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 on Lily Owens

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The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, quotes illustrating Lily's development and her feelings about her mother include: "I worried so much about whether I was good enough for her." This shows Lily's self-doubt...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In "The Secret Life of Bees," internal conflicts include Lily's struggle with guilt and identity, while external conflicts involve racial tensions and her abusive father. For example, Lily feels...

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The Secret Life of Bees

The quote reflects Lily's lack of control over her life. She compares herself to both the plants being rescued and the bugs being killed, symbolizing her uncertainty and fear of impending doom. Lily...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily has lived her life never knowing her mother or having a motherly influence. This has made her feel a huge hole in her life, not knowing or understanding what happened to her mother, and if her...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily struggles with forgiveness throughout the book, but in the end, she realizes that she has been able to be loved and forgiven by the Daughters and August. In turn, she learns to forgive herself...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Some discussion topics and questions for The Secret Life of Bees could include examining the themes of motherhood and female empowerment, analyzing the significance of the Black Madonna, exploring...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Characterization: Lily's defiance of her father is noticeable throughout the book. Dialect: The use of dialect helps give a realistic portrayal of life in the 1960's. Regionalism: Life in Tiburon,...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, the relationship between Lily and Zach evolves from friendship to a deep romantic bond, complicated by the racial tensions of the 1960s South. Despite their mutual...

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The Secret Life of Bees

The best section of this great novel that can be used to answer this question is Chapter Twelve, which is when Lily finally has a long overdue chat with August about why she came and her past. Up...

4 educator answers

The Secret Life of Bees

Lily has very few things from her mother, a photograph of her, a pair of white cotton gloves that are darkening with age, and a small picture of a black Mary, glued onto a small block of wood, with...

2 educator answers

The Secret Life of Bees

We need to remember that Lily killed her mother as a child by accident. This was no deliberate act of violence in any way. Therefore I have to disagree with your question that seems to suggest that...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Themes in The Secret Life of Bees include the search for maternal love, the importance of female community, and the journey towards self-acceptance. The novel explores racial tensions in 1960s...

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The Secret Life of Bees

When Lily says that people would rather die than forgive, she may be referring to several people in the novel.  One is herself.  She has been walking around with the memory of her...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In chapter 3, Lily goes into a store to try to buy some food for herself and Rosaleen. After ordering the "Sunday-plate special," Lily wanders the aisles and piles various items on the counter for...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily, as you note, starts out to find out about her mother, but her journey results in self-knowledge.  There are many reasons this happens. First, Lily's journey ends in a place where her...

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The Secret Life of Bees

'It separates out the honey,' she said.  'Takes out the bad stuff, leaves in the good.  I've always thought how nice it would be to have spinners like this for human beings...' Lily has...

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The Secret Life of Bees

May sank down onto the floor, crying and looking so hurt inside I could almost see soft, red places up under her rib bones. May is one of the most sympathetic and compassionate characters in the...

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The Secret Life of Bees

When approaching this prompt, if your birthday falls on a holiday, you could describe a sense of disappointment and conflict you have felt. If your birthday does not fall on a holiday, you could...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily instinctively harbors an appreciation for the natural world, and in addition to this, it is the peace and solitude Thoreau describes in Walden Pond which appeals to her.  Beneath the hand...

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The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees has a lot of great qualities to it, but the best part is the writing. The author does a wonderful job at describing everything in detail and creating imagery for the reader,...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily and August share a connection through Lily's mother, Deborah, who had lived with the Boatwright sisters years before. This connection is revealed as Lily learns more...

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The Secret Life of Bees

When Lily asks Rosaleen what the point of the Civil Rights Act was, Rosaleen reveals that she doesn't expect or hope for much from white folks in the South. Readers who chose this answer said:

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily hasn't been gifted much innocence in her young life, and the adults in her life who are biologically related to her seem to constantly erode any sense of innocence she has. T. Ray verbally and...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily's comment about "poor news reporting" shows in a humorous way that in her childlike view of the world, the things that are happening to her personally are the most important; she still has the...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In chapter 1 of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kid, Lily tells us about her life. This chapter serves as an introduction to her character, and we learn about her by learning about her...

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The Secret Life of Bees

To "cry uncle" is an idiomatic expression meaning to concede defeat. T. Ray, Lily's father, is a crude, domineering man. His wife had been killed in the midst of a violent argument with him, when...

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The Secret Life of Bees

After Rosaleen confronts Lily and accuses her of living in a dream land with the Boatwright sisters, Lily leaves to spend some time with Zach. When she returns to their room, she finds Rosaleen...

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The Secret Life of Bees

The relationship between Lily and Rosaleen does have some mother-daughter aspects.  Remember that Lily is motherless, and Rosaleen is the adult female in the household.  She takes care of...

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The Secret Life of Bees

We can see that Deborah was like the queen bee in several ways. First, she was devoted to Lily, but without the ability to be a good mother. Second, she suffered from clinical depression, which is...

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The Secret Life of Bees

The definition of a dynamic character is one who changes throughout the course of the plot.  Lily is definitely a dynamic character.  We meet her, the narrator of her own story, as an...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily Owens and Scout Finch are both young, white Southern girls who confront racial issues and seek maternal figures. Lily's journey in The Secret Life of Bees involves escaping her abusive father...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily Owens evolves from a troubled, insecure teenager into a confident, empathetic young woman. Her journey is influenced by her abusive father, her nurturing caretaker...

5 educator answers

The Secret Life of Bees

The "secret life" in The Secret Life of Bees refers to the hidden emotional and personal struggles of the characters. It highlights the inner lives of women, particularly Lily and the Boatwright...

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The Secret Life of Bees

The obvious answer to this question is that Lily feels a number of different emotions during the course of the book, related to both the events that happen to her and her own personal development...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily's perception of her father evolves from fear and resentment to a more nuanced understanding. Initially, she sees him as abusive and unloving, but as the story...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, the quote about aging occurs when characters reflect on their personal growth and the passage of time. This moment is significant as it highlights the themes of maturity...

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The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, one of the themes certainly is the quest for a mother figure, for Lily, for Rosaleen, and for other characters in the story.  This theme is reflected in multiple...

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The Secret Life of Bees

The characters in the novel exhibit a sense of interdependence that is related to their ability to overcome their pain and suffering. This can be seen in how they support one another, even in times...

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The Secret Life of Bees

Lily's overriding quality is that of being alone and feeling unnurtured as a result of her mother's early death. Her father's cruel ways don't help any to rectify these feelings. Lily is fourteen...

1 educator answer

The Secret Life of Bees

One of Lily's internal struggles is whether or not to reveal the truth about her and Rosaleen. She cannot tell the truth to Augustus because she has not had good luck in the past trusting adults....

1 educator answer

The Secret Life of Bees

In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily is a fourteen year-old narrator who frames her story in the first person.  This narration is common to coming-of-age bildungsroman literature, especially...

1 educator answer

The Secret Life of Bees

By wondering and daring to ask about May's sensitivity, Lily is making an important decision.  She thinks to herself, "The last thing I wanted was to be like (May), but I didn't want to be...

1 educator answer