Lilly Character Analysis

When I was little, I wanted to run away. I packed my little hello-kitty bag with some chips, my blanket and a toy, then walked out the front door. Of course I wasn’t serious though; I got to the corner, then turned around and went home. I realized that my life wasn’t really that bad. Lilly from The Secret Life of Bees also ran away from home. The only difference is that she didn’t turn around. Her life really was that bad.

To begin with, Lilly accidentally killed her mother. She was only four and picked up a gun, accidentally pulling the trigger. Lilly has had to live with this one regret all her life. It has made her miserably sad almost all the time.  A common thing that Lilly does is picture what an excellent, enjoyable life she could have had if only she hadn’t picked up that gun off the bedroom floor. Her thinking is that even if T-Ray (her dad) had picked it up, he still wouldn’t have shot her.

While living with the fact that she killed her mother, at many points in her life it takes a backseat to the terrible abuse that T-Ray gives her. When she kneels on grits it makes her knees look like Swiss cheese there are so many marks. Kneeling on grits is just one of the horrible things T-Ray makes her do. He constantly abuses her making her life miserable is various ways. Another example is that he makes her sit by the peach stand all by herself in scorching heat without doing anything. She can’t even read for fear that T-Ray will find out about it. T-Ray’s constant abuse makes Lilly angry and sad.

Another reason why Lilly’s life might be bad is because of the segregation. Her nanny and closest companions August, May and June are black and she is white. I don’t think she realizes it, but there are various points in the book where she mentions things like that, For example, Lilly gets upset when her black friend Zack gets put in jail for something he didn’t do just because of his race. Lilly just doesn’t get the way things are between white and black people and it makes her angry.

Lilly escaped from a life of terror, pain, and sadness. She didn’t take a hello-kitty bag with her, but instead her closest companion and her strong mind. Lilly’s life was terrible, but her will to not turn around at the corner made it great.

Black Madonna Symbolism

What is the most important thing to you? Is it family or maybe something you’ve had since birth? For Lilly Owens in the Secret Life of Bees it is a picture of Black Madonna that belongs to her dead mother; to us it is just a picture, but to Lilly, it is much more than that. To Lilly this picture has a deeper meaning. It could be the key to finding out more about her mother. It is what she goes to when her no-good father abuses her. It is her one comfort object. It is what causes her to run away.

The picture of Black Madonna belonged to Lilly’s dead mother; on the back it has a note saying From August. Tiburon, South Carolina. She thinks that this could be a major key because her mother might have been there once. She thinks that some people might know about her; especially this August person. The note on the back of the picture leads me to my next point.

Black Madonna is part of the reason Lilly ran away with Rosaleen. There were other factors like Rosaleen going to jail and Lilly trying to break her out, her dad T-Ray getting mad at her, and just T-Ray's overall meanness in general, but it was mostly because of the picture. In my opinion the picture is the reason the whole story is alive. Black Madonna gave Lilly the motivation to learn more about her long lost mother and flee.

If it wasn’t for Black Madonna, Lilly would never be in the situation she is now. She would have never met August, May, or June. She would never experience the joys of honey, and she would never leave the wrath of the horrible, terrible, T-Ray. That is why the picture of Black Madonna has a deeper meaning than it appears.

               

Rosaleen's Point of View (Secret Life of Bees)

I think that Rosaleen's fenlings are mixed between pain, anger, and surprize. Maybe even a little revenge. Pain, because of the white men in the village who beat her up for pouring her spit on their shoes. Anger, one, at the white men for beating her up. Two, at Lilly, who dragged her away on an adventure I am not sure she even wants to take. Three, also at Lilly, for keeping lots of secrets from  her like why she won't tell August about her dead mom.Rosaleen might be experiencing surprize because of August, who took them in, total strangers. Not knowing what they were up to and obviously suspicious.
     The revenge part, I am not so sure about. She may want to get back at those mean men who caused her so much pain and put her in jail. (That sounds alot like her to me.) But she may want nothing to do with them what-so-ever. She might never want to see those awful men again.

If I Ruled the World

                What if you could rule the world? What if the fate of billions lay in your hands? Would you crack under the pressure? Well, I had the chance to try 4 years ago in 2007. I was 10 years old, barely starting 5^th grade. My teacher told us to write a short poem about whatever we wanted most in life. I thought long and hard about that question. And finally it was decided that I would really love to rule the world. My poem went like this:   What if I got the chance to rule the world?

                Of course it would be so great.

                Rising higher and higher until almost touching the sky.

                Loving every moment of it

                Doing what you know is right

It was nothing special, just an acrostic that I threw together, but Mrs. Wright loved it. I mean really loved it. She loved it so much that she entered it into a writing contest.