Sue Monk Kidd's The secret life of bees

Sue Monk Kidd’s childhood inspired her to write the fiction novel, The Secret Life of Bees, from her experiences with racism in the 1960’s. Kidd vividly remembers the summer of 1964 when the Civil Rights Act had been signed and coloured people were allowed to vote. She remembers the cruelty, hate, and injustice towards the African-American people when they wanted to vote. She “found her redemption through writing” walking away from the summer of 1964, as a different person who saw life differently. Kidd had always been exposed to injustice her entire childhood so it seemed like the norm for there to be separation between black and white people. She reflected her experiences onto her fiction novel following 14-year old, Lily Owens in South Carolina. Lilly lives with her father T.Ray and their black maid, Rosaleen. Though a maid to T.Ray, Rosaleen acts as a mother figure to Lilly. Since the age of 2 years-old, Lily has been trying to remember what happened in the death of her mother, Deborah. She remembers seeing a gun and hearing an explosion but can’t come to conclusion whether or not she was the one who ended her mother’s life. For a father who wouldn’t speak a word about her mother, T.Ray tells her differently, making Lily think her mother left her because she didn’t love her. Lily she doesn’t want to believe this. In the 1960’s, a time of a racism and cruelty, Rosaleen gets arrested for insulting three white men on her way to vote after the Civil Rights Act had been signed and is badly beaten. After being treated horribly by her father, Lilly seeks freedom for both Rosaleen and her to Tiburon, South Carolina. On the backside of a picture of Black Mary she found in her mother’s things, was written “Tiburon, South Carolin...

... middle of paper ...

...how important a strong female community is. She also learns of the bees extraordinary gift to never stop working. The bees work together to keep the hive running, depending on each other for support and companionship. Without these aspects, a bee will surely die. Lily has begun to share her love and just like the bees, she must depends on August, May, June, and Rosaleen to be her support and companion.

Overall the bees are a metaphor for how important having loving relationships are and how through that a reliable and strong community grows.

Works Cited

Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of the Bees. New York: Viking Penguin, 2002. Print.

2. "The Secret Life of Bees Quotes." By Sue Monk Kidd. GoodReads, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. .

3. Thesaurus.com. Los Angeles, Calif.: Lexico LLC, 199. Print.