The Secret Life of Bees Group

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beah1117
beah1117

In the novel " The Secret Life of Bees", how are the issues of responsibility and forgiving explored?

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Posted by beah1117 on Monday January 29, 2007 at 10:39 AM and tagged with character, the secret life of bees.

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  1. a-b

    There are many parts of the novel that talk about these issues, perhaps the most poignant example is the relationship between Lily and her (dead) Mother. You can find all of those issues in the last two chapters, when Lily learns more about her mother and her real problems, and at last she learns to forgive her.

    Another example would be Lily and her father. Her father has the responsibility to raise her, but he also has issues with forgiveness, especially when it comes to forgiving his wife.

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

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    Posted by a-b on Monday January 29, 2007 at 11:51 AM

  2. revolution
    revolution Teacher
    Doctorate

    It is explored through the realization of her guilt of killing her mother, and even in her dreams, dreamt about going up to the heaven above and meeting with her beloved mother to ask for her sincere forgiveness, but she has little doubt that her mother would kiss and forget about the whole big matter.

    Later on in the novel, she was angry with her mother's abandonment of her and going to another family, giving birth to August, which was her friend, angry with her leaving her behind lonely and cold, wallowing in her victimhood and didn't want to forgive her. She thought that her mother was responsible for her plight now and got so worked up that she thrown jars of honey at the wall to let up steam.

    This two excerpts from the book shows two contradictions between the themes of responsibility and forgiving. At one part, she felt guilty and responsible for the death of her mother, but then in another part, she felt that her mother was partly responsible for her plight and didn't wanted to forgive her from abandoning her with her husband.

    At the same time, Lily ponders over forgiving her mother and being angry for her mother for abandoning her, making her life miserable and lonely. She also thought deeply why is so difficult and impossible to forgive someone for her past wrong actions and deeds

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    Posted by revolution on Friday August 14, 2009 at 9:57 AM