Chapter 1 of The Secret Life of Bees
The Secret Life of Bees
The Secret Life of Bees is a book by author Sue Monk Kidd. Set in 1964, it is a coming-of-age story about loss and betrayal. It received critical acclaim and was a New York Times bestseller. It won the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards, and was nominated for the Orange Broadband Prize f…
Full Answer
What is the plot of The Secret Life of bees?
The Secret Life of Bees is a book by author Sue Monk Kidd. Published: November 8th 2001. The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of a 14-year-old white girl, Lily Melissa Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. She lives in a house with her abusive father, whom she refers to as T. Ray.
What is the thesis for the Secret Lives of bees?
Thesis Statement The recurring theme throughout "The Secret Life of Bees" is the importance of the mother My thesis is the aspects of the archetype the women fulfill. Many of the female characters in this novel symbolize the various archetype features.
What are some quotes in The Secret Life of bees?
The Secret Life of Bees. “Hold on now, Franklin,” said Mr. Gaston, moving us toward the door. “Now’s not the time.”. Mr. Gaston, the policeman who arrests Lily and Rosaleen after their confrontation with a group of racist white men, tells Franklin, one of the white aggressors, that now is not the time, implying that he accepts Franklin’s behavior.
What is the foreshadowing of The Secret Life of bees?
The novel opens with Lily watching bees fly around her bedroom. These bees foreshadow Lily's interaction with the Boatwright sisters at August's bee farm. From the beginning, you can tell that bees are going to play a major role in the book. To Lily bees serve as unspoken guides throughout the novel. Lily follows the trail of the honey label to Tiburon—and to the truth about her mother.
What are the themes in The Secret Life of Bees?
What year is the book Bees?
What does Lily fantasize about?
What is the parallel between Lily and the bees?
What does the narrator see in the room?
What is the overarching characteristic of Lily's community in South Carolina?
What is Lily's only memory of her mother?
See 4 more
About this website
What happens in The Secret Life of Bees Chapter 1?
Lying on her bed, Lily waits for the return of the bees that have begun to live in the walls of her bedroom. The year is 1964; Lily is about to turn fourteen. She lives alone with her father, Terrance Ray, and their black housekeeper and nanny, Rosaleen.
What happens in chapter 2 of Secret Life of bees?
Summary and Analysis Chapter 2. In this chapter, Lily's education in race relations really begins. Following Rosaleen's arrest, the policeman, Avery Gaston, drives Lily and Rosaleen to the jail with the three hollering men following them in a green pickup with a gun rack.
What happens in the beginning of The Secret Life of Bees?
Lily, a fourteen-year-old white girl, lives alone with her father, a peach farmer, in Sylvan, South Carolina. As the novel opens, she lies in bed, waiting for the bees that live in the walls of her bedroom to emerge and fly around, as they do most nights.
Why does Lily feel a connection to Rosaleen Chapter 1?
Another important theme from chapter 1 concerns the importance of motherly love. Since Deborah is dead, Lily has come to rely on Rosaleen for some maternal care, and, to some degree, Lily considers Rosaleen to be a surrogate mother.
What happened in chapter 3 of Secret Life of bees?
In Chapter Three, Lily makes a very important step toward finding her mother: she finds out about someone who may have known Deborah. Thus, Lily has located a potential “circle of attendants.” In this chapter, it begins to become apparent that The Secret Life of Bees will be a bildungsroman of sorts.
What happens in chapter 5 of The Secret Life of Bees?
Lily and Rosaleen discover the story behind May's wall. May's problems began when her twin, April, died by suicide. August describes an event where racism caused April great sadness, and she began to become more and more depressed, eventually shooting herself with a shotgun.
Do Zach and Lily end up together?
Later after the funeral he go see Lily, he was angry after what all of the white man did to him, but Lily said to him he not have to be angry at them, Zach give her his chain and the two teenager's kiss each other, at the end of the movie him and Lily are now a couple.
Why does Lily call her father T Ray?
While in the law office, Lily sees a picture of a loving father and daughter, so she calls T. Ray in the hopes that she will hear him longing for and loving her from afar.
Why did Lily run away?
Ray grows angry enough to reveal that Lily's mother had abandoned Lily when she left T. Ray just prior to her death, a tidbit that Lily had never heard. Reassuring herself that T. Ray is just lying to hurt her, Lily decides to run away—and bust Rosaleen out of jail in the process.
Who killed Lily mom in The Secret Life of Bees?
