The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
Chapter 1
1. In the exposition of the story, the narrator describes having bees in her room and
describes being cared for by a woman named Rosaleen since her mother died. She also
describes how miserable she is with her father, whom she calls T. Ray.
2. The narrator of the story is a fourteen-year-old girl named Lily.
3. The narrator makes an allusion about the bees on page 2. She alludes to the story of the
Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, being visited by the angel Gabriel. She compares the
bees in her room to the visitation of the angel. She hints (foreshadows) that the presence
of the bees signals things about to happen.
4. Lily says that the bees could have stung her until she died, and it would not have been the
worst thing to happen. We learn that Lily appears to be a very unhappy girl.
5. Lily says that in Paradise she would ask her mother to forgive her, and her mother would
tell her she was not to blame for ten thousand years. Then, for the next ten thousand
years, her mother would fix her hair.
6. Lily describes her mother’s death on pages 6 – 8. She implies that she accidentally shot
her mother with the gun she picked up.
7. Lily “smell[s] every perfume bottle they had” (p. 6) because she remembers the scent of
her mother, and she wants to find it.
8. Lily picks scabs and feels that she is “impersonating a girl” because the other girls
whisper about her. She also worries about how she looks, and what she does to cause the
whispers. She feels she is trying to act like a girl, but she does not really know how to be
one.
9. When Rosaleen stands up to T. Ray about the chick, Lily says, “his boots whispered
uncle all the way down the hall.” (p. 12) To say “uncle” is to give up. She means T. Ray
gave up the fight with Rosaleen. This is an example of personification.
10.Lily’s teacher tells Lily that she is too intelligent for beauty school and that Lily should
be a professor or writer.
11.T. Rays tells Lily that he wants her to hear about her mother from him before she starts
school. He says he wants her to hear “it” from him, not from “people out there talking.”
12.Lily alludes to Mr. Khrushchev and fallout shelters. People were afraid at that time that
the Communists in Russia would drop atomic bombs. Lily thinks a bomb may have been
dropped because Rosaleen has stayed late to watch TV, and Lily has never seen her so
interested in the news.
13.What has actually claimed Rosaleen’s attention on the TV is that President Johnson has
signed the Civil Rights Act.
14.T. Ray punishes Lily by making her kneel for long periods of time on Martha White grits.
15.On page 26, Lily says that she “understood that a new rooftop would do wonders” for
her. She means that getting away from T. Ray would make her life better.
16.Rosaleen plans to register to vote.
17.Lily has captured a jar of bees to prove to T. Ray that there are bees behind the wall in
her room.
18.The day that Rosaleen is going to register to vote is also the Fourth of July and Lily’s
birthday.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
19.Lily hints at things to come. The sentence, “Later I would remember that, how she set
out, a marked woman from the beginning,“ (p. 28) foreshadows the action.
20.Rosaleen steals paper fans from the church because she and Lily are hot.
21.Lily says that Rosaleen has “less sense that I’d dreamed” (p. 31) because Rosaleen tells
the obviously hostile men in town that she is going to register to vote.
22.Rosaleen pours the juice from her snuff jug on their shoes, which causes the mean to beat
her.
23.Lily and Rosaleen are arrested for “assault, theft, and disturbing the peace.” (p. 33)
24.Similes from this chapter: “A body that sloped out from her neck like a pup tent” (p. 2);
“Her breath floating down to me like a tiny parachute” (p. 7); “like she was bits and
pieces of insulation” (p. 24); “like they were spectators at a parade and we were the prize
float” (p. 32); “Swinging the men like pocketbooks on her arms” (p. 32)
25.This chapter began with a quote about the missing queen. Lily’s mother is the queen, the
“unifying force” missing from her family.
Chapter 2
1. Lily says to Rosaleen, “What can they do to you with a policeman right here?” (p. 35)
Immediately afterward, the man hits Rosaleen with his flashlight.
2. Lily says she was “nearly [done] in” by the look on Rosaleen’s face when Lily had to
leave her in the jail cell alone.
