The Secret Life of Bees 201-302

Summary:
After May died, everything in the house did not run as it used to. They held a vigil every day for about four days, which meant May’s body was in the house and they mourned for their loss. The sisters, August and June thought it would help them let some of the pain go by having their sister’s body in the house with them, it would allow for an easier transition from life to the afterlife. They ate, laughed and sang for May, and on the second day while they were around the house they found her suicide note near were they found her body when she died. The family, Rosaleen, Lily and the sisters knew that the letter was a reminder from May saying that she wanted them to continue living their lives, even if she wasn’t around anymore. This meant that June would have to give in and marry Neil, which eventually she agreed to doing. Zach and Lily’s relationship grew stronger; the only thing that limited them was the color of their skin, which Zach deemed would not be a problem after he finished “changing the world”. He promised her that after he makes someone out of himself, he would come find her and they would live their lives together. All Lily could do was hope and wait to see what happens in the future.

            After the celebration of Mary, known as “Mary Day” was over; Lily thought it would be a good time to talk to August about her mother Debroah. She found out that indeed, August did know her mother, but in fact she was Deborah’s housekeeper. All along August knew that Lily was Deborah’s daughter but never brought it up because she knew that whenever Lily was ready she would come to her and of course, she was right. Lily found out everything she needed to know about her mother, where she was born, all about her life, where she married T.Ray and what happened the last time August seen her mother. August also gave Lily a box of her mother’s belongings, but Lily couldn’t help but cry at the fact that her mom left her. After, she found out that her mom left T-Ray but it still didn’t make up for the fact that she left Lily behind as well. It hurt Lily that her mom left her with T.Ray and a neighbor, but when she saw a picture of her mom feeding her a big smile on her face, that sign was what she asked for all along, it showed her that her mom actually did love her.

            Rosaleen, once again tried to get her voters card and this time she actually succeeded in doing it. Lily, at first was angered by Rosaleen’s decision to try again because it was what brought them to Tiburon, South Carolina all along. She thought of why Rosaleen would ever do such thing as to endanger their protection in a small quiet neighborhood away from all the trouble.

            After, August and Rosaleen went out and August showed Lily what a queen less colony of bees would look like. She gave her a lot of advice on how to never give up and to always remember that you don’t need the statue of Mary to help you because you always have Mary in your heart, all you need to do it to look into yourself to find the hope that you need. This gave lily the security that she needed.

            A while later, a knock came at the door and she didn’t bother opening it because she was to busying writing in a new book that Zach left her by the door. When she finally opened the door, it was her father T.Ray standing at the door, talk about suspense! He found her from the collect call she made from Mr. Clayton’s office and with the help of his old secretary. He asked her why she was at these colored people’s house and when she explained how this was where her mother came after she left him, combined with the blue whale pin she was wearing that belonged to her mother, she started to beat her. The only thing that stopped him was when she said “daddy” that he noticed it was Lily and not his wife Deborah and all he had to say about it was that she looked just like her. He told her to come with him back home but she refused and he just left. Right when he was driving away she ran after him and asked him what really happened the day her mom died and he told her that she killed her mom, even though it was by accident. She had a good life after with the Boatwright family and others, but she couldn’t help but wonder when T.Ray would send her a gift saying “I love you”, but all she could do was wait and see.

Quote:

“I have more mothers than any eight girls off the street. They are the moons shining over me”( Kidd 302).

Reaction:
Even though throughout the whole book Lily was in search for who her mom was and was trying to fill in that empty whole she had inside that was left for the nurturing of the mother, at the end of the novel she knew that even though the people she met at Tiburon might not be her biological mothers, but they are the people who love and care for her and that’s exactly what a mother is, and she was very thankful for having them in her life.

The Secret Life of Bees 151-200

After she fainted during her time out with August they came back into the house because they thought the fainting spell might have been caused by her being hungry. When they ate as much as they could eat, Zach who was also eating dinner with them got up and went to go deliver some honey to Clayton Forrest’s office. Clayton Forrest was a lawyer who allowed Zach to look through some of his cases because Zach was an aspiring lawyer. Lily asked if she could go with Zach, even though they refused at first they eventually gave in into letting her go.

