The Secret Life of Bees (Pgs. 103-214)

Summary: In the second section of The Secret Life of Bees, the critical details start to be elaborated. Realizing soon after leaving that there really wasn't a place for a Negro and a little white girl to stay, both Lily and Rosaleen (Lily's African-American house mother) felt hopeless. Lily really didn't have a plan after leaving her father, she just felt the urge to go to Tiburon, South Carolina. The reason why Lily felt the need to go to Tiburon was because she thought that she could find out more about her mother. Lily didn't know whether her mother had actually traveled to Tiburon or not, she just knew that Tiburon was where she should look first. A series of minor events occur while Lily and Rosaleen are trying to find a way to survive. These events lead Lily and Rosaleen to an elaborate house that is owned by 3 African American sisters. The sisters take Rosaleen and Lily in their arms, without knowing too much about where they came from and their back story.
Quote: "August pulled her chair close to the statue of black Mary and sat facing us." (Kidd 107 ).
Reaction: The only way that Lily and Rosaleen found the 3 sisters was because one of Lily's mother's old pictures. In the picture that Lily has been basing her whole journey on, there is a picture of an Africa-American Virgin Mary. The missing piece to the puzzle connecting everything together was the same picture of the African American Virgin Mary on a jar of Honey at a store. Lily felt that these two pictures had to have some kind of connection because she didn't see too many African American Virgin Mary's, as opposed to white ones. These 3 sisters may be the key that Lily needs to finding out more about her mother.

The Secret Life of Bees (Pgs. 1-102)

Summary: The Secret life of Bees, written by Sue Monk Kidd, a New York Times best-seller is about a little girl that tries to find a piece of herself. The first section that I read seemed to pave the way for the rest of the book. In the first 6 chapters (the first section), a little girl named Lily Owens lives with her father and their African-American house mother, after the death of her biological mother. Lily Owens is introduced living in a rough environment with her father, he is constantly neglecting her needs as a growing girl, and she feels like she has nobody to turn to, except her African-American house mother. Lily constantly feels like she is blamed for her mother's death because her father insists that it was her fault. With nowhere left to turn after being placed in a difficult predicament involving racism, Lily finds herself escaping her hometown with her house mother, traveling to Tiburon, South Carolina. The reason for the specific escape to Tiburon, South Carolina instead of any other city is because on the back of an old picture her mother possessed (from the select few that were left), Tiburon was written.
Quote: "My first and only memory of my mother was the day she died." (Kidd 5).
Reaction: Growing up without a mother is difficult for a fourteen year old girl, who was only five when her mother passed away. Along with not having a mother to be her guide in life, Lily's father wants nothing to do with her. They [Lily and her father] are practically strangers in the same house. Occasionally they will speak to each other, but their conversations do not happen on a regular basis. As Lily tells her life story, the point of view is being told from innocent eye. Here is this fourteen year old that doesn't understand too much about racism, even though she has grown up around it all her life. What this first section reminded me of was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, where a little girl is going through life with such a naive mindset, guiding readers as her life picks up the pace.