The Secret Life of Bees (pages 1-56)

Summary:
In this book, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd the exposition of this book the narrator Lily is an only child. She is about 14 years old lives with Rosaleen a nanny and her father. Lily and her father don’t get along. She addresses her father to T.Ray. Rosaleen is the only mother figure she has. Lily tells the audience that her mother has passed away when she was only 4 years old on December 3rd, 1954. She has these constant flashbacks of her mother. Lily her reminisce mothers beauty. She had thick, black curls that circled around her face. She had a motherly smell of cinnamon. She even thought her mother's name which was Dephora was the prettiest name she has ever heard. Lily then gets into details about that afternoon her mother died her parents were arguing. Lily was supposed to be in her room but she was by the door. She witnessed her father violently shake her mother. Her mother then walked towards the closet and pulled out a gun. T.Ray took the gun from Dephora and put it on the floor. Lily then entered the room and held the gun. After that there was an explosion in the room, then silence.
When Lily was getting ready for the first grade T.Ray confronted her and was getting ready to tell her what really happened to her mother. Lily told him everything that he remembered. Then, T.Ray told Lily that she shot her mother. It wasn’t on purpose because she was only four and she didn’t know better. Lily is known to be very smart in school. One day she told her teacher when she grows up she is going to be work with beauty. Her teacher told her she was to smart to go to beauty school. She should become a professor or an author of books. She loved to read and write poetry. T.Ray on the other hand didn’t approve of reading. If she was caught reading during the job he would be upset and tell her that she is wasting her time.

Quote:

“The queen, for the part is the unifying force of the community; if she is removed from the hive, the workers very quickly sense her absence” (Monk Kidd 1).
Reaction:

The quote is very symbolic because it explains how bees act when there leader the queen isn’t around. Lily’s mother Dephora was the queen of the house. Once the room became silent Lily and her father became ill and they have recognized their queen wasn’t around. I thought T. Ray was killed Dephora because when ever Lily would mention her he would have an attitude and have to throw something. Why would they leave the gun on the grown or why didn’t they take it from Lily when she had it in her hands. I think this could have been prevented.