When they got to Claytons office, Zach introduced her to the people and you could tell that they were quite surprised that a young white girl would be staying with a black family. Mr. Forrest and Zach went into the room to discuss some cases. Lily to this time to call her father and talk to him. When he answered the phone, the first thing that he said to her was “Lily, where the hell are you”. He kept asking her many questions about where she was and told her about how much trouble she was in. The only thing that Lily asked T.Ray was if he knew her favorite color. He was very angry with the question that she gave him and told her that he was going to whip her when he found her and she hung up. She then decided to write a letter to T.Ray just so she could vent all the anger she had toward him and then proceeded to rip it up.

After she came home, a few days later she was in the kitchen and she noticed May making a trail of graham cracker crumbs and marshmallows to guide the roaches out of the house instead of killing them. She remember what T.Ray said about how her mother used to do the exact same thing. When she asked May if she knew her, May said she did and it caused her to have one of those crying fits that cause her to go out to the Wailing Wall. Lily thought of what might have happened to her mother that caused that reaction from May.

The next Friday Lily and Zach went out into the town. She noticed that when they got to town there were many whites standing outside waiting for this white man to show up with this colored women. When Zach’s friends came they started causing trouble and one of them even threw a bottle at a white man’s nose causing it to start bleeding. When none of the boys confessed about how threw the bottle they all ended up going to jail and Lily ended up having to walk all the way home by herself. When she came home she saw everyone in the family sitting around in a circle talking with very sad and angry looks on their faces. They visited Zach in the jail and you could see it was a very horrible place to be in. It smelled and Lily wasn’t evened welcomed in because of the color of her skin. They let her in because of her saying that she was a family friend. When she and August saw Zach, Lily was quiet and the other two did all the talking. The only thing Lily said to Zach was that she would write everything in the book that he gave her.
 Of course, they hid everything from May because of her disorder. But one day, when the phone rang and she answered it she found out the truth from Zach’s mother. When May found out she was very silent and fainted. When she woke up again she asked for some time alone at her wall. Almost an hour past and they went out searching for her. Just then they found her, not at the Wailing Wall, but face down in a nearby river.

Quote:

"that you shouldn"t be ... well, lowering yourself"(Kidd 198).

Reaction:

           This quote shows how the officer who was interviewing Lily when May died was not familiar or ok with the fact that a young white girl was staying with an african american family. He actually thought that she was lowering her status by doing so. I think that his view of this matter is based on his opinion that is influenced by where he lives and the time period this was going on in.

The Secret Life of Bees 91-151

Summary:

As Lily is still staying at the house of August Boatwright and her sisters, she gets settled in with her daily life there. She is welcomed into everything that they did, and she was given responsibilities that she had to fulfill such as working in the Bee houses. One day while she and August were sitting out on the porch she looked out into the forest where she remembered seeing a stone wall that had a lot of papers around it. August informed her by saying that the wall belonged to May and that she used it to vent out her problems. May was not one of the ordinary people. She had a problem where every time she saw or heard about something sad she would start saying ,singing or humming a song called “oh Susanna” and she would just have a fit. The only thing that would help her was her wall which they called the “wailing wall”, just like the one in Jerusalem

Afterward, Lily and the rest of the sisters had a special service at their house instead of going to church on that Sunday. August who loves telling stories, told another about Mary (Jesus’s mother). It was really touching to all of the people that were there. They proceeded to touch this statue of their “lady of chains” which was the black version of Mary. All of the people touched its heart, and just as Lily was about to touch it, June who was August’s sister stopped playing the music. Lily stood their alone with her hand stretched out, not moving any closer. It brought back all of the memories of the rejection she faced. She fainted. Just by June doing that to her, she felt as if she was reminding her how she wasn’t one of them. And that added to all the pain that Lily was already tugging around. 

After that horrible day, she woke up and counted how many days she had been staying at the Boatwright’s house. Eight days, and she prayed that there would be more. This was when she met Zach. Zach was a young black boy who was a junior in high school. He came over to August’s house to help her around with “Bee Patrol”. Once they started talking, Lily knew that she wanted to be good friends with this boy. She started to develop some feelings for him and vice versa. He brought her a gift one day and told her that he liked her but she had to know that there were people in this world that would kill black boys that even looked at white girls.