3. The conversation between Lily and T. Ray on pages 37 – 39 reveal two things: (1) T. Ray
says that he believes Rosaleen could very possibly be killed by the white man she
angered; and (2) T. Ray says that Lily’s mother did not care about Lily, had already left
her and the day Deborah died, the mother had come back only to get her things.
4. Lily believes that she will never recover from T. Ray’s claim that Deborah left her
behind, and that it will “sink [her] forever” (p. 40)
5. Lily alludes to Thomas Edison when she talks about her father’s ability to think of
punishments. She means that T. Ray is as creative with punishments as Edison, the
inventor of the light bulb, was creative with new technology.
6. The metaphor “Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open” means that something inside Lily is
telling her that she is free to leave.
7. Lily goes to Tiburon because she has a picture of a black Mary that was her mother’s, and
on the back of the picture it says “Tiburon, South Carolina.” (p. 43)
8. The quote “Pious people have always gotten on my nerves” (p. 44) means that Lily is not
religious in a traditional way, and she does not unthinkingly believe whatever people in
authority tell her. It is also indicative of the author’s religious beliefs and sense of humor.
9. The hospital’s description on page 45 is more evidence that Sylvan is segregated and that
whites get better treatment than blacks, because the white wing has air conditioners, but
the black wing does not.
10.Lily is angry at Rosaleen because she feels Rosaleen should have apologized. Lily is
afraid that T. Ray is right, and the men will come back to kill Rosaleen.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
11.Lily thinks that she belongs in a reform school or juvenile detention because she has been
lying to the police in order to get Rosaleen out of police custody.
12.For supper, Rosaleen and Lily eat two cantaloupes that a farmer gave them.
13.On page 52, Rosaleen says, “I guess I can go to my grave now, because I’ve seen it all.”
Seeing the picture of the black Virgin Mary astonishes Rosaleen, and she does not think
14.Rosaleen gets angry with Lily because she thought that Lily had run away on Rosaleen’s
account only. Now she knows that Lily was also running because of what T. Ray said
about her mother.
15.Lily calls Rosaleen “dumb” (p. 54) because she antagonized the white men and she was
dumber for not apologizing.
16.The description of Rosaleen on page 55 and Lily’s thought “Mother, forgive” indicate
that Lily thinks of Rosaleen as a second mother.
17.Lily’s ability to lie is important because it has kept her and Rosaleen safe so far, and has
been a necessary survival tactic for Lily in her life with T. Ray. However, her lying also
makes her feel guilty and prevents her from feeling positive about herself.
18.Similes from this chapter: “ears like little dried apricots” (p. 34); “it frightened me, as
though I’d been struck by a car” (p. 40); “like a bull wanting to gore something” (p. 42);
her tongue curled out like a misplaced comma” (p. 48); “laying into each word like it was
sweet potatoes on her tongue” (p. 49); “like women finding out Jesus had a twin sister”
(p. 52); “she looked like a boulder shaped by five hundred years of storms” (p. 54); “like
it was biscuit dough” (p. 55).
19.The quote at the beginning of the chapter tells of the whole bee colony moving. It was
probably chosen because Rosaleen and Lily have moved to a new colony.
Chapter 3
1. Lily alludes to Thoreau’s Walden Pond, in which Henry David Thoreau chose to live
alone, as simply as he could. This appeals to Lily because she loves the idea of living in a
garden without T. Ray.
2. Lily describes her church’s attitude toward Catholics. Lily’s independent spirit is again
revealed by her ability to disregard what her elders have told her. Her confession that it
“secretly thrilled” her to think of her mother “mixed up” with Catholics shows that she is
somewhat enjoying her rebellion. The author may have been showing that the narrow
mindedness of the people toward Catholics parallels their prejudice towards blacks.
3. Rosaleen’s odd dream is significant because it has a similarity to the Biblical scene is
which Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. The dream could also mean that Rosaleen is
sure the Reverend King would appreciate that she stood up for her rights. Its religious
overtones and the blood red color suggest that Rosaleen suspects the Reverend King will
die, as did Jesus shortly after the Last Supper. It could also be considered another
example of the author’s sense of humor when she combines the images of death and “red
hots.”
