illustration of the back of main character Lily Owens's head with a honeycomb background

The Secret Life of Bees

by Sue Monk Kidd

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The Secret Life of Bees Questions and Answers

What are some metaphors in The Secret Life of Bees?

What are some quotes on racism in the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd?

How does the quote at the beginning of Chapter 11 relate to what is happening in The Secret Life of Bees?

How did May die in the Secret Life of Bees?

What does the quote at the beginning of Chapter 4 in the book "The Secret Life of Bees" mean? The quote is: "Honey bees are social insects and live in colonies. Each colony is a family unit, a single egg-laying female or queen and her many sterile daughters called workers. The workers cooperate in the food-gathering, nest-building and rearing the offspring. Males are reared only at the time of year when their presence is required."

What is the significance of the quotation at the beginning of chapter 7 in The Secret Life of Bees?

Write a five-paragraph essay on how Lily in The Secret Life of Bees is influenced by others.

How would you describe Zach and Lily's relationship? Put into context comparing it to then and how it would be now in 2009.

How does the quote at the beginning of chapter 12 relate to Lily's anguish?

Why does June continue to reject Neil and why is May against her rejection?

In Chapter 3 of The Secret Life of Bees, what do you think is the significance of Rosaleen's odd dream?

What does the following quote, from The Secret Life of Bees, mean? "When I looked up I saw a crop duster plunging his little plane over a field of growing things, behind him a cloud of pesticides parachuting out. I couldn't decide what part of this scene I represented: the plants about to be rescued form the bugs or the bugs about to be murdered by the spray. There was an off chance I was really the airplane zipping over the earth creating rescue and doom everywhere I went."

In The Secret Life of Bees, at the beginning of each chapter, is a quote, about bees. I need the meaning of each quote from chapter six to chapter 14. 

What does the quote in the beginning of chapter 5 mean in the book The Secret Life of Bees? The quote is as follows: "Let's imagine for a moment that we are tiny enough to follow a bee into hive. Usually the first thing we would have to get used to is the darkness . . ."

What is an allusion in chapter 1 of The Secret Life of Bees?

In The Secret Life of Bees, how and why does Lily change from the beginning of the story to the end?

What is one example of foreshadowing that Sue Monk Kidd uses in Secret Life of Bees?

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

Who is the queen in The Secret Life of Bees and what does she produce? The quote at the beginning of the chapter says the queen produces something to attract the workers. Who is the queen in this chapter, and what does she produce? Who are the workers she attracts?

I need to know what each quote means at the beginning of each chapter as to how it relates to the chapter in the book The Secret Life of the Bees.

What are two examples of foreshadowing in The Secret Life of Bees?

Who are the "Calendar Sisters" and the Daughters of Mary? How did being in the company of this circle of females transform Lily?

In The Secret Life of Bees, what does this quote said by Lily mean? When Rosaleen stands up to T. Ray about the chick, Lily says, "His boots whispered uncle all the way down the hall." What does this mean?

In The Secret Life of Bees, page 73, why does May begin to sing, "Oh Susanna"? (chapter 5)

What does the epigraph in the first chapter of The Secret Life of Bees mean?  

What are two examples of figurative language in Chapter 3 of The Secret Life of Bees?

In Chapter 10 what does the quote at the beginning of chapter 10 mean?

What is the internal and external conflict in "The Secret Life of Bees?"

What does Lily do with her mother's things in The Secret Life of Bees?  

In The Secret Life of Bees, Zach says to Lily, " We can't think of changing our skin... change the world--that's how we gotta think." What insight does this reveal about Zach?

In The Secret Life of Bees, how would you describe Lily and Zach's relationship? What drew them together? Were they a good match?

In The Secret Life of Bees would August be considered a round or flat character and why?

In The Secret Life of Bees, chapter 6, why is August sad at the thought of a rocket landing on the moon?

What is the rising action, falling action and climax in The Secret Life of Bees?

In the The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, provide specific examples from the book (provide the quote and the scene) that reflect racism, and explain them.   

In what ways are Lilly's interactions with Rosaleen similar to a girl's interactions with her mother in The Secret Life of Bees?

What does the quote in the beginning of chapter 3, of "The Secret Life of Bees" mean? the quote is: "New beekeepers are told that the way to find the elusive queen is by first locating her circle of attendants."

What lessons does Lily learn from August in The Secret Life of Bees?

What quotes show growth or change in the character Lily in The Secret Life of Bees?

Discuss the relationship between Neil and June in The Secret Life of Bees.  What do you think might be the root of their issues?  

In chapter 3 of The Secret Life of Bees, Lily alludes to Thoreau's Walden, in which Henry David Thoreau chooses to live alone. What about this appeals to Lily?

In The Secret Life of Bees, what is the significance of the quotation in chapter 7 at the beginning of the chapter?

What is the characterizaiton, dialect, regionalism, verbal irony, Dramatic irony and irony of situation in The Secret life of bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, at the beginning of each chapter there is a quote.  I need the meanings of quotes one to twelve please.  

In The Secret Life of Bees, what does the quote at the beginning of chapter 14 mean?

In "The Secret Life of Bees," what made some of the honey purple?

In The Secret Life of Bees, what was Lily's reaction to Rosaleen moving into May's room?

In The Secret life of Bees, at the beginning of each chapter, there is a quote. I need the meanings of quotes one to twelve please. 

What are some examples of the theme of freedom (both literal and figurative) in The Secret Life of Bees?

What did Lily steal and why?