Lily Mychelle Gardner shook her head as she laid her head back against the flat yet somehow hard pillow, "I hate this fucking orphanage!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, everyone else was outside but not Lily she prefered to stay in and read or write or practice her arts and music. Lily was a very gifted girl with a very spirited temper and an even more firey attitude, she had built up a wall around her never letting anyone in; not after the night that she had let that man in the house Beetle.. she sneered at the sheer thought of him. He had tried to take her from her parents causing her father to strike the virmin and her momma to push Lily behind her.. she was only nine at the time and already the fucking Judge Turpin wanted her for his own claiming she to become his ward, but her parents refused after they had seen what he did to the poor Todd family. Lily's eyes slowly drifted shut as she fell into a fitful slumber of that night. Her father was sitting in his big chair reading to her as her mother held her in her arms gently rocking her as she brushed through her long curled bright crimson red hair, it fell in soft ringlets and waves down her back to her thin waist as her mother brushed it causing it to shine and fluff up a bit. She smiled and watched her father with eyes that people had always considered strange, Lily's eyes were two different colors one was a deep emerald green that seemed to glow with a light from within and the other was the color of clear perfect amber the only thing both colors had in common were the speckles of violet blue that popped up in them. She tilted her head listening to her father tell the story, " A long, yes very long time ago there was a dragon, a most evil, wicked and feared fire bre... ... middle of paper ... ...ugh.." and with that he ripped her mothers dress off and proceeded to beat, rape, defile, and murder her infront of young Lily's eyes. Quickly Lily woke up back in the bed at the orphanage and ran to the bathroom throwing up everything in her stomach her body wracked with painful shuddering spasms yet her body was hot to the touch. Quickly she climbed into the shower and began to scrub her skin raw trying to get the dream off of her and not feeling clean until her skin was blistered and bleeding. She slowly dried off thinking as she did, 'At least he hasn't kept his promise.. not yet.. I'll get away before he can legally take me from the orphanage.. I'll get away I have to..' She had dressed in baggy clothes meant for a boy while lost in her thoughts and walked back into the girls bunks laying down on a different one yet not daring to fall asleep. To Be Continued...
In the beginning of the novel, as the reader is first introduced to Lily’s character, she comes across as an extremely negative young girl. While thinking about
This is the boy that that caused Lily to find additional false prejudices and misconceptions that she has internally that she wants to dispose of because she was emotionally and physically attracted to him. “At my school they made fun of colored people’s lips and noses. I myself had laughed at these jokes, hoping to fit in. Now I wished that I could pen a letter to my school to be read at opening assembly that would tell them how wrong we had all been. You should see Zachary Taylor, I’d say.” Lily is realizing now that beauty comes in all colors. She is also again being exposed to the fact that her way of being raised was wrong, that years and years of history was false. “The whole time we worked, I marveled at how mixed up people got when it came to love. I myself, for instance. It seemed like I was now thinking of Zach forty minutes out of every hour, Zach, who was an impossibility. I can tell you this much: the word is a great big log thrown on the fires of love” If Lily had not realized her ignorance, in this situation where she is marveling over Zach, she might of thought that there is something wrong with her, instead of simple
At the start of the novel, a general understanding of Lily’s life is explained, giving knowledge about T.Ray, Rosaleen, and her mother, Deborah. Lily describes the little she is able to remember about her mother's death as she was only four years old at the time. A nasty fight had broken out between T.Ray and Deborah, leaving a frightened Lily to be tossed around between the two. A gun had appeared on scene and in an attempt to save her mother, Lily got involved. In a remembrance of this chilling day, Lily reflects, “What is left lies in clear yet disjointed pieces in my head. The gun shining like a toy in her hand, how she 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 was all I wanted. And I took her away” (Kidd 7-8). Through reflection, a very heartbroken Lily is able to convey what happened on that dreadful day when her mother died in her own thoughts and beliefs. As a result of this event, Lily begins to carry an immense amount of grief and guilt around as well as losing herself into these bad memories and feelings. Her self love is depleted and her mother is gone, leaving her with T.Ray and her new mother figure,
Lily’s idea of home is having loving parent/mother figures who can help guide her in life. Because of this desire, she leaves T. Ray and begins to search for her true identity. This quest for acceptance leads her to meet the Calendar Sisters. This “home” that she finds brightly displays the ideas of identity and feminine society. Though Lily could not find these attributes with T. Ray at the peach house, she eventually learns the truth behind her identity at the pink house, where she discovers the locus of identity that resides within herself and among the feminine community there. Just like in any coming-of-age story, Lily uncovers the true meaning of womanhood and her true self, allowing her to blossom among the feminine influence that surrounds her at the pink house. Lily finds acceptance among the Daughters of Mary, highlighting the larger meaning of acceptance and identity in the novel.
Susie’s mother opened the door to let Molly, Susie’s babysitter, inside. Ten-month old Susie seemed happy to see Molly. Susie then observed her mother put her jacket on and Susie’s face turned from smiling to sad as she realized that her mother was going out. Molly had sat for Susie many times in the past month, and Susie had never reacted like this before. When Susie’s mother returned home, the sitter told her that Susie had cried until she knew that her mother had left and then they had a nice time playing with toys until she heard her mother’s key in the door. Then Susie began crying once again.
rotted,”in lines nine and ten establishes a comparison between her father’s loss of innocence, and
The master knew that she was trying to learn to write and as he was talking to her, she ran to her mother. The master chased her until he found her hiding behind her mother. He then asked her mother if she knew anything about her writing, but she lied and said no. Nonetheless, the master knew she was lying, so instead of taking Sarny away, he took her mother. He took her to the spring house where he usually whip anyone who tried to escape or lie to him. The master chained her up and left. Her mother acknowledged the fact he was going to whip her and she accepted it. Sarny cried because she knew it was all her fault for willing to risk learning to write. Since the weather was very hot, Sarny brought her mother water. Sarny’s mother waited uncomfortable all tied up in the chains waiting to see if the master will whip her.
