The Secret Life of Bees Group

Question:

kiddbrain
kiddbrain
Student
High School - 9th Grade

Explain Lily's quest to find out about her mother in "The Secret Life of Bees".

 

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Posted by kiddbrain on Sunday April 26, 2009 at 6:40 PM and tagged with characters, lily, mother, quest.

Answers:

  1. speamerfam
    speamerfam Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    Lily's quest to find out about her mother is really what makes this book "take off," isn't it?  As we begin the book, we see that there is some mystery about Lily's mother, and none of the people around Lily will tell her much of anything about Deborah. All Lily knows is that she is responsible for her mother's death.

    Now, imagine what it would be like to not know anything about your mother except that you had killed her.  Wouldn't you want to know what kind of person she was, what kind of songs she sang to you, what kind of clothes she wore? Lily is like everyone else in the world, needing a mother's love, and her quest is really to rediscover her mother's love. 

    Of course, no matter what Lily discovers in the story, her mother will still be gone.  So another aspect of Lily's quest is to find someone else to mother her. Rosaleen tries to do this, and then, as they go on their journey together, they both discover August, who seems pretty good at mothering everyone. The queen bee acts a symbol of the mother we all need, and so does the "Black Mary" figurehead. 

    There is so much to say about this quest, and I know there are many sections in the book that you can use to support some good ideas on this subject. 

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/secret-life-bees

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    Posted by speamerfam on Sunday April 26, 2009 at 7:30 PM