The month of August came and it was obviously August (the person’s) favorite. She and Lily were working on putting labels on the honey jars. She asked Lily “what do you love”. It was amazing because no one ever asked Lily that question and she had never really thought of it. When she answered the question, Lily found out that she and August had many things in common that they would have never thought. As soon as they were done they went on “Bee Patrol” and learned lots of new things about bees. The only thing that ruined it was when she became so overwhelmed from her feelings and she fainted, once again.

Quote:

 “How come we couldn’t go back and fix the bad things we did” (Kidd 151).

Reaction:

Lily is becoming very frustrated with her life. She feels desperate and hopeless that she will not be able to do anything about the way her life is running. We all wish that we could just go back and change all the things that we don’t like about our life. But since that’s impossible, we just have to figure out a way to get over that and make changes for the better.

The Secret Life of Bees 42-90

Summary:

Since Lily’s father always mistreats her, she decided to take matters into her own hands and run away. She hated being somewhere where no one appreciated her presence. So she decided to go to the jail where Rosaleen was. Rosaleen was in jail because of an incident that happened between her and some white men. When she and Lily left the church, Rosaleen stole some fans. When the white men saw her and asked her where she got it from she said that she stole it from the church. When they got angry and started shouting, she dumped spit that she had in a jar all over their shoes. They became furious and told her to clean it up and she refused. They started beating her and when the police man came he took her to jail. The sad part was when the policeman allowed the men to keep beating her just because she wouldn’t say sorry. Aren’t police men supposed to protect the people, but due to the fact that she is black, that probably doesn’t apply to her.

            After Lily went to the jail, she was told that Rosaleen was not there anymore and that she was at the hospital because of a minor concussion that she received from falling and hitting her head. Lily was not dumb; she knew that Rosaleen did not receive that concussion from falling. She then went to the hospital and rescued Rosaleen because she knew that if Rosaleen stayed there any longer those men would come back and finish what they started, which would be killing Rosaleen. Lily developed a plan and afterward the both ended up leaving the hospital without getting caught. They walked for miles, and ended up in Tibron, South Carolina with the help of a man that they received a ride from.

In the end after that long journey just to get away from her father, she ended up in this woman named August Boatwright house. August is a colored woman who lives with her sisters May and June. There named after months because their mom loved the spring and summer. But to get back to the point, August makes honey. She ended up in this house with the directions of a cashier at a store that she went to because she saw the honey jar near a black Mary, the same on that belonged to her mother. August welcomed Rosaleen and Lily into her home and allowed them to stay at her home. The only thing that they had to do was help around the house. This was very kind because it was dangerous for colored women to be seen with a young white girl.

Quote:

“But she’s white, August”(Kidd 87).

Reaction:

June Boatwright was against the whole idea of letting a young white girl stay over her house. The main reason was because of the color of her skin. It would not be ok if someone saw them together, especially during this time where segregation and prejudice was still very common. But August Boatwright did not care. She was determined to help this young girl because she knew that Lily would not be with her if she didn't need their help.

The Secret Life of Bees Pages 1-42

Summary:

The book I am reading is called The Secret Life of Bees by: Sue Monk Kidd. It is about Lily a young girl whose life started of in the most horrible disaster you could ever think of. She remembers when she was just four years old the horrific memory of her mother and father fighting and all of a sudden her mom dying from the accidental gun shot that Lily caused. It was the saddest thing, imagine killing your own mother? She had to live with this pain for the rest of her whole life.

Lily could not get over the fact that her mother died because of her. It was strange how every night in her room bees would swarm and fly around her bedroom. When she asked Rosaleen who was her “stand in mother” what it symbolized, she said “Bees swarm before death”. So very night after, Lily would lie in her bed and think about who would be the next person to die in her life. She wished that it would be her because she thought that she had nothing to live for. She believed that her father might not even care if something might have happened to her and she died. Lily felt that the best part of her dying would be that she would be able to spend some time with the mother that she was never able to bond with. Being with her mother Deborah would allow for her to say sorry for what she has done and telling her about how hard life was with her father whom she called T.Ray because she thought the word” father” didn’t fit him well.