Plot Summary. In 1964, 14-year-old Lily Owens lives with her abusive father, T. Ray, on a peach farm just outside Sylvan, South Carolina. Lily's mother, Deborah, is dead — accidentally shot by Lily 10 years ago.
Why does Lily smell every perfume bottle they had?
Lily smells every perfume bottle they had because she remembers the specific scent of her mother, and she wants to find it.
What is Jonas's father concerned about in Chapter 1?
Jonas' Father, a "Nurturer," talks about his day at work. (Nurturers take care of new-born children, we're told.) He's concerned for a newborn baby boy whose health is failing. We learn that there are three reasons for a citizen to be "released" from the community.
What does the epigraph in chapter 2 of The Secret Life of bees mean?
The epigraph for chapter two means that when a bees nest's living conditions become unbearable, they must find a more suitable place to live in. In this chapter, Lily has decided to leave her "nest" and find a new place to settle and start a new beginning.
Did Lily break Rosaleen out of jail?
Lily is determined to save Rosaleen and finally escape her own father as well. Seizing the moment, she springs Rosaleen from jail, and the two set out across South Carolina in search of a new life.
What does Lily steal and why?
Lily lies, saying she is visiting her grandmother. She persuades the owner to open her two purchased Coca-Colas, and when he leaves momentarily, she steals snuff for Rosaleen. Guilt-stricken, Lily promises herself she'll send a dollar back to the store sometime in the future.
How does Lily get Rosaleen out of jail?
How does Lily get Rosaleen out of the hospital? Lily pretends she's the jailers' wife and calls the security guard and tells him to go back to the jail.
The Secret Life of Bees Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis - SparkNotes
A summary of Part X (Section1) in Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of The Secret Life of Bees and what it means. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans.
The Secret Life of Bees Chapters 1-2 Summary & Analysis
Lily as the narrator establishes early on that the summer of 1964 was a pivotal moment in her life. The moment of Lily’s mother’s death has become the myth of Lily’s life both because it was traumatizing and because it is Lily’s only memory of her. T. Ray refuses to talk about Lily’s mother, so Lily only has the memory of her death to build a story around.
Secret Life of Bees Chapter 1 questions Flashcards | Quizlet
Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Who is the narrator of the story?, On page 2, what allusion does Lily makes about the bees in her room?, In chapter 1, Lily says that the bees could have stung her until she died, and t would not have been the worst thing to happen to her. What does this tell us about Lily? and more.
The Secret Life of Bees Chapters 1 and 2 Summary and Analysis
The book opens in the summer of 1964 with Lily Owens, age fourteen, lying in bed watching bees fly into her room.She recalls her mother’s death, which occurred when Lily was four years old. She alludes to some sort of accident and thinks that it was not Lily’s fault.
The Secret Life of Bees Chapter 1 | Shmoop
We are introduced to the heroine, Lily Owens. She reminisces about her father, T. Ray, and her surrogate mother/caretaker, Rosaleen. Lily begins by alluding to the summer she was 14, when "the bees came" and her life "went spinning off into a whole new orbit" (1.3).
Secret Life of Bees Chapter 1 Quotes, Comments, and Reflections...
"I expect this out of boys, Lily -- you can't blame them--but I expect more out of you. You act no better than a slut." (p.24) I think this quote really shows the kind of gender roles that were enforced in the 1960s, and the kind of slut shaming that was a regular occurrence then. It's really interesting to me that T. Ray expects this from boys, but not from Lily.
What is the secret life of bees?
Significantly, The Secret Life of Bees begins with Lily’s discovery of bees in her bedroom. Bees and bee-related objects, as the title suggests, function as central symbols and motifs in the novel. They signify guides and guidance and demonstrate the power of a female community. Rosaleen warns Lily to watch out for the insects, but Lily disregards Rosaleen’s warning and continues to try to capture them. These actions demonstrate Lily’s determination, strong character, and willingness to expose herself to danger. She recognizes that her happiness ultimately depends on her—her characteristics, her abilities, her personality. What she wants, she must work for, as T. Ray treats her coolly and she does not have a mother on whom to rely. This chapter also demonstrates that bees deserve to be noticed and noted, as well as handled with care. The bees hang around Lily—and refuse to leave the jar—as if they have some type of business with her. They even land on the state map she has tacked up to the wall. In this way, the bees foreshadow the later action of the novel, in which Lily will literally earn her keep by beekeeping.
What does Ray do to Lily in The Bees?
For punishment, he forces her to kneel on dried grits until her knees bleed. Afterward, Lily decides to free the bees from the jar in her room, but even when she lifts the lid, the bees do not escape.
