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Ilexa Axelrod
Miss David
HELA 10
5 May 2016
Secret Life of Bees Timed Write
A young nation, the United States of America has had social revolutions that include
creating new civil rights regulations and the surge for the equality of women. Universally,
women have always had issues with men being thought of as superiors and the decision-makers.
The U.S. was socially behind other countries with womens demands. It was not until the Cold
War between the 1940s and 1980s that feminism became known and popular. It was during the
1960s that the roles of women shifted from being the caretakers to being the employees in the
workforce. The role of women completely pertains to Sue Monk Kidds, Secret Life of Bees,
whereas protagonist Lily lost her mother at a young age. The extent to which Lily excels as a
woman includes her fathers oppression, the first bee sting, and standing up for herself.
Lily is constantly harassed by her father, T-Ray. He tortures her, yells, and lies to her.
Making her kneel on piles of grits for hours is a constant punishment for the faults she has
committed. Before her fourteenth birthday, T-Ray makes her kneel on grits for what it seems
like forever. That was the spark that was ignited inside her to make the decision to run away
from home with her housekeeper, Rosaleen. Continual oppression causes a person to rebel and
revolt. Being treated with respect and being loved are common things one hopes and wants from
his or her family and community. Lily was living in an unwelcoming, negative place. By being
bullied for so long, she gathered enough courage to leave the horrible place which transcends her
femininity. Going from always following T-Rays commands to deciding to take a strong stance

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and leave is just like thought of women in America. Women had always been thought of as less
than men, and finally they had enough, just like Lily. The bullying had pushed her over the brink,
and she was finished for good and ready to move onto something better.
Before working with August and the bees, August explains to Lily how important sharing
and radiating love is to the bees. She does so until one day she gets stung by a bee. All she wants
is for someone to love her, and Lily thinks this set her back. However, August remarked that
being stung is a sign of being officially inducted into beekeeping. This immediately has a
positive effect on Lilys mood and strengthens her journey of becoming a strong woman.
Furthermore, the extent of this sting causes her to feel personally involved, which is something
she had always lacked. Being included in this phenomenon moved the plot, whereas Lily is
starting to gain more confidence which is vital to her development as an adult. This development
relates to her gender and the transcending of her role as a woman. Besides learning how to
become independent into a young adult, she also learns how to become a strong woman by
receiving pain and then learning how to deal with that pain, hence the bee sting. This sting
contributes to her realization that women are strong and self-sufficient individuals that have just
as much power as men.
The most significant part of the story when Lily exceeds beyond her gender is the first
time she stood up for herself against T-Ray. When he found her alone at the Boatwrights house,
he forced her to go back home with him. He was almost about to kill her when she screamed,
daddy, daddy! Its me, Lily! This moment was when she truly exceeded her limits of being a
woman. She, a fourteen-year old, stood up to a middle-aged, angry man without anyones help. It
was the atmosphere that Lily had been influenced while living in the Boatwrights house that she

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picked up on how to be strong as a woman. These female influences strengthened and expedited
her development into an adult.
At the beginning of the novel, Lily is a feeble, obeying girl that does what her father
commands. Through the struggle of kneeling grits was the true start to her development into a
strong woman. After the bee sting and looking down on her father instead of her father looking
down on her are the vivid moments readers see a huge difference in Lily as a growing woman.
She has always wanted to be loved by someone, and is something she has always looked for, but
it was surrounding her the entire time at her stay with the Boatwrights. The immense amount of
love and power August radiates influences the inhabitants living in the pink house. It is the
strength of women in the pink house that completely outdid Lilys development into a powerful
woman.

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