            Her father was very cruel and had a lot of hatred toward her. She didn’t really know why, but he seemed to ignore her presentence even when she was talking to him. He also had some of the cruelest punishments, like making her get on her knees and kneel on top of grits. It was one of the punishments he gave her for doing the wrong thing.

            Rosaleen, Lily’s “stand in mother” was the only person that Lily felt really cared about her. That thought was proven to her when Rosaleen stood up to Lily’s father about letting Lily keep the chick that she had brought for her. This really meant a lot to Lily because the most difficult thing she thought could happen was standing up to T.Ray.

Quote:

“People who think dying is the worst things don’t know a thing about life” (Kidd 2).

Reaction:

 Lily’s life was very hard. Hard would not even be a good word to describe all of the hardships she had to face in her very young life. Her mother dying was just one of the things that contributed to the whole problem. This quote demonstrates the frustration she has with her life and how dying might not be so bad with all that she has to face.

Chinese Cinderella (185-205)

Summary:

When Adeline sent her play, she kept coming back to the teacher wondering if she had any news about the competition. The teacher would always respond to her by saying not to lose hope and to have patience. Adeline was very anxious to be able to get the news because she would be very proud to tell her grandfather this accomplishment she made all because of him. While she was outside playing with her friends, one of the teachers came to get her and told her to come with her. She didn’t want to go because she wanted to be able to finish the game, but the teacher said that the chauffeur was waiting for her. Since she was never picked up from school, she wondered what was wrong and the teacher told her to go comb hair and wash her hand because she was going to be going home, her grandfather Ye Ye died.

            At the funeral, Adeline was the only one crying. Aside from her Aunt Baba, her grandfather was the only person she had left and was one of the only people that ever cared for her. She was sad, because her grandfather would never be able to see how much influence her had on her. Before, she left her mother Niang told her that she needed to get a job when school ended because her father had too many children and would not be able to support all of them so he would not continue to pay for her school expenses. She became very depressed with the combination of her grandfather’s death and worrying about her future.

Once again, the teacher came looking for Adeline telling her that the chauffeur was here again to take her home. She went to her parent’s new house, and went to go to her father who wanted to talk to her. He showed her the newspaper which had her name written on it stating that she had won the competition. She received a medal and a cash prize and was also congratulated for bringing honor to Hong Kong. Her father told her about how one of his colleagues was telling him about it and how proud she was to tell him that she was his daughter. Her father informed her that she would be going to England with her brother this summer to study in medical school. She agreed and thanked her father for the wonderful opportunity. In the end her Aunt Baba sent her a letter. She told her about how happy she was of Adeline being able to go to England. Her aunt reminded her that she would always be there for her, even if they are not together and to read this letter over whenever she was discouraged because it would give her hope. In the letter was a story about a little girl named Ye Xian who lived during the Tang dynasty. Her mother also died, and was mistreated by her mean step mother. She was talented and even with all of the obstacles she faced, she was able to be successful. Aunt Baba said that Adeline and Ye Xian are similar because even with all the hard times, they defied all odds and triumphed.

Quote: “He looked radiant. For once, he was proud of me”(Mah 192).

Reaction: One of the things that Adeline wanted other than to go to England to study was for her father to be proud of her. She always tried so hard just to be able to stand out from the rest of her brothers and sister so her father would acknowledge her. On that day, two of her lifetime dreams came true. I don’t think she could have been any happier.

Chinese Cinderella (171-185)

Summary:

School was very horrible for Wu Mei, who is also known as Adeline. She felt very alone, since all the other students were visited by their mothers, and no one even thought about coming to see her. It was the last day of the term and the girls were all sitting together talking while they waited for their parents to come. They were having a lot of fun and when Adeline developed a headache her and her two friends Mary and Rachel went to the harbor and Adeline told them about all her aspirations. They made a pact together, promising that they would always be there for each other, wherever they are. After school was over and all the students left, Adeline was the only one that was left in school since her parents never even bothered to pick her up. She was very sick and had a high fever and even coughed up some blood. She was hospitalized and her friend Mary visited her all the time, and was basically her only visitor. When she a little better her father’s chauffeur came to get her and drove her home. Her “mother” Niang allowed Adeline to say at home with them until she recovered.