Why does Rosaleen warn Lily to watch out for bees?
Rosaleen warns her to watch out, because “bees swarm before death.”. Lily insists on telling T. Ray about the bees, so she wakes him up, even though she suspects it will only anger him. It does. Lily reminisces about her mother, who died when she was four years old.
What does Lily remember about her mother?
Lily distinctly remembers her mother’ s smell and the overpowering feeling of wanting only to be with her. Her mother responds to T. Ray’s yelling by pulling out a gun. They tussle, and it falls to the floor. Lily remembers bending to pick up the gun and then hearing a loud noise.
When was Lily's mother's last memory?
Lily intimates that she had a significant, albeit accidental, role in her mother’s death. Then Lily recounts the last memory she has of her mother: December 3, 1954 —the last day her mother was alive. In the memory, her mother begins to fight with T. Ray as she cleans out a closet.
Who is Lily's mother?
Her father rarely talks about her real mother, Deborah. Lily keeps everything she has of Deborah’ s in a small tin buried in the orchards: a photograph of her mother in front of an old car, a pair of white cotton gloves, and a small wooden picture of a black Mary with the words “Tiburon, S.C.” written on the back.
What does Rosaleen warn Lily to do?
Rosaleen warns Lily to watch out for the insects, but Lily disregards Rosaleen’s warning and continues to try to capture them. These actions demonstrate Lily’s determination, strong character, and willingness to expose herself to danger.
What chapter does Lily get released to her father?
Lily will be released to her father, a fate almost as bad as Rosaleen's. Analysis. Chapter 1 of The Secret Life of Bees introduces the reader to the point of view, setting, exposition, and themes that will be integral to the novel.
How old is Lily from The Bees?
Looking back at the summer of 1964, Lily, the fourteen-year-old narrator, realizes everything changed that year. It was the first time the bees came swarming in her bedroom, a sure sign of death according to the black housekeeper, Rosaleen.
Why does Lily lie to her father?
Lily lies to her father so that he'll let her accompany Rosaleen without asking any questions. The next morning begins with Lily's birthday and ends in an unexpected assault. Rosaleen brings an angel food cake with fourteen candles for Lily's birthday.
Why is Lily uneasy about Rosaleen?
When Rosaleen decides to register to vote, Lily becomes uneasy, because she has heard from a church deacon that the white world will find ways to keep this from happening. In fact, a man from Mississippi was killed for registering. Finally, Chapter 1 introduces ideas that will appear later in the story.
What happened to Lily after she left the peach stand?
After she leaves the peach stand one day, Lily returns home and sees Rosaleen watching President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act on television. Before Lily starts school, her father talks to her about her mother's death. When Lily tries to explain that she remembers that day, T. Ray gets angry.
Why is Lily encouraged by her teacher?
Lily is encouraged by some and discouraged by others. Because Lily's verbal aptitude score is high, her teacher, Mrs. Henry, encourages Lily, telling her she can be a college professor or a writer. Prior to this support, Lily thought she might possibly make it as far as beauty school.
What is the most important idea introduced in Chapter 1 of Sylvan?
The one story she knows about her mother — that of not being able to kill or hurt bugs — will also be a thread that is embellished later. Rosaleen's protection of Lily will also continue, even when they are no longer in Sylvan. But the most crucial idea introduced in this chapter is the understanding that this will be a coming-of-age novel, so that Lily will mature through adversity and challenges before the novel ends.
What is the secret life of bees?
As a coming-of-age story, or bildungsroman, The Secret Life of Bees follows a common narrative structure known as "The Hero's Journey, " outlined by scholar Joseph Campbell in his Hero with a Thousand Faces. In Chapter 1, Lily begins to leave behind the world she knows—her unhappy home with her father. She is "called to adventure" by the bees that appear in her room—bees being the novel's primary symbol—as well as by the injustices that befall Rosaleen. Over the course of the narrative, the reader can expect to witness Lily's transformation from lost, motherless child to self-assured young woman.
What does Rosaleen tell Lily about bees?
When bees begin swarming in Lily's room, Rosaleen tells Lily that "bees swarm before death." Lily thinks the bees have come to change her life. T. Ray doesn't believe there are bees in Lily's room, so she catches some bees in a jar as proof.
What happened to Lily and Rosaleen in Sylvan?
As Lily and Rosaleen enter Sylvan, three men playing cards insult Rosaleen. She pours out her snuff jug, filled with spit, on their shoes. They assault her and call a policeman, who arrests Rosaleen for "assault, theft, and disturbing the peace." Lily and Rosaleen get into the police car.
