In The Secret Life of Bees, the character Sue Monk Kidd creates in Lily is quite complex. Despite some of the tragedies in her life, Lily embodies a typical adolescent girl. She is dealing with a variety of insecurities in her life and at the same time is trying to find her identity and place in the world.

Dealing with insecurities is a fundamental problem that is faced by all adolescent girls. Sue Monk Kidd creates many instances in the novel that display Lily’s insecurities. One attribute that Lily is insecure about is her belief that she lacks femininity. Due to this insecurity, Lily does not have any confidence in attempting to make friends at school. She mentions her lack of friends when speaking about her father, stating, “He didn’t believe in slumber parties or sock hops, which wasn’t a big concern because I never got invited to them anyway.” Lily’s lack of a feminine nature clearly creates problems for her, as shown by her non-existent social life. Like most teens, Lily has insecurities that that get in the way of her daily life. Sue Monk Kidd displays this fundamental human quality to make Lily appear to be a recognizable human being.

Another fundamental human attribute that that Sue Monk Kidd displays in Lily is her wanting to search for an identity and a place in the world. Due to the many tragedies in her life, Lily feels as though she has an undefined identity and lacks a true home. When Lily is living at T-Ray’s house, she does not feel that she is in the right place. T-Ray and his oppressive ways prohibit Lily from blossoming into gifted woman she will later become. T-Ray shoots down Lily’s aspiration to become a writer and English teacher by not letting her even consider attending college. Lily explains that T-Ray thought college was “a waste of money for girls, even if they did, like me, score the highest number a human being can get on the verbal aptitude test.” Clearly, T-Ray’s house is not a suitable place for Lily to find her identity and she must therefore search for a new home in order to find her place in the world. Throughout the rest of the novel, Lily searches to find herself at the communal society of August Boatwright. Lily finally comes to the realization that the Boatwright house and honey factory is the ideal location for her to find her identity and place in the world. When T-Ray arrives to take her from the motherly Boatwrights, Lily remarks bluntly, “I’m staying here. I’m not leaving,” showing that she has found the proper place to blossom into her true self. Although Lily’s search for her true identity is never fully fulfilled, she finds a home to continue this search. In writing about Lily’s search for an identity, Sue Monk Kidd shows a fundamental human quality in Lily that makes her seem like a recognizable teenage girl. Like all teenage girls, Lily hunts for an identity, making her a character that they can directly relate to.

Lily embodies a typical teenage girl in her problems with insecurities and her search for a true identity. By writing about these qualities, Sue Monk Kidd created a character that appears to have fundamental characteristics of a real-life human being. The Secret Life of Bees is a powerful and useful novel partly due to the fact that Lily is a recognizable human character who adolescent girls can find some of themselves in. Through Su Monk Kidd’s careful humanization of Lily, she becomes an inspiration and role model for young women. (605)

Reading and Writing After the Bell

For many years, reading has been a significant aspect of my life, whether I wanted it to be or not. My family has always encouraged me to read and I have learned to love sitting down with a good piece of writing. In elementary and middle school, I considered any sort of reading too similar to school work and therefore only read when I was forced to do so by parents or teachers. Every since high school began, however, I have learned to love reading for pleasure, and I make attempt to read some sort of writing daily.

I read a wide array of types of writing. My personal favorite type of writing to read is periodicals. I enjoy reading newspapers to stay alert on the happenings throughout the world. Newspapers seem to directly connect me to various cities and countries where important events are taking place. Magazines are another periodical that I regularly read. I am particularly interested in politics so political magazines are among my favorite to read. I also enjoy sports and music magazines and read these genres whenever time permits. During the school year, I usually read a piece from a magazine or newspaper daily. The summer time is my only opportunity that time permits me to read books. I prefer non-fiction books, generally biographies of interesting individuals. Whether it is a book, magazine, or newspaper, reading is a noteworthy hobby of mine.

Similar to my enjoyment of reading, I also like writing my own work. During the school year, I write much more than is required from me for classes. As the editor-in-chief of the Eagle’s Nest, I usually write two or three articles for this magazine per issue. As the sports editor of the Active Voice, I also compose a couple articles per issue for this newspaper. I write for these publications because I enjoy researching and reporting on the sports events that are happening around school. Finding creative ways to report what I research is a fun component of writing for the school periodicals. During the summer, I find other ways to express my creativity through writing. For example, this past summer I kept a daily journal as I coached basketball at a camp in Los Angeles. Recording the happenings around the camp was amusing. This journal will also allow me to remember the summer of 2007 many years from now. Compiling pieces of writing such as this journal allows me to express my thoughts in a creative and enjoyable way. (418)