4. Lily’s question and Rosaleen’s answer about the Civil Rights Act reveals that although
Rosaleen often seems childlike, she is far from naïve and she understands that racism will
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
not disappear overnight because of a new law. Although Lily often seems to be quicker
thinking than Rosaleen, she is still a child and naïve about the world.
5. Lily looks to the crop duster for a sign because she has no idea where to go or what to do
next, and she is looking for guidance.
6. Lily explains her presence in town by lying to the storekeeper, telling him that she is
visiting her grandmother.
7. Lily steals snuff for Rosaleen. She feels Rosaleen has suffered enough and should not
have to endure more.
8. Lily realizes “there is nothing but mystery in the world…” (p. 63) because the sign that
Lily was hoping for has appeared when she least expected it.
9. Rosaleen says Lily’s life has “gone straight to hell” (p. 64) because Lily stole the snuff.
Rosaleen does not seem to mean it at all.
10.Lily looks for wanted posters and news stories about Rosaleen’s jailbreak. It is funny
about her thanking God for the “poor news reporting” when she does not find any news
about them because she is being naïve again to think that a runaway girl and a black
woman would be newsworthy.
11.The bee quote at the start of the chapter talks about how to find the queen. This quote is
appropriate because Lily has begun her search for her mother, the missing queen bee.
Chapter 4
1. Lily believes her “body knows things.” (p. 69) She believes that her body knows the pink
house was somehow important to her mother.
2. Lily’s thought about the black Mary, “…she could straighten you out if necessary,” is
both wonderful and terrifying. Lily feels both uplifted and terrified by the statue, because
it makes her feel both sinful and loved.
3. May begins to sing “Oh! Susanna” because she gets upset when she begins to talk about
her sister April, who died.
4. Rosaleen’s behavior when she talked about the Civil Rights Act in Chapter 3 seemed
very mature, but in walking across the lawn, Lily says she is child-like as she gathers
rainwater in her pie pan and throws it out.
5. Lily says is the secret of a good lie is to not overly explain, throw in one good detail, and
keep the stories straight.
6. Lily says “…my skin had never felt so white to me” (p. 78) because she had never lived
with black people before. The racism is so prevalent in the South that it seems strange to
Lily to “eat off their dishes” and lie on “their sheets.” It is obvious she feels like a
foreigner.
7. May’s piece of paper in her wailing wall which says, “Birmingham, Sept. 15, four little
angels dead” is referring to four children who died in a church in Birmingham during the
racial violence of the 1900s.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
8. The quote at the beginning of the chapter mentions family units that are comprised of a
mother and daughters. Lily is now living in a house of women; they are like a family to
her.
Chapter 5
1. May begin to sing “Oh! Susanna” again when she thinks about someone beating up on
Rosaleen.
2. The “honey song” says “everything” about living in the pink house (p. 83) because it’s
happy, silly, and about honey. It implies that honey is better than heaven, and Lily says
that in the pink house, they live for honey.
3. August delights Lily when she says to Lily, “You’re a marvel” when Lily learns very
quickly how to do everything in the honey house.
4. Rosaleen says May is a “bona fide candidate for the nuthouse” (p. 85) because May has a
sensitive soul. Any unpleasant subject causes her to get upset, and really unhappy things
cause her extreme distress. She also has a few other quirks, like a need for bananas.
5. Lily describes June as playing the cello, smiling very little, and hating having Lily live
with them.
6. When June says that Lily is white, Lily is amazed that her skin color makes a difference
to June. She feels indignant, because she does not think her color should matter to June.
She alludes to Jesus driving the moneychangers out of the temple, which he did because
the moneychangers were doing something that was so very wrong. Lily feels that June’s
attitude is wrong—wrong in a sinful way.