How did Lily Owens' mother die?
Ray Owens, and Rosaleen Daise, her black caregiver. Lily's mother died 10 years ago from a gunshot wound following a physical altercation with T. Ray. Lily's memory of the event is hazy, but T. Ray has told Lily that she killed her mother when a gun accidentally fired in her hands. T. Ray cares only about his dog and the peach orchard he owns. Lily has few friends, but her teacher, Mrs. Henry, told Lily she could be a "professor or a writer." Soon after getting her period at age 12, Lily found a bag containing a photo of her mother, her mother's white gloves, and a picture of a black Mary. On the back of the picture, someone has written "Tiburon, S.C."
Where does Rosaleen stop to rest?
They stop to rest at the Baptist church Lily attends with her father. Rosaleen has her own made-up religion, "a mixture of nature and ancestor worship." Lily is reminded that Rosaleen isn't supposed to be inside the white church when they encounter the minister, Brother Gerald. Rosaleen takes two paper fans from the church.
When does the Secret Life of Bees start?
The Secret Life of Bees Summary and Analysis of Chapters 1 and 2. The book opens in the summer of 1964 with Lily Owens, age fourteen, lying in bed watching bees fly into her room. She recalls her mother’s death, which occurred when Lily was four years old.
How does Lily's character develop?
Lily’s character is developed in these chapters as a child who has suffered a rough past. She not only has lived through the traumatic event of her mother’s death, but she also feels tremendous guilt for causing her death. She remembers enough to know that she bears some responsibility, although she has never understood why her mother had been gone and was packing. Meanwhile, her father, T. Ray, is abusive and cold. These aspects of her family life help the reader understand why Lily is so sad and a bit peculiar. She expects disappointment, and she has come to accept that she will not grow up to become much. It is not until her teacher, Mrs. Henry, intervenes and supports her that she starts to see herself as having a productive future.
What does Rosaleen tell Lily?
Rosaleen tells Lily that she will be registering to vote on the Fourth of July. Lily begs Rosaleen to take her along. Lily gets permission from T. Ray under the pretense that she is going to town to buy female sanitary supplies, a topic that T. Ray avoids. That night, Lily attempts to let her bees go.
What does Lily see in her room?
During nights alone in her room, Lily sees swarms of bees entering her room. The threat of being stung scares her, but she finds the sight of so many bees amazing. She runs to wake up T. Ray to show him the swarm, but when they return back to Lily’s room, the bees have disappeared, which annoys T. Ray.
Why does Lily want to travel to Tiburon?
Lily makes a goal of traveling to Tiburon one day , for she wants to go everywhere her mother had ever been. Spending afternoons selling peaches for T. Ray from a roadside stand, Lily is consistently bored, but she is not allowed to bring books to entertain her.
Why does Lily sneak into the hospital?
At the station, Officer Gaston informs Lily that Rosaleen is at the hospital because she had “fallen and hit her head.”. Lily heads to the hospital, despite warnings from Officer Gaston that she will not be permitted to see Rosaleen. Lily sneaks by the officer stationed at the hospital and finds Rosaleen.
What is Lily's mother's name?
Lily’s mother’s name was Deborah, a name that T. Ray refuses to say. Lily has been able to learn very little about her mother. Lily has often missed her mother during specifically feminine moments like buying a bra or getting her first period. Lily does find relics of her mother in her attic: a small bag containing a photo of Deborah, a pair of white gloves, and a small wooden picture of a black Mary with “Tiburon, S.C.” scratched into the back. Lily has kept her mother’s belongings buried in the backyard. Lily makes a goal of traveling to Tiburon one day, for she wants to go everywhere her mother had ever been.
What does Lily's teacher tell her?
Lily's teacher tells her that she is too intelligent for beauty school and that Lily should be a professor or writer.
What page does Lily accidentally shoot her mother?
On page 6-8, Lily implies that she accidentally shot her mother with the gun she picked up.
Why does Lily pick at her scabs?
Lily picks at her scabs, worries about how she looks, and wonder why the other girls whisper about her. She feels like she is trying to act like a girl, but does not really know how to be one because she did not grow up with a mother.
What does Lily alludes to?
Lily alludes to Mr. Khrushchev and the fallout shelters. People were afraid at that time that the Communists in Russia would drop atomic bombs. Lily think a bomb may have been dropped.
What chapter is the Secret Life of Bees?
The Secret Life of Bees: Chapter 4. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Secret Life of Bees, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Another selection from the bee book explains that honeybees are mostly female—males are born and raised, but only when their presence is required.
