The Secret Life of Bees Essay examples

In the text ‘the secret life of bees’ written by Sue Monk Kidd, an important theme that is conveyed is appearances can be deceiving. The author based this novel on her upbringing and experiences during the 1960s, which was when the white and African American races were segregated. In the text, the unique plot is during the 19600’s and is about a fourteen year old girl called Lily Owen whose mother died from a gun incident when she was four, and also whose father is distant and abusive. Lily escapes from her home with her African American housekeeper Rosaleen and journeys to the other side of town and lives with the Boatright’s (family of 3 independent African American sisters) to discover more (true) information about her mother, which allowed her to discover the truth and mature. The author makes the reader understand that during those times society forced the white raced children to class themselves as more superior compared to the African American people. This caused these children to be prejudicial towards the African Americans by only basing it on the colour of their skin (external feature. The author also makes readers aware that when we are deceived, we may not find out that we were deceived until we learn the truth, as Lily in the text did not fully know that her father deceived her until she discovered the truth about her mother whilst living with the Boatrights.

Prejudice can develop and can cloud over judgments when a person only focuses on another’s appearance. In the 1960’s, white raced children were brought up to believe that African American people were second- classed citizens, which made them develop an understanding that the world was logically made up that way. This allowed children to be prejudicial towards African American’s due to the colour of their skin (external appearance), without even considering their personality (internal features). In the text Kidd uses dialogue to make the reader aware of the racism from white raced children towards African American children -“At my school they made fun of coloured people’s lip’s and noses. I myself had laughed at these jokes, hoping to fit in”- this quote said by Lilly shows the reader that this sort of racist behaviour was logical and just a funny joke for the white raced children, which reflects the society’s role of causing them to become prejudicial against the African American citizens. However, then kidd continues that quote to show lily’s perspective of African American people now-“Now I wished I could pen a letter to my school to be read at opening assembly that would tell them how wrong we’d all been”. - this quote shows that reader, that once you get

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Secret Life Of Bees

Symbolism In The Secret Life Of Bees