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.