What does August tell Lily about her honey farm?
August tells Lily that her usual assistant, a teenager named Zach, is on vacation. When Zach returns, August, Lily, and Zach will work together to make the honey.
What does August leave Rosaleen and Lily to do?
August leaves Rosaleen and Lily to sleep in the honey house. When they’re alone, Lily urges Rosaleen not to say anything about Lily’s picture of Mary . It doesn’t take long for Lily to see that her preconceptions about black people are racist and condescending.
What does Rosaleen say to Lily Owens?
One statue, about 3 feet tall, catches Lily’s attention—it seems to say, “ Lily Owens, I know you down to the core.”.
What does Lily realize when she listens to August?
Now, she can see how foolish she was to believe this: August is obviously an intelligent, capable woman. August leaves Rosaleen and Lily to sleep in the honey house.
What is the first impression of the Boatwright house?
Our first impressions of the Boatwright house are of a boisterous, self-sustaining community (like a beehive). There are only women living in the Boatwright house (supporting the gist of the epigraph for this chapter), suggesting that Lily will find more maternal figures like Rosaleen.
What does Lily find in August's house?
The next morning, Lily goes for a walk around August ’s house. She finds a stone wall with hundreds of small bits of paper sticking in the cracks. Lily takes one of the pieces of paper and reads the message written on it: “Birmingham, Sept. 15, four little angels dead.”.
Why did Tiburon bury things in the orchard?
The back of the picture said "Tiburon, S.C.". She buried these things in a tin box in the orchard to prevent her father from finding them. She also reminisces about working for her father, which involved selling his peaches in a stand by the side of the road.
What did Rosaleen tell Lily?
The next morning, Rosaleen told Lily that she was going to walk into town the next day, and Lily begged to tag along so she could get out of the house on her birthday. Rosaleen informed Lily she was going to register to vote. The next day they set out together as planned.
How old was Lily when she was working at the peach stand?
Now we're back to Lily as a 14-year-old on the day she was working at the peach stand. When she got home, she found Rosaleen watching President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law.
What are the themes in The Secret Life of Bees?
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Secret Life of Bees, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Race, America, and the 1960s. Mothers and Daughters. Religion, Guilt, and Forgiveness. Lying, Storytelling, and Confession.
What year is the book Bees?
The year is 1964. An unnamed narrator sits in bed and watches bees flying around the room. The narrator, a 14-year-old girl, thinks back on everything that’s happened to her that summer. She compares the bees in her room to angels, coming to Earth to right the world’s wrongs.
What does Lily fantasize about?
Lily often fantasizes about Rosaleen becoming white and becoming her “real” mother, or else imagines herself becoming a “Negro orphan” and being adopted by Rosaleen. Lily changes a lot during the novel, and it’s important to understand what kind of person she is before she embarks on her adventures.
What is the parallel between Lily and the bees?
The parallel between Lily’s life and the “lives of bees” is clear here: Lily is trapped in a tiny, community and unhappy home situation, just as the bees are trapped in their jar. In the evening, Rosaleen tells Lily that she’ll be in town tomorrow, rather than coming in to clean the house.
What does the narrator see in the room?
The narrator sees a swarm of bees entering her room, and she runs to wake her father. When T. Ray surveys the narrator’s room, he finds no bees, and angrily tells the narrator—whose name, we learn, is Lily Owens —“this isn’t funny.”
What is the overarching characteristic of Lily's community in South Carolina?
The overarching characteristic of Lily’s community in South Carolina is that everyone should know their place. Thus, blacks should accept that they’re second-class citizens, Lily should do her job instead of reading and trying to go to college, etc. Kidd shows how the community in Sylvan beats these lessons into people’s heads as they grow up. It’s inspiring that Lily continues to feel a strong ambition to get out of Sylvan and study writing, considering that almost everyone around her wants her to give up this dream.
What is Lily's only memory of her mother?
Lily ’s only memory of her mother ( Deborah, as we learn later) concerns the day of her death, December 3, 1954. Her mother was walking through the house, packing a suitcase, when T. Ray walked in and began arguing with her. Lily overheard their yelling, but can’t remember what the argument was about, exactly. Suddenly, Lily’s mother ran to Lily and held her in her arms—then, T. Ray pulled her mother away. Lily remembers her mother waving a gun at T. Ray, and then T. Ray snatching the gun. Lily remembers picking up the gun when her father dropped it, and then a loud gunshot, and then silence. Lily sometimes imagines that she is responsible for her mother’s death.