7. Lily thinks there is no difference between white and black under the skin. The way she
comes to this conclusion—while urinating—is a funny contrast between the seriousness
of the subject and Lily’s way of expressing it: “Piss was piss.” (p. 88)
8. Lily feels “white and self-conscious” when they are watching TV because they are
watching a news report of what angry, white people have done to black people. (p. 89)
9. Lily thinks August told her the story of Beatrix the nun because August wants her to
know that she will need to go home one day, but that Mary is standing in for her in the
meantime. Mary will help her when Lily has to go back.
10.According to August, the most important bee yard rule is to “send the bees love”. (p. 93)
11.Lily is happy to have made August laugh because Lily wants August to love her and her
stay.
12.Lily wonders about May’s sensitivity: “Would it divide the hurt in two, make it lighter to
bear, the way feeling someone’s joy seemed to double it?” (p. 95). Lily has been carrying
around a heavy load for a long time. She would like to tell someone about it, but she is
afraid to.
13.In this chapter we learn that April shot herself.
14.Lily says the she knew the world was not fair long before she turned eleven. Lily grew up
without a mother, and with an abusive father. Comparing her life to that of other girls,
hers must have seemed very unfair.
15.The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is the place Jews go to mourn. The “wailing wall” in
Tiburon is the wall May made for herself to help her bear her suffering.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
16.Rosaleen has been like a mother to Lily since Lily’s mother died. Rosaleen is now jealous
because Lily is spending a lot of time with and obviously growing fond of August.
17.Lily writes her mother’s name on a piece of paper and puts it in the wailing wall.
18.In the quote at the beginning of the chapter, it points out that the bees live in darkness.
Lily believes that her mother was at the pink house, but Lily is too afraid to ask about her
mother. Lily is also afraid that August will send her away and afraid of being wrong. Lily
is afraid, most of all, to find out that her mother really did leave her as T. Ray said. Lily is
living in the darkness of not knowing until she has the courage to get it all out in the
open.
Chapter 6
1. June doesn’t want to get married because she was supposed to get married long ago, but
the man “didn’t show up for the wedding.” (p. 103) She swore she would never try to get
married again.
2. The number one question asked in South Carolina is “Where do you come from?” It is
asked because people want to make connections with new people through family and
friends they have in common.
3. The “Daughters of Mary” are the women who share worship services in the pink house,
praying before “Our Lady of Chains.”
4. August reads the Bible verses attributed to Mary. These verses especially appropriate for
black people because they talk about the poor being raised up and the mighty being put
down. These verses are bound to appeal to people who had been slaves in the past, and
who are now discriminated against.
5. “Our Lady of Chains” got her name because the slave master took the statue of Mary
away from the slaves and chained her up, but every time he did so, she appeared back in
the slave quarters unchained.
6. Lily stops with her hand outstretched to touch Mary when June stops playing the cello.
Lily looks around and realizes once again that she is white, and they are black; therefore,
Lily does not touch Mary’s heart.
7. According to the book, “you can never underestimate the power of cutthroat
competition.” (p. 113) Russia and the US were both determined to be supreme in the
world, and Lily is implying that each county would do anything to beat the other in
anything.
8. August is sad at the thought of a rocket landing on the moon because the moon has
always been a mystery. Now, she says, the moon will just be “one more big science
project.” (p. 114)
9. The quote at the beginning of the chapter says the queen produces something to attract
the workers. The queen may be seen as August or as “Our Lady of Chains.” Both produce
hope and inspiration, and they attract all of the “Daughters of Mary” and Lily.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
Chapter 7
1. “At my school they made fun of colored people’s lips and noses. I myself had laughed at
these jokes, hoping to fit in.” (p. 116) This passage is disturbing, because Lily laughed at
people for their looks, but it is not surprising because Lily explained earlier how badly
she wanted to fit in. However, Lily has now realized the error of her ways.
2. Lily thinks she is headed for beauty school now because she is in so much trouble for
breaking Rosaleen out of jail and running away that she will never be able to go to a good
college.
3. June may still be so resentful of Lily because they will get in trouble for harboring a
runaway white girl. She may feel that blacks and whites should not mix at all. She may
be jealous of the attention August is giving to Lily.
