Due 10/1/08
The Secret Life of Bees Speech
Imagine yourself as a white girl running away from home and traveling almost 100 miles by hitchhiking on a cantaloupe truck. Further, imagine living in the house of an African American woman at the height of the civil rights movement in 1964 in heavily prejudiced South Carolina. This is Lily Owens’ life, as described in the historical fiction of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (copyrighted 2002).
At the age of four, Lily witnessed her father, Terrence Ray (T-Ray for short), and mother, Deborah, in a heated argument. When the dispute reached its climax, Deborah pulled out a gun, but T-Ray knocked it from her hand onto the floor, where a bewildered Lily picked it up and accidentally discharged the loaded weapon at her mother, mortally wounding her. After the funeral, T-Ray’s already unloving relationship with his daughter took a definite turn for the worse, especially when he tried to find a replacement mom. His halfhearted search turned up a black woman named Rosaleen Daise, whom Lily calls her “stand-in mother.”
After fourteen years of interpersonal conflict, consisting of physical and emotional abuse from her father, Lily decides it’s time to move on in life. Before she can take action, however, President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law, and Rosaleen patriotically tries to make good her right to vote. As she walks into town to do so, the town’s deepest racist insults her. Rosaleen silently shows her true colors by pouring the contents of a spittoon over his shoes. He retaliates by beating her, and she is injured so badly she has to go to the hospital.
Several lies and half a day later, Lily stealthily rescues Rosaleen from the hospital and they thumb a ride to the town of Tiburon, South Carolina. Lily’s only reason for seeking solace there is because of her mother’s few remaining possessions, including a picture of a black Madonna with their destination’s name inscribed on the back. Once Rosaleen and Lily arrive, they find a small store selling Black Madonna honey with the exact same label Lily has. When Lily asks the store clerk where the owners of the honey business live, he inadvertently directs her to a new life of consolation and hope.
Thus begins the brand-new life of Lily Owens in the Pepto-Bismol pink home of encouraging August, down-to-earth June, and spunky May Boatwright, three African American women who accept Lily as a daughter, despite racial boundaries. It is here that she learns who she really is, what she can be, and finds the courage to make the decision of her life.
The overall theme of this book is to love and accept yourself and to accept others, no matter the color of their skin. The heart is what matters, not the outer shell, and May Boatwright, my favorite character, portrayed this message well. She was always so sweet and appreciative of everything. She even led cockroaches outside with a trail of marshmallows and graham crackers to avoid killing them. May was literally caring to a fault. As a result, she made a tragic decision, but left a lasting legacy that changed her sisters’ lives.
I chose this book on the recommendation by my grandmother. I had heard of the book and a movie version coming out soon. I wanted to know if the movie was worth seeing, and figured that reading the book would be the best way to form my own opinion, instead of reading someone else’s.
The theme of acceptance led me to love the morals of this story. I also appreciated the symbolic irony of the Boatwright sisters’ compassion for Lily, even though their social position was much lower than hers in that era. My favorite parts of this novel were the heartfelt characters, who were fully developed and woven into the plot.
I didn’t enjoy the inevitable examples of racism and prejudice included in the novel. Although they helped describe the South Carolina setting, I was ashamed of the actions of many of the white characters.
Overall, this was a great book to read. The characters were heartfelt, the setting perfect for the events, and the message authentic. If you enjoy historical fiction and want a realistic tale from about fifty years ago in the South, this book is one of the best,
especially when Lily faces life-changing decisions, losses, and hurt that could be anyone’s.
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Speech Notes:
Vocab poster: One of the words from my book was “Hereford cow.” This word is a noun, and is used to describe... The context from the book is...
Container: picked honey pot because of symbolism – sisters – income
Artifacts: Had three of Mom’s treasures
Picture – Mom feeding her;
Gloves – Wore while dating her dad;
Charm bracelet – Mom passed on to her
Honeycomb – showed all of the bees’ work for sisters
Jane Eyre – many parallels; one of, lost Moms when young
Ad: Read
Used bandwagon technique: bee’s “buzz about”, # of copies sold – everybody reading
Also used testimonial: USA Today’s review