An Analysis of The Secret Life of Bees
The novel The Secret Life of Bees is a story that takes place in South Carolina in 1964. The Secret Life of Bees is about a girl named Lily Owens who is abused by her father named T-Ray. T-Ray tells Lily that her mother never really loved her. In search to find out if her mother loved her she takes Rosaleen, her housekeeper, and goes to Tiburon where she finds the Boatwrights, three black sisters, who give her a home and tell her about her mother. This novel really focuses on the idea of “People can start out one way and once life gets through with them, they can turn out completely different”. The novel The Secret Life of Bees really illustrates the idea of “People can start out one way and once life gets through with them, they can turn out completely different” with the lives of May Boatwright, June Boatwright, and Lily Owens.
May Boatwright is the sister of August and June. When May was a child she had a twin sister named April. April and May were inseparable, they would do everything together. Whatever happened to one happened to the other like if May fell and got a bruise on her knee April would end up having a bruise on her knee”). They were always so happy together. Then, April fell into a deep depression and committed suicide. After she died part of May died too, ever since she died May has been very sensitive and prone to depression. Whenever she got sad she would sing a song called “Oh Susana” and go to a stone wall called the Wailing Wall. May eventually commits suicide because she can’t handle being depression prone. May started out always happy and cheerful with her sister but throughout the rest of her life she was depression prone and commits suicide.
June is a very dynamic character in this novel. June is the sister of May and August. When June first meets Lily she seems to not like her and is really stingy to her saying things like “You know she’s lying” (page 86). We later find out that June didn’t like...