Bees+2

**//The Secret Life of Bees//, group 2**

Summery: Summary: //The Secret Life of Bees//, by Sue Monk Kidd, takes place in a small town in South Carolina in the early 1960s. The book stars a white, 14 year old girl by the name of Lily Owens. Lily lives with her father, T-Ray, and is looked after by her housekeeper, Rosaleen. Lily's mother was accidentally shot and killed by Lily herself when she was only 4 years old. Ever since that day, Lily has wondered what her mother was like and strives to know the truth about her mother's past. One day, Lily and Rosaleen go to town to register to vote. While doing so, Rosaleen gets into a fight with some other white men and it sent to jail. During the short time when Rosaleen is in jail, Lily has some time to reflect and she decides that she needs to get away form her abusive father and find the answers to her burning questions about her mother. In doing so, she meets the Calender Sisters, who take her and Rosaleen in. During her stay, not only does Lily learn important information about her mother, but she also learns important life lessons such as: forgiveness, love, and friendship. Be sure to proofread.

Important Characters: __Lily Melissa Owens__ (narrator)-protagonist-14 year old white girl-lives with abusive father, T-Ray-lives on a peach farm-mother died when she was 4-Rosaleen, a black woman is her nanny __August Boatwright__-middle aged African American woman-lives in a pink house in Tiburon, SC-likes her independence-works as a beekeeper and honey/beeswax manufacturer-head of the three "calendar sisters" __Rosaleen Daise__-large African American woman-Lily's nanny-short tempered, determined-befriends May __Deborah Fontel__-Lily's Mother-accidently shot to death by Lily when she was 4 years old-left her husband and young daughter to live with August for support-attractive and lively woman __Terrence Ray (T.Ray) Owens__-Lily's father-peach farmer-wife left him and later died-became bitter and resentful-abuses Lily and makes fun of her-racist-unsocial __June Boatwright__-part owner of Boatwright farm-does not care for white people-she is a teacher and in her spare time plays the cello at a local hospital-stubborn and strong headed __May Boatwright__-becomes friends with Rosaleen-once had a twin sister, April, who committed suicide at a young age-spends time at her "wailing wall"-warm person Good job with character overviews.

Discrimination against characters: -Rosaleen was beaten by three white men while she was on her way to become a registered voter, she was also thrown in jail for fighting them back, everyone involved in her persecution was white and was not a fan of African Americans -White cops don't understand how Lily can tolerate living among African Americans -Zach and Lily cannot be together because they are different races -June did not like Lily at first because she was white -Lily was surprised when she learned that the Boatwright sisters worshiped an African American "Jesus"

How they dealt with the bias: - Rosaleen stood up for herself during her attack and would not let the white men treat her poorly - Lily ignores the white cops and stays with the Calender Sisters to prove that white and black people can live together in peace - Zach and Lily decided that when the time is right, they will be together because they don't care about what anyone else thinks - June learns to like Lily because she is a good-hearted person who means no harm - Lily learns to worship the same "Jesus" as the Boatwright sisters do

Kidd's attitude towards the story The author of this book is trying to get the point across that race should not matter in the grand scheme of things. She is trying to get people to realize that the color of a person's skin does not determine what they are like on the inside. Since Lily is a white person, some of the sisters felt that she was a self-centered, typical white girl when really, she had a big heart and was extremely helpful to everyone. On the other hand, some white people believed that the African Americans were stupid and could do nothing right,but the Boatwright sisters proved that stereotype wrong because they are very hard-working and smart. Kidd believes in equality between races and that everyone deserves to be treated in the same way.


 * Nice work overall! **