Throughout her childhood, Lily had always longed for her parents’ affection, but being a daughter she is aware that she is considered a burden. Lily has always seen herself as someone in need of training and attention to make her worthy of the life for which she is intended. Within Snow Flower she discovers the possibility for her desires to be met; to be loved and to be acceptable within the standards of their male-dominated society. Lily says of Snow Flower, “… I wondered how I could make her love me the way I longed to be loved” (See, 57). Young Lily with the innocent desire to be loved is a window showing us her insecurity and vulnerability to the society. Lily looks up to Snow Flower as if she were perfect, as someone who she aspires to be like. It has been conveyed several times within the novel especially during Lily’s daughter days how she sees Snow Flower as someone superior to herself. Throughout the course of the book we come to understand that Lily fears rejection more than she feels compassion for the needs of Snow Flower. Lily’s friendship with Snow Flower has had a major effect on her priorities within life. Snow Flower’s unfortunate marriage to the butcher and slaving under her mother-in-law was what drove Lily’s train of thought. Lily’s relationship with Snow Flower has
Lily is her own barrier in her life that is keeping her from accomplishing great things that she is capable of. Lily shows that she never really loves herself or gives herself enough credit by stating, “Standing there, I loved myself and I hated myself” (71). Lily does not love herself at all. She is not happy on what she has accomplished and hates that fact that she might have killed her mother. Lily does not understand how to cope with difficulties in her life. She wants to be involved with everyone to keep her mind busy and not think of situations that need to be discussed. Lily hates how she is not able to live her life to her full potential. But yet, Lily enjoys being mysterious and making her own life a story that only she knows what is real and what is a lie. Throughout the novel, Lily builds up barriers that she has not broken out to tell people. She finally cracks and shows her real self to August. She tells her whole life story all in one setting. This is overwhelming for August, but she is happy that Lily tells her when August knows the whole time. Lily come full circle with herself. She finds love in the house of women and finally is able to feel wanted and acceptance.
Over the course of several months, August guides, teaches, and helps Lily to accept and forgive herself. August once knew Deborah, and she knows that Lily is her daughter, but she does not confront Lily about the issue. Instead, she waits until Lily puts the puzzle pieces together and discovers for herself the relationship between her mother and August. August knows she is not ready to learn the truth about her mother when she and Lily first meet, so she waits for Lily to come to her. When Lily finally realizes the truth, she comes to August and they have a long discussion about Deborah. During this discussion, Lily learns the truth about her mother; that her mother only married T. Ray because she was pregnant with Lily, then after several years she had enough of living and dealing with T. Ray, so she left. Lily is disgusted by the fact that her mother would've done something like this, she did not want to let go of the romantic image of her mother she had painted in her mind (“‘The Secret Life of Bees’ Themes and Symbols of The Secret Life of Bees). Lily struggles to stomach the fact the her mother truly did leave her and she spends some time feeling hurt and angry, but one day, August shows her a picture of Lily and her mother. As Lily looks at the picture she is comforted and thinks, “May must’ve made it to heaven and explained to my mother about the sign I wanted. The one that would let me know I was loved” (Kidd 276). Seeing
Within the passage the little girl feared every day what the guy was going to due to her and her mother. Throughout the whole passage she describes how he would force him self on to her and take advantage of her. The little girl does state, that she knows her mother goes through the same experiences that she does but is afraid to tell her that she does go through that. In the passage she
The fall of ’99 was the year of all years; Janine was in her last year of law school at Yale, and her adoptive mother, Nancy, had just phoned telling her of their family visit in the fall. Just then out of the blue she hears a knock at the door.
The narrator, Twyla, begins by recalling the time she spent with her friend, Roberta, at the St. Bonaventure orphanage. From the beginning of the story, the only fact that is confirmed by the author is that Twyla and Roberta are of a different race, saying, “they looked like salt and pepper” (Morrison, 2254). They were eight-years old. In the beginning of the story, Twyla says, “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick.” This line sets the tone of the story from the start. This quote begins to separate the two girls i...
The Theme of Emancipation in A Doll's House While reading Ibsen's play, A Doll's House, one cannot help but notice the powerful underlying theme. Ibsen develops the theme, the emancipation of a woman, by emphasizing the doll marriage, and the problems that such a marriage caused. In Act I, there are many clues that hint at the kind of marriage Nora and Torvald have. It seems that Nora is a doll controlled by Torvald. She relies on him for everything, from movements to thoughts, much like a puppet that is dependent on its puppet master for all of its actions.
Imagination is a companion that will always be there to ease up moments of despair in life. It gives hope that one day the possessions that the heart desires will be there not too far from reach, or to believe the cruel circumstances life brings upon us are instead moments of joy. L.M Montgomery demonstrates this skilfully in her work; Anne of Green Gables. The novel is about a lonely orphaned girl whose only friend is her imagination. Due to her imagination and the support of her new loving family, she grows into a bright and intelligent young woman who realizes the potential that life has for her and her tremendously creative mind. The experiences and expectations that are placed on the character of Anne show how she later on gains an identity. Anne Shirley starts appreciating life more after her arrival at the Green Gables, since the realization dawns upon her that all events that occur in life are what help her bloom into the young woman she is now.