Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees

In Sue Monk Kidd’s novel The Secret Life of Bees, the protagonist Lily Owens runs away from her home and father in Sylvan, South Carolina, in search for answers to her questions about her dead mother. Throughout her sojourn at the Boatwright house, Lily matures into womanhood in ways that she could have never grown in her hometown, but she also isolates herself from white culture by being introduced to this undiscovered world of black culture and to the idea that all cultures should interweave without any issues. By running away from her abusive household, Lily must learn about her past. Even though this affects her negatively at first, learning about her dead mother opens her mind to a world of peace, for she finds several pieces to her …show more content…
For example, once August explains the story about Lily’s mother to her, Lily begins a journey to forgiveness of her mother. Lily struggles with this forgiveness, though, but she demonstrates that she is trying the best she can when she says, “I guess I have forgiven us both, although sometimes in the night my dreams will take me back to the sadness, and I have to wake up and forgive us again” (705). Since this is only the beginning of her journey to forgiveness, she does not know exactly how to accept what her mother did to her. In addition, Lily’s desertion of her home in Sylvan, South Carolina, helps her come understand the real world and flaws of racism. Lily insults the racist students in her new, public high school when she comments on their actions by saying, “We having reputations as ‘nigger lovers,’ which is how it is put to us, and when the ignoramuses ball up their notebook paper and throw it at Zach in the hallway, which seems to be a favorite pastime between classes” (704). By referring to the students as “ignoramuses,” the reader sees how Lily has matured past racism and grown a deeper understanding for love for everyone of all skin

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