4. Zach gets upset when Lily suggests he could be a professional player. He does not want
to play football, and he is tired of white people assuming that because he is black, he will
only get ahead through sports.
5. Zach says: “You gotta imagine what’s never been.” (p. 121) He means that in order for
new things to happen, you have to be able to imagine events that no one has ever thought
of before.
6. Lily feels she needs to touch the Black Madonna’s heart before she can tell August the
truth about herself. She is afraid August will say she has never known Deborah. She is
also afraid of being sent away.
7. When Lily is riding with Zach, she is shocked to imagine herself sleeping with Zach and
lying in his arms. She is so shocked because she thought that a white person could never
be attracted to a black person.
8. “Danger, I realized, was a thing you got used to.” (p. 126) When Lily says this, she is in
the midst of a swarm of bees and in danger of being stung. She also wants to kiss a black
boy, which could be dangerous for her in several ways.
9. Lily says she’s crying for Zach. She may have realized that there is no way she and Zach
can have a relationship.
10.Zach tells her to go back to her side of the truck because he seems to be afraid someone
will see him hugging a white girl.
11.Rosaleen is now going to sleep in May’s room instead of the honey house with Lily.
12.When August tells Lily that she is reading a book about girl whose mother died, Lily
thinks for a minute that August might know who she is.
13.Neil and June argue about getting married.
14.Lily says that impossibility “is a great big log thrown on the fires of love.” This metaphor
means that the fact that she and Zach cannot have a relationship does not stop her from
imagining it; instead, it seems to make her dream about him even more.
15.Zach gives Lily a notebook to write in.
16.“…[T]here are people who would kill boys like me for even looking at girls like you.” (p.
135) Zach is telling the literal truth. Black people have been killed in the South for daring
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
to associate with white women. For example, the character Tom Robinson in To Kill a
Mockingbird or the real-life Emmitt Till.
17.The quote at the beginning of the chapter is significant because while most of Lily’s
thoughts revolve around her desires for Zach, any possible relationship seems doomed to
failure because of their races.
Chapter 8
1. During her special month, August wanted most to stay up late reading books.
2. Lily wants to tell the bees to take some time off.
3. Lily kept the Coca-Cola bottle from Massachusetts because it was a “tribute to how far
something can go in life.” (p. 139)
4. August tells Lily about the thirty-two words for love in the Eskimo language because she
is pointing out that English has only one word for love, even though there are many kinds
of love.
5. August says, “You see, everybody needs a God who looks like them, Lily.” (p. 141) It’s a
little ironic for her to say this because Lily is a white girl, but she has learned to love the
black Madonna. She also feels that it will help her to touch the black Madonna’s heart.
6. August says, “I swear, if you listen to my chest with a stethoscope, what you’d hear is
that story going on and on in my Big Mama’s voice.” (p. 142). August lives always with
the pride and hope of the story of Our Lady of Chains, and the love of her grandmother
telling the story.
7. Lily has never been able to forgive herself for accidentally shooting her mother. She feels
stuck in that moment. August has a story full of love and courage in her heart, while Lily
is burdened with a story of guilt and tragedy.
8. Big Mama says that women (lady beekeepers) have a “special ability built into them to
love creatures that sting” like children and husbands (p. 143) It reveals that Big Mama
did not always find her husband or her children easy to love. It also reveals that she has a
sense of humor.
9. August describes Big Mama’s story of hearing the bees sing on Christmas Eve. August
does not mean the story literally. She says that “…you can listen to a hive and hear the
Christmas story somewhere inside yourself.” Paying attention to the secret life of bees
can help a person to “hear silent things on the other side of the everyday world that
nobody else can.” (p. 144)
10.When August could not get a teaching job, she became a housekeeper for a white family,
but she says of June “you wouldn’t catch her keeping house for white people.” (p. 145)
June probably resents all white people for giving black people only menial jobs and for
the segregation which made it difficult for black professionals to get jobs in their fields.
