The Mary Of Chains In The Secret Life Of Bees

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As orated in the quotation above, the Mary of Chains serves as a great object of growth for Lily to find her own inner self and to be her own mother. In The Secret Life of Bees Lily struggles to find and connect with her mother throughout the novel. In the novel Lily continually prays to the black Mary as a way to cope with her inner troubles, including with herself and her mother. Lily continues to look at her past and dwell upon the fact that she doesn’t have a mother, and because of that Lily goes to great lengths to find out whatever she can about her mother. This drives Lily to a place of confusion where she doesn't know who she really is. This is because without her mother Lily feels as if somethings missing. As if Lily can’t be loved,…show more content…
Lily as the narrator of the novel is thoroughly honest and reliable, making for a good point of view to read from. Lily continually opens up about flaws she has and things she dislikes about herself. Lily even opens up about prejudice views she once had about African Americans “That's what let me know I had some prejudice buried inside me.” When Lily herself thought that because August and her sisters were black, they would be less intelligent than her because she is white. Lily openly making this realization about herself shows how Lily is a dependable narrator. Someone the reader can trust. Although there are positives to Lily being the narrator, there also inevitable negatives as well. Like as the reader, I question if the story would've been more enticing if one of the side characters like August narrated. I say this because throughout The Secret Life of Bees Lily as a character was overall very discouraging to herself and others. For example Lily would often think negatively about life and somehow connect nearly everything to her mother's death. This repetitive issue Lily had became frustrating to read about because of her inability to move on from something that happened many years ago. Also because Lily herself wouldn't stop continuously pitying herself for what happened, delaying her growth as a character. Where August is a more complex, fascinating character compared to Lily. Also…show more content…
Toward the end of the novel Lily’s father T. Ray tracks her down and surprises her by showing up in Tiburon. While T. Ray is there he demands he take Lily home. T.Ray starts to confuse Lily with her mother Deborah, and he starts yelling at Lily about his frustration for Deborah leaving him. Lily then calls out “daddy” to T.Ray and he stops yelling, but still refuses to let Lily stay. As T.Ray begins to haul Lily home, August and Rosaleen return. Lily, August and Rosaleen convince T.Ray It’s better for Lily if she stay. From this T. Ray agrees and leaves. While T.Ray is driving away Lily calls out to him to stop. Lily asks T. Ray who really shot her mother Deborah. T.Ray informs Lily that although she did not intentionally kill her mother, it was truly her doing. This information gives Lily closure to the event that occurred many years ago. An event that Lily has pondered over for years. That finally hearing the truth about, allows Lily to move on and forgive herself for. After readers find out about the truth of Deborah's death, Lily takes readers to her life so far. Lily remains in high school, living life contently with her new family in her new home. The book positively wraps up for the protagonist Lily claiming to found a good home with the Boatwright sisters, Rosaleen, the daughters of May, Zach and a new friend Becca. The ending of The Secret Life of Bees resolves most of the conflicts of
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