Structure of the novel
The Secret Life of Bees has a linear structure, where the story follows a straight, chronological line. There are sections in which we learn about the past, which is central to the story's plot, but we see the past through the "present" narration of Lily, Rosaleen, and August.
The action of the book includes many instances of conflict and resolution. What is the central conflict of the book? People might disagree about this. One important conflict that is resolved is Lily's understanding of her mother. Another is her struggle to mature. Certainly both are connected. Rosaleen's voting rights create conflict as well, and that conflict, as well as Lily's need to "find" her mother, motivate the plot. On a broader note, the central conflict may be the struggle for freedom.
Key Facts
Narrator
Fourteen-year-old Lily narrates the novel in retrospect, from the house where she now lives with the Boatwright sisters.
Point Of View
Lily narrates the novel in the first-person, describing the events she experiences from her unique perspective and retelling the stories others tell her in the same manner.
Tone
Lily’s tone resembles the tone a child would effect when narrating a story in his or her diary, except with less self-loathing and more romantic language. Kidd relies on vivid imagery and poetic devices to help elevate the tone.
Protagonist
Lily Owens
Major Conflict
Motherless Lily lives unhappily with her emotionally detached father, who claims that Lily, as a small child, accidentally killed her mother. When her black maid - and only friend - Rosaleen gets arrested for confronting three racists, Lily decides to break Rosaleen out of jail. Together they run away to a place Lily suspects her mother once spent time.
Rising Action
Once the Boatwright sisters take her in, Lily must come to terms with the reality of who her mother actually was. Meanwhile, Lily struggles to understand the importance of the surrogate mothers she has found in Tiburon.
Climax
The book has a string of climaxes that occur in rapid succession. First, Lily’s sweetheart, Zach, an African American, gets arrested for being with a group of friends when someone throws a glass bottle at a white man. Immediately after, May Boatwright commits suicide when she hears the news about Zach, and the other two Boatwright sisters (August and June) begin to mourn their loss. At the same time, Lily finally confesses to August the truth about her past, namely that she killed her mother and broke Rosaleen out of jail.
Falling Action
Lily confronts her father, T. Ray, and August convinces him that Lily should stay in Tiburon.
In this interview with the author of The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd discusses growing up in the American South in the 1960s, the process of writing the novel, and her interest in the history of Black Madonnas.
Academic Paper - The Secret Life of Bees
This academic article provides a summary of the novel, including details regarding the setting and characters.