She may also feel that August is once more “keeping house” for a white person, since
Lily is living with them.
11.August chose not to get married because she “loved [her] freedom more” than any man
who would marry her (p. 146)
12.“The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” (p. 147) August’s statement
applies to Lily because Lily will have to make some important choices soon. She cannot
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
keep her secret and hide from her father much longer. In September, when school starts,
she will have to be enrolled somewhere.
13.Lily states, “…I loved the idea of bees having a secret life, just like the one I was living.”
(p. 148) The major difference between the secret life of bees and the secret life of Lily is
that for the bees, the secret life is natural. For Lily, it is not, and it will have to end.
14.When Lily lets the bees cover her, she goes into a sort of trance and she wonders how she
can live with the memory of her mother’s death. She feels that the bees are comforting
her.
15.Lily makes a Biblical allusion when the bees cover her. Lily thinks that when the bees
first came to her in Sylvan, they were like one of the plagues of Egypt telling T. Ray to
let his daughter go.
16.Lily notices that the black Mary label she had stuck on herself is coming “unglued.” (p.
152) It is a metaphor for Lily’s situation because her situation at the pink house will not
“stick” much longer.
17.May wants to celebrate because it’s been five days since she needed to go to the wailing
wall.
18.The people in town stirred up about a rumor that a movie star, Jack Palance, and a
“colored woman” will try to integrate the all-white section of the movie theater.
19.Lily is sick of “skin pigment” (p. 155) because she has had to think about it so much,
both because she has been living with black women, and because of the Civil Rights Act
causing so much violence in the South. She is also bothered by the disparities betweens
blacks and whites.
20.August knocks over her tea because she seems to be worried by the thought of Lily going
out with Zach.
21.While Mr. Forrest and Zach are out of the room, Lily places a collect call to her father.
22.Lily asks T. Ray what her favorite color is because she is trying to determine if he really
knows anything at all about her.
23.Lily says the magic words that will get her into and out of places easily is “female
trouble.” (p. 161)
24.Lily writes a letter to her father because she has things she needs to say to him that she
knows she will never actually say out loud. She wants to get the words out somehow, but
she feels guilty for thinking them after she finishes the letter, so she tears it up.
25.At the end of chapter 8, Lily finally touches the black Mary’s heart.
26.The quote at the beginning of the chapter explains Lily’s fear about telling August the
truth. Lily feels a deep need for the companionship of the pink house. She is terrified of
being sent away. She fears finding out that August has never known her mother, and her
time at the pink house coming to an end. Lily prays to the black Mary that she will be
able to stay.
Chapter 9
1. August wakes Lily on July 28th and says they must water the bees.
2. Lily thinks August turns off the radio because the broadcast was about problems in the
world and the land on the moon (of which August has already said she doesn’t approve).
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
Lily figures August has had enough bad news. “Enough was enough. You cannot fix the
whole world.” (p. 166)
3. “After you get stung, you can’t get unstung no matter how much you whine about it.” (p.
167) Lily got “stung” very early in life by her mother’s death. She knows she cannot
undo that, no matter how much she wants to. It reveals Lily’s courage and practicality.
4. On this sweltering day, May and Rosaleen turn the sprinkler on each other, and then on
Lily and August.
5. The simile that Lily uses to explain why she keeps the hose turned on June, even though
June is plainly angry is “I was seeing myself as the fire department and June as the raging
inferno.”
6. Rosaleen’s wisdom ends the hostilities because she implies that June and Lily are like
fighting dogs.
7. June astonishes Lily by hugging her.
8. Lily says “the real troubles in life happen” (p. 170) when “those hidden doors [in your
head] stay closed for too long.” In other words, when you do not let your secret thoughts
through to your conscious self. She means that there are things going on in our
subconscious minds that we all need to acknowledge once in a while.
9. Lily says her mother is behind her hidden doors.
10.Lily says she cannot stop wearing her “necklace of lies.” (p. 171)
11.May is enticing roaches to leave the house in the same strange way that T. Ray had told
Lily her mother used to do.