When she came home she immediately ran to her grandfather, Ye Ye. They caught up on the things. She found out that her older sister had a baby and her brothers were going to be able to go to England to study. After being told that, she became sad because it was always part of her dream to go study in another country. That dream of hers was always interfering with the fact that she is a girl and her parents would never allowed that. Her grandfather told her to have faith and to always have hope that she would have a better future. He reminded her that if she has hope and worked hard, she would be able to accomplish anything she wanted to and because of the belief that Ye Ye had in his granddaughter, she promised herself that she would work even harder.

            She went back to school after a week and all she did was sit in the library and just read. Adeline heard about this playwriting competition that was going to take place and she wondered whether or not she should enter. She went to Mother Louisa who was her teacher and asked her about what she should do and was given very wise advice and she took it very gratefully. She dedicated it to her grandfather, because she was the one who always believed in her.

Quote: “Genius is ten percent inspiration, ninety percent perspiration” (Mah 184)

Reaction:

When I read this quote, I immediately was taken aback by how true it was. This was an old saying that was said to her by Mother Louisa. What I believe it means is that you can be the smartest person ever, but if you do not work hard you will not be able to achieve the success that you have always wanted to, which is why you should always work hard.

Chinese Cinderella ( 117-171)

This time it all began with Wu Mei questioning her future. Her parents felt as though they couldn’t keep her any longer and were wondering where they were going to send her next. She went to school the next day feeling ashamed and scared. She was afraid of what the people would think of her and her new position and was wonderfully surprised when she noticed how friendly and kind they were being toward her. But everything didn’t always turn out good for Wu Mei. When she came home she saw the maid packing up all of her clothes. Her Aunt Baba came home early that day to say goodbye to Wu Mei and to remind her that with excellent grades she could become anything that she wanted to and promised each other many things before they set out into their own directions.

            Wu Mei was send to an orphanage in Tianjin. When she was on her way there she noticed that the airport was unusually crowded and all the people were flooding into one direction. Since there is a war with the communists, all the people are leaving Tianjin and are heading to Shanghai which is where they just came from. When the nuns heard this they thought that she must have done something very bad for her parents to punish her like this, but they didn’t know the truth. Week after week the people in the school were getting smaller and smaller until it was only Wu Mei left alone by her with the teachers in the now abandoned school. One day one of Wu Mei’s Aunts Reine came and took her out of the school and told her that they were taking her along with them to Hong Kong because Tianjin was no longer safe. During the Journey with Aunt Reine and her family Wu Mei felt very welcome. She described it as being as their third child. Since she was always used to being put down and not being treated equally, she was very appreciative of the family giving her the love and care that she always wanted.

            When she came back home, she was ignored by everyone except for her grandfather, Ye Ye. She put her stuff away in his room before Niang changed her mind again and sat with her grandpa and started reading the newspaper to him. She forgot some of the Chinese words and her grandfather became surprised. She replied by telling him about how she didn’t want to learn Chinese and thought that the only thing she needs to succeed was English. He then gave her a lecture about never forgetting her culture and where she came from, because however much English she knew wouldn’t change the fact that she was always going to be a Chinese girl. Afterward, she was sent again to another boarding school. She hated the fact that everyday people got eggs and their families came to visit them and no one ever came to see her. She hated being the only one who was alone reading a book in the library while everyone else was having a good time with their mothers, but she always remembered that she was the daughter that nobody wanted.

“You may be right in believing that if you study hard one day you might be fluent in English. But you will still look Chinese, and when people meet you, they’ll see a Chinese girl no matter how well you speak English” (Mah 151).

This quote by Grandfather Ye Ye demonstrates to us that no matter how hard or how bad your life may be you can change it to become a better one for yourself, but you cannot erase who and what you are to begin with. You can try to become someone that you aren’t, but when people look at you their going to see the real you not what you pretend to be.

