June is one of the Boatwright sisters, that Lily and Rosaleen stay with once they get to Tiburon, South Carolina. June is unsure about Lily at first, but after they get to know each other better, they become close. June never wants to admit that she loves Neil, but finally one day she agrees to marry him and they get married on October 10th.
May is one of the Boatwright sisters, that Lily and Rosaleen stay with in Tiburon. May becomes upset and sad very easily, so everyone has to watch what they say around her; often when she is sad she goes to her wailing wall and gets all her thoughts out by writing it down and sticking it in the wall. One night, after May learns of Zach’s arrest, she leaves the house and commits suicide by drowning herself
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Ray and her nanny, Rosaleen. T. Ray has told Lily that she is the one that killed her mother when she was four years old, but Lily does not believe her father and wants to find the real truth. Lily leaves Sylvan, South Carolina so she can find out more information about her mother; this is when she finds the Boatwright sisters and her life is changed.
Nanny: Rosaleen has been helping T. Ray take care of Lily ever since Deborah, Lily’s mother, died. Rosaleen is arrested one day while she is trying to go and register and vote. Lily knows that her and Rosaleen need to get out of Sylva, so once they escape they hitchhike to Tiburon. This is where Rosaleen and Lily get accepted into the Boatwright sisters house.
Honey: When Lily and Rosaleen arrive in Tiburon, they have a picture of a Black Madonna and they see the same exact picture on a honey jar in a downtown store. This is how they find out that the Boatwright sisters are beekeepers. After arriving at the farmhouse, they help the sisters take care of the bees and fill jars with honey.
South Carolina is where the Boatwright sisters and Lily live. Even though they live in different towns, they find each other and everyone's lives were changed. Tiburon, South Carolina held the information of Deborah's
Lily traveled all the way up from Sylvan, Georgia to Tiburon, South Carolina without much help at all. That takes a lot of luck, at least some skill. Zach navigates all over South Carolina in his truck on a daily basis throughout the summer to gather honey. They both have skills in finding their way around. Lily's tireless heart is always searching for love from her father, whom she calls T. Ray, no matter how many times he crushes her with his words and actions.
T-Ray character is harsh and cruel after Lily's mother died. Without a mother Lily does not have any support exept Rosaleen who "wants" to protect her but doesn't want to get beaten by T-Ray. When Lily's mother was around, T-Ray's character might have been nicer to lily than before. But he still had attiude with Lily before the aciddent. "Get into your god damn room!". This quote shows that T-Ray's charcter still had some attuide towards Lily. When Lily's mother died, T-Ray had more power to punish Lily with harder conditions. "T-Ray never believed in slumpber parties or the junoir varisty cheerleading." This illustrates how Lily's mother could of changed her life even thoughout the misery of T-Ray. T-Ray's character now is selfish and does
In the novel, “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, the story reflects the time when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved. Tension is rising in the southern states of the United States where most of the people there are against this bill. One of these states is South Carolina where the story takes place. It tells the story of Lily a fourteen year old girl living in Sylvan, South Carolina with her abusive father called T.Ray and a black maid named Rosaleen. After having to confront some troubling events, Lily and Rosaleen get to stay in the house of the Boatwright sisters, who are known to make the best honey in South Carolina. T.Ray had already fought in the war. He is a resentful and an angry man. The main cause of his behaviour is because when her wife died, she was about to leave him. This causes him to take out all of his anger on his innocent daughter, being really cruel sometimes towards her. At the end of the novel, Lily’s father let her stay with the Boatwright sisters. This decision is consistent with T.Ray’s character because it shows us how he is a careless, unloving and prideful person.
Lily shows forgiveness and understanding towards her mother in the quote at the top of page 277, “a queenless colony is a pitiful and melancholy community; there may be a mournful wail or lament from within...Without intervention, the colony will die. But introduce a new queen and the most extravagant change takes place” (277). In the beginning of the novel, the queen bee represents Deborah, Lily’s mother. When she passes away Lily’s life spins out of control. However, forgiving not only her mom and dad, but herself has allowed a new queen to take order, August. When her father finds out where Lily’s been hiding all this time he goes to take her home, “I looked into his eyes. They were full of a strange fogginess. ‘Daddy,’ I said.” Lily has stated from the beginning that T. Ray has never earned the title of ‘Dad’; Lily calling him Daddy, is her way of forgiving her father for everything he put her through. Lily has been through more than most fourteen year-olds can imagine. Her learning to forgive her mother her father and herself has gotten her to finally open up, and make friends. She can finally stop living her life with regret of the past, and of her mother's death, and
When Lily is on bee patrol with August, she is told, “Every bee has its role to play… There’s the queen and her attendants… Bathe her… She’s the mother of every bee in the hive, and they all depend on her to keep it going,” (148-149). Similarly to the previous passage, Sue Monk Kidd uses the hive and its bees to symbolically represent both gender roles and community structure. Just like the hive, the Boatwright household is run, or ruled, by solely women. This is a strong example of gender roles in the story, because households and businesses were typically run by men only. However, both the household and business of the Boatwright sisters is run by women, and only women. In the case of the Boatwright household though, instead of inhabiting a “hive” where a queen bee rules, they inhabit a “hive” where everything revolves around The Black Mary. They bathe her in honey and worship her, just like the queen bee is worshipped and taken care of by those in her hive. Not only this, but similarly to a beehive, both the Boatwright household and the beehive would both die out if the queen disappeared and the work force suddenly stopped. The Boatwright sisters all have their jobs just like the bees, and without competing these jobs, the community would fall apart. Certainly, this shows how the bees and their hive are able to symbolically represent social structure in the real world, as what happens in the hive will also happen in the real world if the queen
Lily’s biases in The Secret Life Of Bees have altered greatly; she now knows that people of color have the ability to fend for themselves, and that they can be strong and influential people. The most outstanding thing that has caused Lily’s biases to change is the Boatwright sisters. August Boatwright was the person that took Lily by surprise, Lily was raised with this false philosophy that because she was white, she was superior, more intelligent than African Americans. “At my school they made fun of colored people’s lips and noses. I myself laughed at these jokes, hoping to fit in.
