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The Secret Life of Bees - Lily's Story Essay Example

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The Secret Life of Bees - Lily's Story Essay Example
I read “The Secret Life of Bees” and the main character is Lily Owens.

Lily Owens is a 14 year old girl who runs away from her abusive father because he treats her very badly, and because he lies to her about her past. Lily’s mother died when she was just 3 years old, and Lily hardly remembers anything about her mom, but what she does remember, is that Lily was the cause of her mothers death, but it was an accident. Lily found a few of her mothers’ belongings, and she keeps them with her all the time, since they are the last things she’ll ever have from her mom. Lily lives her whole life blaming herself for the death of her mother, her mom was the only thing Lily loved, and she had been the one who took her away. The day Lily runs away from her dad is the day she goes to Tiburon, South Carolina. Lily found “Tiburon, SC” written on one of her mothers’ old photographs, and she has hopes that she’ll find out about her mother’s past by going to Tiburon. When she gets to the town, she finds a picture of a black Mary pasted on jars of honey, it’s the same picture her mother had “Tiburon, SC” written on. Eventually, the jar of honey leads Lily to a house of 3 colored women; the Boatwright sisters. The Boatwright’s accept Lily as part of their family, allowing her to live with them, and they all adapt a relationship with each other. It was as though they were family, a perfect family. While Lily stays with the Boatwright’s, she is taught how to work with bees and how to make honey. August Boatwright, the oldest sister, is in charge of the honey-making, and she teaches Lily all there is to know about bees, and about love. It was like August had adopted Lily, and Lily adopted August, too. Throughout the story, Lily is taught all about family, hope, and love. She becomes very close with the Boatwright’s, closer than anyone had ever expected. When things become bad and Lily’s past haunts her, she opens up to August and tells her why she had come to Tiburon,

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