Chinese Cinderella (55-116)

Summary: Currently in the book, Wu Mei see’s many changes that are taking place in her life at the moment. She had made a new friend named Wu Chun-mei and has since became good friends with her. Since Wu Mei is not allowed to get rides to school or get money to take the public transportation, she has to walk to and from school every day. When Wu Chun-mei sees this she offers to give her a ride but Wu Mei quickly denies because she knows the punishment that she would face in the future if she were to do that. Since Wu Chun-mei’s parents are educated, she is fluent in English and reads a lot of books that her parents buy her. One of the books allowed Wu Mei to borrow was called A Little Princess. This book became a large impact of Wu Mei because it essentially described her story and the things she faced. The book gave her hope for a better future because it talks about how the young girl in the story changed her life around through her own will power. Wu Mei took this to heart and wished that one day that would be her.

While Wu Mei’s father, Niang and some of her brothers and sisters left for Tianjin, the house seemed to have changed into a whole other environment. Everyone was happy and had a lot of fun. No one had to worry about being their best or having to fear something wrong was going to happen.

When everyone returned the whole house went back to normal. One of Niangs friends came to visit and brought along some gifts. When the children opened the boxes they realized that they were ducks. Each of the children were allowed to pick a duck and of course Wu Mei had to get the smallest one. She named it PLT which stands for Precious Little Treasure. PLT became Wu Mei’s best friend. She confided in it and told it everything since she felt that it was the only thing that she had that would actually listen to her. One of the most tragic things that happens in the story is when Wu Mei’s father is testing his dog Jackie’s obedience and uses PLT as the victim. Wu Mei had to watch as her precious little duckling was grabbed by Jackie who tore one of the duck’s legs out. It showed how no one in her family had respect for her, not even her own father. The only real person that cared for her was her Aunt Baba.

Quote : “Unwanted and unloved by my own parents! How long did it take for a person to die of shame?”(Mah 116).

Reflection: When Wu Mei won the elections for class president, all of the children in her class were proud and happy for her. Since she wasn’t allowed to go to people’s her friends thought that it might have been a good idea to just show up and Wu Mei’s house which was exactly what they did. When they showed up and Niang found out she called Wu Mei into her room and started to slap her numerously until she had blood coming down from her nose. Wu Mei was humiliated in front of her friends, especially because they all thought that she came from a loving family which is obviously the opposite from the truth. This quote shows the feelings that Wu Mei felt while this was happening to her and demonstrates the problems that she has to face on a daily basis.

Chinese Cinderella 1-55

In the book Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, a young girl known as Wu Mei which means fifth younger sister in Chinese faces many difficulties in her life so far. The problem roots from one place, which is her mother’s death. A couple of days after Wu Mei was born her mom developed a high fever and after a few weeks she died. Now most of the people in her family blame her for what happened.

After Wu Mei’s mother dies her father marries another woman and has two kids. They live in a large home accompanied by all her siblings from her mom’s side and also her stepmothers. Also living with them is the grandmother and grandfather and most importantly Aunt Baba. Aunt Baba is Wu Mei’s father’s older sister and is the only one that Wu Mei can trust in the whole house. Her Aunt is just like a mother to her and she loves her very dearly. All of her siblings tease and bully her nonstop. There was a part in the book where she received a medal from the teacher because she was doing so well in class. It was a very happy moment for her and even her father noticed which meant everything in the world to her. Her brothers and sisters ruined all of that for her by scolding her and putting her down even at such a happy moment in her life.

When Wu Mei’s grandmother died, it became very obvious that things in the household changed. The change that was demonstrated in the book was that the grandfather was not the head anymore, but was instead replaced by his son Wu Mei’s father and his wife, Niang. Niang was the evil stepmother like in all the Cinderella stories. She hated all the children that weren’t hers and she definitely proved it. When it was New Year’s she got all of them clothing that were out of date and very unfashionable while her children wore the newest western styles. When they decided to write an anonymous letter to their father, they found out that she was eavesdropping and threw away all the evidence. As a result Niang separated the oldest sister from the rest of the children by befriending her and turned her against her own siblings causing all the children to be hopeless.

“When I wrote, I forgot that I was an unwanted daughter who caused her mother’s death. Instead, I could be anybody I wished to be” (Mah 53).

Wu Mei had a very difficult life that she had to deal with every single day. The only time she was able to escape from that was through her writing. She talked about how she could become anything that she wanted to be in her writing, whether it was a hero or a female warrior that would rescue her loved ones from all harm. She didn’t have to be that little girl whose brothers and sisters bullied and felt unwanted.