker bee. Although she carries metaphorical weight from the death of her mother, it is the pressure that makes her collapse with emotion. At one point, Lily “looked toward the window, wanting to smash the panes out of it. I wanted to throw something all the way to heaven and knock God clean off his throne. I picked up the honey jars and hurled it as hard as I could,” (Kidd 259). This is showing how Lily is harboring anger about the situation with her mother.
-Matt S.
Question #3
I think the events in this chapter help Lily understand her mother a little more, and she moves toward peace with he mother. She understands why her mother tried to leave, she understands what she was going through. In chapter 11, Lily was really angry at her mother because she found out that she was left by her mother. But I think she has calmed down and had time to think about, and she understands now. And she feels a lot better now and knows that she loves her mother and that her mother loved her.
Shea T.
Question 2
I disagree; you can talk yourself out of anger. It does depend on what is making you angry and what level of anger you are at. If you are really upset and all you can think about is the thing that is making you angry then you can not be talked out. In lily’s case she was really angry and she had found out the answer for something she had been looking for in many years. She had to take her anger out and after the anger was taking out she felt a lot better. She was relieved. Smashing someone else’s honey is not good because it is not her property and she doesn’t own it. As It was the nearest thing to Lily it was used.
Frazer W
Chapter 14
3)
In the beginning of the book, Rosaleen knows her role as a servant. She doesn’t know her rights as a citizen. Throughout the book she realizes how she is becoming an American citizen and if she is a citizen, then she needs to be able to vote. So she gains the courage, from August and June, to go out and register. This foreshadows that later that summer Blacks will become nearly or completely equal to Whites.
-Matt S.
7)
T Ray got mad because Deborah left him. He got mad because she left him because he loved her and didn't want her to leave him. I feel that anyone in his position would be mad if there husband or wife. I also, feel it was wrong to blame lily because he mad mistakes and he shouldn't take his anger out on her because it is unfair to lily.
Dan T.
Question 11
Lily was the one that shot Deborah, but it was by an accident. She was only a baby girl and she was very young. Deborah and T-Ray were having an argument and was on the ground near her parents, “When I saw the gun in her hand, I ran toward her, clumsy and falling, wanting to save her, to save us all. Time folded in on itself then. What is left lies in clear yet dis-jointed pieces in my head pieces in my head. The gun shining like a toy in her hand, how he snatched it away and waved it around. The gun on the floor. Bending to pick it up. The noise that exploded around us This is what I know about myself. She is all I wanted. And I took it away.” Lily probably didn’t know what the gun was and just picked it up because it was in her reach and then she accidently pointed it up and her mother was standing there and then she was shot and killed.
Frazer Warner
Final Analysis
The book contained many cultural aspects from the 1950s and 1960s. Throughout the book, culture affected every decision. Such as when Rosaleen went “alongside the men, [she] lifted her snuff jug, which was filled with black spit, and calmly poured it across the men’s shoes,” (Kidd 32), after trying to register to vote. This followed the event of the dealers insulting her by asking a rhetorical question, “Did you ever see one that black?” (Kidd 32); Also, the 2nd man answer with, “No, and I ain’t seen one that big either,” (Kidd 32). This shows the racist nature of the South during the 1950s and 1960s. In this time period, the South was still pro-slavery and had “white power” groups such as the KKK. They didn’t believe Blacks should have the same rights as Whites. Earlier in the book, “President Johnson faded in and out, lost in the blizzard… [Lily] had to get the news from the TV man. ‘Today, July 2nd, 1964…the president of the United States signed the Civil Rights Act into law,’” (Kidd 20). This important event enabled blacks to do what they believed in and to do what the want.
-Matt S.
At the beginning of The Secret Life Of Bees Lily is a lost person. She is sad, lonely and she feels like something is missing in her life. One of the missing things is her mother. Her mother is not there to take care of her and her appearance and stand up for her, her father is not up to date and is a hard man, lily needs a woman’s touch,
“I watched my reflection in the mirror, but in store windows and across the television when it wasn’t on, trying to get a fix on my looks. My hair was black like my mothers but basically a nest of cowlicks, and it worried me that I didn’t have much of a chin. I kept thinking I’d grow one the same time my breast came in, but it didn’t work out that way. I had nice eyes, but still, even the boys who wore their hair in ducktails dripping with Vitalis and carried combs in their shirt pockets didn’t seem attracted to me, and they were considered hard up.” (Kidd 8).
