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“The Secret Life of Bees” Movie Review “The Secret Life of Bees” is a movie that takes us through the incredible journey of a young girl named Lily Owens. She grows up with the horrible memory of the day she accidentally killed her mother. She and the family maid who has tried to fill the empty void as her mother, Rosaleen, escape the mistreatment that Lily receives from her father, T-Ray. After Rosaleen heard the news on T.V. about the Civil Rights Act being passed, she decided to take the opportunity and register to vote. As they got to town to register Rosaleen, she dumped the juice from her chew container onto men who made fun of her. She was arrested, and that is when they escaped. When Lily asks her father for more information about her mother, he told her that the day she died she was coming back to get her belongings. He tells Lily that her mother didn’t want to take her when she left. This upset Lily because she believed that a child couldn’t have two parents that didn’t love her. Lily has very little of her mother’s possessions, but the few items does have include her mother’s gloves, picture, and a wooden picture of a black Mary. On the back of the wooden picture, Tiburon, SC was inscribed. This became their point of destination as they left Lily’s hometown. As they reach Tiburon, they stop at a convenient store and Lily notices that the same picture that is on her wooden picture is also on the honey jars. They investigate and are led to a house where the “Calendar sisters” live. These three incredible women help Rosaleen and Lily out by letting them stay with them at their bright pink house. It is here that the two learn about bees and how they function as a society ... ... middle of paper ... .... Lily gets to stay in a home that makes her feel loved. She writes down her story, including her thoughts and emotions, into a book that was given to her by Zach. This movie takes place in South Carolina in 1964. This was the peak of racism in the South. ("Do Something.org") Many African Americans found support in a nonviolent African American Activist named Martin Luther King Jr. The result of all movements towards civil rights resulted in passing the Civil Rights Act in 1964. It was not uncommon to see a colored maid or cook in a white persons home. Works Cited Prince-Bythewood, Gina, dir. The Secret Life of Bees. Fox Starlight Pictures, 2008. DVD. "Racism Against African Americans." . N.p., Online Posting to Do Something.org. Web. 18 Dec. 2013. .
People share their secret lives without even talking about them. It only takes a glance or feeling to see that others have faced similar situations and problems, some people even live parallel lives. Despite the fact that many people believe it impossible for a measly insect, like a bee, to know the pain hardships a human faces, Sue Monk Kidd proves them wrong with her book The Secret Life of Bees. In her novel she derives many of her characters from the types of bees that exist in a hive. Lily and Zach have characteristic that are akin to that of field bees, August has that nurturing personality of a nurse bee, and the Lady of Chains is revered by her subjects just like a Queen bee is by her hive. Nowadays, no one ever faces a problem that someone, or something, has already faced. No one really has a secret life all to themselves.
...heir parents resulted in damaged relationships and escapes into the unknown. Chris was intelligent and well rounded, but he had several flaws, specifically his inability to make peace with his parents. He could not dismiss the mistakes his parents had made and hurt not only himself but also his entire family in the process. Lily was young, but mature beyond her age. She made impulsive decisions, such as running away with her nanny, but it did not ruin the flawed relationship with her father. Instead, it led to the truth she so desperately needed and a better relationship with her father. Lily’s leaving was the best thing she could have done for herself. Both Chris and Lily left with similar intentions but saw different results. Chris reached the realization that isolationism is not the best policy, and Lily was brought into a world filled with love and truth.
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
In life, actions and events that occur can sometimes have a greater meaning than originally thought. This is especially apparent in The Secret Life Of Bees, as Sue Monk Kidd symbolically uses objects like bees, hives, honey, and other beekeeping means to present new ideas about gender roles and social/community structures. This is done in Lily’s training to become a beekeeper, through August explaining how the hive operates with a queen, and through the experience Lily endures when the bees congregate around her.
For example, T. Ray punishes Lily by making her kneel on grits and verbally abuses her. Lily resents T. Ray for his brutality and gains the desire to flee her birth home. This shows that Lily desires more than just a physical house to live in, but also loving parental figures who can help guide her in life and show her love. This quest for acceptance led her to meet the Calendar Sisters.
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.
According to pages 31 and 32, Lily said, “I watched their wings shining like bits of chrome in the dark and felt longing build in my chest. The way those bees flew, not even looking for a flower, just flying for the feel of the wind, split my heart down its seam.” She was the bee, flying to feel the wind, but full of emptiness because she couldn’t find her flower; her mother. Since the age of 4, Lily grew up without a mother. After the bees came the summer of 1964, she thought, “Looking back on it now, I wanted to say the bees were sent to me. I want to say they showed up like the angel Gabriel appearing to the Virgin Mary, setting events in motion I could never have guessed.”(32) The bees set the course of the novel, and finally, at the end of the novel, helped her find closure for her
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.
In the book, Lily was narrating what she was feeling and thinking throughout the entirety of the book which added a lot of important elements that tied in the theme and importance of the bees in the development of the plot. This is an important difference because the movie seems to be missing some very important elements due to the absence of this narration. The title the Secret Life of Bees makes much less sense for the movie because the narration gives the reader an insight into how the bees contribute to the story. The movie seems to be more about the group of women becoming stronger together than the book because without this narration, it is harder to know how Lily is feeling. In contrast the book seems more about Lily’s journey because this narration is present explaining to the reader how Lily feels and what she thinks in each
The setting in the Secret life of bees helps set the overall structure of the book. As the setting changes, and certain events take place, so does the characters views on life. The most change seen is on Lily, the main character. Her values multiply and her perspective on cultural order shifts from one mind set to another. Although one part of the book’s setting limits the opportunities of the characters; the other part opens those and different opportunities. The setting in The Secret Life of Bees is vitally important because it impacts the main character and the people around her through events that transpire in the book.
A beehive without a queen is a community headed for extinction. Bees cannot function without a queen. They become disoriented and depressed, and they stop making honey. This can lead to the destruction of the hive and death of the bees unless a new queen is brought in to guide them. Then, the bees will cooperate and once again be a prosperous community. Lily Melissa Owens, the protagonist of Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees, faces a similar predicament. While she does not live in a physical hive, the world acts as a hive. She must learn to work with its inhabitants, sharing a common direction, in order to reach her full potential. The motif of the beehive is symbolic of how crucial it is to be a part of a community in order to achieve
Lily has a lot of mother figures in her life. In ?The Secret Life of Bees? two mother figures that she has are Rosaleen and August. A mother cares for her young and guides them trough life. She comforts and soothes them when they need it. Lily?s Mothers are Rosaleen and August. Both act as mothers for Lily in different ways.
The first example of Lily’s coming of age is in her spiritual development. She is introduced to the Daughters of Mary, who connect her to the Black Madonna. When Lily first sees the Black Madonna, she thought that:
takes place in the south, where at the time, slaves were newly emancipated and things are
The Secret Life of Bees delineates an inspirational story in which the community, friendship and faith guide the human spirit to overcome anything. The story follows Lily Owens, a 14 year old girl who desperately wants to discover the cause of her mothers death. Her father T. Ray gives her no answers, which leads their maid, Rosaleen, to act as her guardian. Together, Lily and Rosaleen run away to Tiburon, South Carolina and find a welcoming community. It is in Tiburon that Lily learns many life lessons, including many about herself. In her novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd explores a theme of spiritual growth through Lily's search for home as well as a maternal figure.