English Year 10 - The Secret Life of Bees: Characters

As a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, The Secret Life of Bees presents the development and maturation of one central character, Lily Owens. Lily’s voice makes up the central consciousness of the novel.

August Boatwright is unique. Not only is she a black woman in the South who runs a successful business, but she is a black woman who also owns a great deal of property, is educated, has eschewed the conventions of marriage, and does not flinch or shy away from the opportunity to take care of a young white runaway girl.

Zach Taylor serves as a type of foil for Lily. Born and raised in Tiburon, and never without the love and support of the Boatwright sisters, he has grown up with many advantages. He is good at sports, handsome, intelligent, and hardworking—and he has been praised and paid because of these traits. However, as a black man in the mid-century South, Zach is at a disadvantage.

T. Ray is Lily's father, a bitter, cruel man who takes his anger out on Lily. The source of that anger is Deborah's abandonment. From August, Lily learns that T. Ray was once deeply in love with Lily's mother, but they were totally unsuited for each other in social background and personality.

Although she is already dead when the story begins, Deborah's influence is felt throughout the lives of Lily and her father.

Rosaleen is the only mother figure Lily knows for most of her life. She is the black housekeeper/nanny whom T. Ray pulls out of the fields to care for his daughter after his wife is killed.