Characters
Lily thinks of this character as a stand-in mother, but she is also the housekeeper for her and T. Ray.
Who is Rosaleen?
This is the year in which the story is set.
What is 1964?
This animal species is a central symbol in the book, representing a strong female community.
What are bees?
This literary device is used when the author includes historical events, like Martin Luther King's arrest.
What is allusion?
This is the harsh punishment T. Ray forces Lily to endure.
What is kneeling on grits?
This character is the abusive father of Lily, and he owns a peach farm in Sylvan, South Carolina.
Who is T. Ray?
This is the reason Rosaleen initially goes into town on the Fourth of July, which ultimately leads to her arrest.
What is to register to vote?
This motif, which Lily lacks and seeks throughout the novel, is a key theme.
What is motherly love?
The comparison of the men at the general store to spectators waiting for a parade is an example of this.
What is a simile?
This is Lily's last name.
What is Owens?
This character is the deceased mother of Lily, who Lily accidentally shot as a child.
Who is Deborah?
This is the name of the town Lily sees on the back of the Black Madonna picture, which becomes their destination.
What is Tiburon, South Carolina?
This object is where Lily secretly keeps her mother's items.
What is a tin box hidden in the orchard?
When Lily compares her journey to Henry David Thoreau's search for autonomy, it is an example of this literary device.
What is a literary comparison?
Rosaleen gets into trouble for pouring this on a white man's shoes.
What is chewing tobacco juice/snuff?
This sister is a beekeeper and the matriarch of the Boatwright household.
Who is August?
This is the item Lily steals from the Frogmore General Store.
What is snuff?
Lily's fainting after touching Our Lady of Chains symbolizes this.
What is that she is not yet ready to fully engage with the spiritual significance of the statue?
This is the narrative point of view used throughout the novel (Narrator Perspective!).
What is first person (from Lily's perspective)?
This is the name of May's deceased twin sister.
Who is April?
This sister is prone to emotional outbursts and has a "wailing wall" to deal with her sadness.
Who is May?
This is the reason the Boatwright sisters call their black Virgin Mary statue "Our Lady of Chains".
What is because she was repeatedly chained up by a slave master but always broke free?
The bees swarming in Lily's room at the beginning of the novel foreshadows this.
What is Lily's eventual connection to beekeeping and the female community at the Boatwright house?
This device shows a character’s emotional or psychological struggle within themselves, seen in Lily’s feelings of guilt and confusion early in The Secret Life of Bees.
What is internal conflict?
This is the name of the Boatwrights' house.
What is the pink house?