Her character changes more in the middle of the book because she has found out about her leaving her and how she was the one that killed her, she was so upset and she blamed her mother’s death all on her mother leaving her,
“ How dare she? How dare she leave me? I was her child. I looked toward the window, wanting to smash the panes out of it. I wanted to throw something all the way to heaven and knock god clean off his throne. I picked up one of the honey jars and hurled it as hard as I could. It missed the black Mary’s head by inches and smashed it against the back wall. I picked up another one and threw it too. It crashed on the floor beside a stack of supers. I threw everywhere, flung cake batter from electric beaters. I stood in a gooey room full of broken glass, and I didn’t care. My mother had left me. Who cared about honey on the walls.” (Kidd 288)
August helps Lily with her pain and tells her that even if your mother runs away you still have to help yourself and you have to fill the empty part of your life with new happy memories. “You have to find a mother inside yourself. We all do. Even if we already have a mother , we still have to find this part of ourselves inside.” (Kidd 288
Lily finally understands what August is talking “I closed my eyes, and in the coolness of morning, there among the bees, I felt for one clear instant what she was talking about.” (Pg 280 Lily)
Frazer W
Relationships
Lily and June
The relationship between Lily and June is not a good relationship due to the fact that June doesn’t want Lily around because she is white and also, because June doesn’t trust Lily. June lets lily know that she doesn’t want her there when she says, “But she’s white, August.” (Kidd 87) This shows how June is a racist and doesn’t want lily there just because she is white. On page 86 when it says, “You know she’s lying,” said June. This quote shows how June doesn’t trust Lily, which would cause June not to want Lily around. Also, the owner shows that June doesn’t want lily around and wants nothing to do with her when she states, “I don’t see that we owe her anything.” (Kidd 87). This was said while August and June where talking about Lily and Rosaleen. This shows how June wanted nothing to do with lily and only wanted her to leave. This shows how the relationship between Lily and June is tense and they don’t really want anything to do with each other.
Dan T.
Relationships
Lily and Zach
The relationship between Lily and Zach started off friendly but they began to like each other. Zach said “Lily, I like you better than any girl I’ve ever known, but you have to understand, there are people who would kill boys like me for even looking at girls like you.” (171) Even though they knew people wouldn’t like them together because Lily is white and Zach is black. It was almost something like love at first sight though, right after meeting Zach she says, “He smiled then, and I saw he had a one-sided dimple. It’s a feature that has always gotten to me” (116). And then towards the end of the book, after they both know that they like each other, Zach tells Lily something they both probably knew, “We cant be together now, Lily, but one day, after I’ve gone away and become somebody, I’m gonna find you, and we’ll be together than” (231). He says this from the bottom of his heart and he gives Lily his dog chain so she never forgets him. And that’s how the relationship stays until the day Zach comes and finds her again.
Shea T.
Themes:
In The Secret of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, one of the themes that are represented throughout the novel is motherhood. The definition of motherhood is the state of being a mother. This is tough because Lily’s mother Deborah was killed when she was a little girl. However when she is reminded of her mother whether it was one of belongings or someone mentions her she feels the state of motherhood with her even though her mother is long gone. On page 3 Lily says, “That night to be mother in I lay in bed and thought about dying and going to paradise. I would be her saying, “Mother Forgive. Please Forgive and she would kiss my skin till it grew chapped and tell me I was not to blame. She would tell me this for the first ten thousand years.” In this quote Lily portrays that her one paradise would be to quit the miserable life she has now and die so that she can be which her mother who she so deeply misses. On page 39 T. Ray says to Lily, “You listen to me, he said, his voice deadly calm. “The truth is, your sorry mother ran off and left you….” T. Ray is saying that the loving mother of Lily did not only leave her nasty husband, but her little 4 year old daughter. Then Lily goes on to say on page 40, I could understand her leaving him, but leaving me? This would sink me forever. Lily here is saying that it is a huge mystery to her and it would stay in her mind and keep haunting her.
Trevor Gabel