Secret+Life+of+Bees+5W

Group Members:
Abbey R Marion T Rachel M Maria H Molly C Abbie R*

Factual/Clarifying Questions: 1. Why does Lily finally call T. Ray "Daddy" (especially because when they were fighting in the beginning of the novel, she never called him that and rather told him that she hated him). Also, why does this cause T. Ray to back off and begin to help their relationship? Finally, if all Lily needed to do was call T. Ray "Daddy," in order to help their relationship, what would Deborah have needed to do in order to help her relationship with T. Ray? 2. Why does T. Ray finally decide to let Lily stay with the Boatwright family after he has been such a terrible figure in Lily's life for so long? What inspired this change? 3. What is the significance of August's discussion of “motherly love” with Lily? Does August practice what she preaches?  4. Is there any specific reason as to why may always sings "Oh Susana!" whenever she is about to cry? Did it have anything to do with April? 5. When Lily goes into town with Zach and calls T. Ray from the lawyers office, why did she do that? Was she expecting him to eventually find out where she was?  Characters/Narration: 1. Would the story line differ if the narrator was older than a teenager? 2. How does Deborah (Lily's mother) act as a "guardian angel" as Lily grows older? 3. What is the relationship between Neil and June? 4. How was May so easily able to feel for others and their sadness?

Setting: 1. How does the setting in South Carolina emphasize the theme of racism? 2. In an age in the American South when African Americans experienced high predjudice, why/how were the Boatwright sisters so independent, successful, and accepted. Also, why were the Boatwright sisters treated so differently than Rosaleen? 3 In what ways does Sue Monk Kidd set //The Secret Life of Bees // in a specific time and place? How does this tie into Lily's experience of coming-of-age? 4. What is the significance of the little pond that lily goes to the first night of being with the Boatwrights? Was it meant to be a hint as to what would happen with May?  Themes: 1. How does Lily find love at the Calendar Sisters house? 2. How much influence does the racial theme have on the novel's plot (Lily's relationship with Zachary, Rosaleen's beating, etc)? 3. What is the significance of the female communities in the novel? How do they help Lily grow up? 4. Is //The Secret Life of Bees // <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> a religious novel? (considering all the religious symbolism) <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> Style of Writing: 1. Is Lily's narration mature for her age? 2. Could some people find the book racist (not in the point of view of Lily, but in general)? 3. Who else thinks the added bee information at the start of each chapter is cool?

Secondary Criticism/ Commentary: "The archetypal mother: the Black Madonna in Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees" http://go.galegroup.com.prxy2.ursus.maine.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=LitRC&userGroupName=maine&tabID=T001&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA149850932&&docId=GALE|A149850932&docType=GALE

Discusses the significance of the black Mary figure.

Quotes to note "Finally, sometime close to midnight, when my eyelids had nearly given up the strain of staying open, a purring noise started over in the corner, low and vibrating, a sound you could almost mistake for a cat. Moments later shadows moved like spatter paint along the walls, catching the light when they passed the window so I could see the outline of wings. The sound swelled in the dark till the entire room was pulsating, till the air itself became alive and matted with bees. They lapped around my body, making me the perfect center of a whirlwind clod. I could not hear myself think for all the bee hum." (Page 4)

"You could say I'd never had a true religious moment, the kind where you know yourself spoken to by a voice that seems other than yourself, spoken to so genuinely you see the words shining on trees and clouds. But I had such a moment right then, standing in my own ordinary room. I heard a voice say, //<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open //<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">." (Page 41)

“There is nothing perfect,” August said from the doorway. “There is only life.” (page #, chap 12)

"'I call him T. Ray.' 'Not Daddy?' 'He's not the Daddy type.' 'what do you mean?' 'He yells all the time.' 'At you?' 'At everything in the world. But that's not the reason I left.' 'Then what was it, Lily?' 'T. Ray ... he told me my mother...' The tears rushed up, and my words came out in high-pitched sounds I didn't recognize. 'He said she left me, that she left both of us and ran away.' A wall of glass broke in my chest, a wall I didn't even know was there.'" (page 238)

"The wanting-her was still in me, but it wasn't nearly so fierce and raging as before. Pulling on her gloves, I noticed how tight they fit all of a sudden. By the time I was sixteen, they would feel like baby gloves on my hands, i would be Alice in Wonderland after she ate the cake and grew twice her size. My palms would split seams of the gloves, and I would never wear them again." (page 171)