After April and Roger search desperately for Cheryl, they look for several weeks, and have no idea where she has gone. One night Cheryl’s friend Nancy calls April, and explains that she was leaving with her, but she had left suddenly and believes she is going to do something bad. April remembers that Cheryl told her how their mother committed suicide, by jumping off the Louis Bridge. When they arrive at the bridge a group of people say they saw a women jumped off and commit suicide about five minutes before they arrived.
The main characters, Daisy, Nick, Gatsby, and Tom are all from the Mid-west. While Tom and Daisy Buchanan live an East Egg, being attracted by its glamour, excitement and promise of success, Nick enjoys living on West Egg. He mentions the friendship between Mid-Westerners, who are brought together by their extremely long and cold winters (in contrast to the New York summers' heat).
When she stays with the Boatrights she realizes how much they love her and how she doesn't need a birth mother to have a mother. Kidd rights, “I sank farther down…hardly aware of myself mumbling the words out loud. ‘I am unlovable’” (242). This shows how Lily thinks that since she killed her mom that she wouldn’t find a mother figure or anyone else to love her. Later she realizes how the Boatrights and Daughters of Mary care for her and love her. August says, “‘Mr. Owens, you would be doing Lily and the rest of us a favor by leaving her here. … We love Lily, and we’ll take care of her …’” (Kidd 298). When August and the Daughters of Mary come to tell Mr. Owens to leave Lily with them it shows how much they love her and how they act as Lily’s 8 mothers. Lily progresses with her emotional self to help with the loss of her mother and gaining 8 new loving
Men on Boats written by Jaclyn Backhaus, and directed by Dawn M. Simmons, captures the journey and expedition of John Wesley Powell, who is played by Robin Javonne Smith, and his crew to the Grand Canyon. Throughout 1869, most of Western America had already been discovered. The Transcontinental Railroad had just been finished before Powell and his crew began their expedition. During this time, the Grand Canyon was not yet discovered here in the United States. Major John Wesley Powell coordinated this expedition to map out the Colorado River and learn every aspect of the Grand Canyon. This play takes the audience on a journey through history, brotherhood, and diversity.
Another motherly figure in Lily?s life is August. She encourages Lily to open her heart and reveal the truth to them. August is very patient and would make a great mother. Even though she knew that Lily was lying to her, she gave Lily a chance to settle down. In doing this she was wise. If she had confronted Lily, Lily probably would have left the house. Unlike June even though Lily was white she still treated her regularly.
June 's one-night stands are described throughout the book, while at the same time, readers learn there were many people who loved her. Gordie and June are cousins who grew up together, they were inseparable, told each other everything, hunted together and the best of friends (208). As they grew older, against the wishes of the family, they ran off to get married (262). AFter they were married, they had a child named King, and throughout King’s childhood, June was known
Ray also has strong prejudice. In the house, T. Ray often mentions Lily “colored women [are not] smart” (78). As a result it affects Lily’s sensibility, because she says, “I thought they could be smart, but not as smart as me, me being white” (78). Also T. Ray often calls black people ‘nigger’ which we should never. When Lily and Rosaleen; her housekeeper went to the town, they got into the trouble and T. Ray picked Lily up and blames her. “…Couldn’t pick somebody normal? He’s the meanest nigger-hater in Sylvan…” (38). Additionally, when T. Ray comes to try to take her back in Sylvan, he says, “So you’ve been here the whole time, staying with colored women Jesus Christ” (291), like it is a bad thing to stay with them, because it doesn’t necessary to mention people’s race at that circumstance. Even though Lily was trying not to influence by T. Ray, she has some racism inside of her
The bees symbolize Lily’s unspoken guides throughout the novel. Kidd’s constant reference to the bees indicate that Lily eventually understands the importance of female power in the bee community, which she connects to her own life. When Lily initially sees the bees in her room, Rosaleen warns her that they can sting her if she tries to catch them, but Lily ignores her and continues to trap them, thus asserting her determination. Later, the bees reveal the message to Lily that she should leave her father. Kidd notes that one bee landed on Lily’s state map that she kept tacked on the wall, foreshadowing Lily and Rosaleen’s journey to Tiburon (10). The bees also symbolize the secret life that Lily lives as she hides her secret of running away from home. The hive represents society while the bees represent all of the humans inside. August tells Lily about the hives and announces, “Most people don’t have any idea about all the complicated life going on inside a hive. Bees have a secret life we don’t know anything about” (Kidd 148). The beehive cannot sur...