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Xuan Lien

English 3 Honors

21 Sep 2023

Independent Book Essay

Characters in literature are the heart of the story, for a story to really have depth, a character goes

through the stages of development from events and challenges they face. The novel, The Secret Life of

Bees, told by Sue Monk Kidd is set in 1964, South Carolina. A young girl’s life is revolved around the

day her mother died. In the beginning of the novel, the character Lily, is determined whilst being hopeful,

but near the end, though her determination remains, she is shown to be more insightful.

Throughout the story, Lily is faced with uncertainty as to what happened the day her mother died

partially due to her father. T. Ray, an unkind man. In the beginning of the story, he has told Lily that her

mother was leaving her for good the day she died, but Lily refuses to believe it and thinks T. Ray is

making it all up as some sort of sick punishment. Ultimately, she decides that one day, after she

experiences an epiphany regarding her recent discoveries, she is going to run away from her home on a

journey to a place called Tiburon with her “stand-in mother” Rosaleen, as she calls her. What Lily

discovered was that this place was loosely associated with her mother from looking at a picture of the

Black Madonna which was once owned by her mother, with the back saying “Tiburon, South Carolina”

(51). Lily displays great determination in this scene because she desperately wants to know more about

her mother before the incident, and she will do anything to learn more about why shes been barred of a

mother her whole life. She is willing to leave behind everything shes known and run off just based on a

couple words. But she is excited about this new life, and she finally feels free from the constraints back at

home.

Hopefulness was the driving force that pushed Lily to make such a brash decision, but it is also

hopefulness that will help her find out the truth of her mother. Lily hopes that in running away to Tiburon,
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Xuan Lien

English 3 Honors

21 Sep 2023

she will get the answers she needs. Lily and Rosaleen make it to the pink house of the Boatwright sisters,

first meeting a person named August. But Lily lies about her reasons for suddenly showing up at the

home. She fears that if she tells the truth, she may not be welcome in their home and might be sent back

home to her father before she can get any answers (79). Lily is understandably staying cautious and

reluctant about answering questions truthfully because she needs to get on August's good side by

appearing more innocent, so in this case, lying might help her. During Lily’s stay at the house, she meets

a boy, Zach, with whom she develops an immediate attraction for. Zach is first introduced to help Lily

with bee keeping but she is obviously surprised that she is attracted to him, before she has thought that

“such a thing couldn’t happen” (125). This part in the story opens up something entirely new to Lily,

love. As the relationship develops, it also teaches her about other people’s lifestyles and cultures,

something she never would have been able to do back at home.

From the start of the novel, Lily has been shown to be very dismissive of authority, for instance

when she ran away despite disapproval from her father, and she also wasn’t able to better understand a

situation before acting on it. But continuing on, Lily goes into town to meet a lawyer for Zach, but she

can’t resist calling her father on the telephone and letting him know everything that has been on her mind

since shes left. She gets emotional and almost ended up writing him both a letter and an apology letter for

the first letter, but she did neither (159). The letters consisted of Lily telling her father off for not ever

caring for her and it symbolized how Lily was now apart from him. Lily’s relationship with her father is

one of the root sources of conflict due to the fact that there is a lack of emotional connection and

understanding between the two. Later on in the story, Lily finally opens up to August about her mother

and the real reason she came to Tiburon (235). This is huge for Lily as she was really uncertain of telling

the truth, but due to forming a connection with the new people she had met, she was able to trust them.

August confirms that Lily’s mother was indeed leaving her the day she died, also adding on that she had

known Lily’s true identity all along. But she comforts Lily, saying that everyone here loves her,
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Xuan Lien

English 3 Honors

21 Sep 2023

welcomes her, and that she shouldn’t believe that she is unlovable, nonetheless (251). In the end, Lily had

no reason to be uncertain about August’s intentions. She was shocked, mixed with a flurry of emotions

but more importantly, she builds her relationship with August, now almost that of a mother figure. Days

later, Lily’s father shows up at the house very angry and tries to take Lily back home. But some words

were exchanged, and she finds out the reason her father acted so horribly was because of resentment

towards her for killing her own mother. But he truly did once love Lily and her mother. Lily confronts her

father and is able to convince him to let her stay in Tiburon, “You never would’ve flowered with me like

you will with them.” Her father says in reply (300). In the end, Lily comes to terms with her mother’s

death, her relationship with her father, and she allows herself to better understand why certain things

occur. Lily gains a deeper understanding of the life she never understood and develops independence.

Lily will go through any lengths to get the answers she wants, she had one goal and she achieved

it. She left her bad home life, formed bonds with people, and she obtained the information on her mother.

Throughout the story, Lily changes as she displays great amounts of determination with her sense of

hope, and through learning about other people's way of life, she was more willing to open up and really

matured in the end.