12.After May acknowledges that she knew Lily’s mother, she begins to sing “Oh! Susanna”
and goes out to her wailing wall.
13.Lily dreams of her mother as a roach “with her worst nature exposed” (p. 175) Deborah’s
worst nature would be exposed if Lily were to learn that T. Ray had been telling the truth
and that her mother really did abandon her.
14.Lily uses a simile when she describes her life at this point as being “stranded out on the
high dive, about to leap into unknown waters.” (p. 175) She is afraid she will drown in
what she learns about her mother.
15.Lily been about to tell August the truth about herself when Zach talks her into going with
him.
16.When the boy provokes the white man, Lily says she sees a look on his face she had seen
on T. Ray’s “a thousand times.” (p. 178) She says “it is the sort of look conjured from
power without benefit of love…”
17.August, on page 147, says, “The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” Zach
has chosen “to stand there and be one of them.” (p. 179). It is obviously a choice that
matters to him, since he must know the consequences will be serious
18.The metaphor that Lily uses to describe August’s eyes is “a hearth fire you could depend
on…” (p. 181)
19.Rosaleen is the “fire that burns the house down, if necessary, to clean up the mess inside
it.” (p. 182)
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
20.When they finally get to see Zach, August talks about how she searched out a swarm of
bees. Lily surmises that August is really telling Zach that she will not rest until he is
home.
21.Lily says everyone wants “someone to see the hurt done to them and set it down like it
matters.” (p. 185)
22.There is another example of foreshadowing on page 185: “To this day August and June
wonder how our lives would have been different if one of them had answered the phone
instead of May.” (p. 185) The author may warn the reader because it adds suspense and
unpredictability to the mystery of what the outcome of the phone call would be.
23.Lily thinks the rocks should be thanked for helping May to deal with the difficult times in
her life.
24.The quote at the beginning of the chapter has to do with communication. Different
messages are sent in this chapter. June lets Lily know she cares for her. May tells Lily
that she knew Deborah. Zach acts so that everyone knows what kind of person he is.
August lets Zach know she will not give up on him, May is not told about Zach at first,
but she later finds out and is devastated by the message.
Chapter 10
1. When they are searching for May, Lily begins to say the “Hail Mary” prayer. Lily does
not realize she was saying it, and she is not sure whether she’s saying it as a prayer or to
“push down the fear.” (p. 191)
2. They find May drowned in the river.
3. Lily compares finding May’s body to the finding of the black Mary in August’s story.
4. Interpret this sentence: “This had been the thing they’d been waiting for half their lives
without even realizing it.” (p. 194) Ever since May’s sister committed suicide, June and
August must have been subconsciously expecting that May would someday do the same
thing.
5. The policeman asks Lily so many questions because he cannot understand why Lily is
living with black women. He thinks it is unnatural for her to be with them.
6. Lily prays for somebody to stop her because she is breaking one of her lying rules, and
she is ashamed of telling so many lies.
7. Lily wants never to forget the silly side of May which caused her to put socks on the
bathtub feet.
8. A vigil is a way of keeping the dead company until they are buried. August says they are
going to hold one because it will help the living say goodbye and help the dead to move
on.
9. Lily says that it “would be selfish to pour this into her cup.” (p. 201) She means that she
still cannot tell August about Deborah because August is already overwhelmed with
grieving for May.
10.Lily says June’s music helps the vigil-keepers because it “made [them] believe death was
nothing but a doorway.” (p. 201)
11.Lily prays that May will talk to Deborah and ask for a sign for Lily to show her that her
mother loves her.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
12.Lily sees the change in Zach when she says, “…something I couldn’t put my finger on
had evaporated from his face.” (p. 203)
13.Interpret Lily’s description of blame: “…the blame would find a way to stick to them.
That’s how blame was.” (p. 204) August talks about all the ways May’s death could have
been prevented, but that it was ultimately May’s choice. Lily knows that even though
everyone knows it was May’s choice, they will still feel guilty that they had not stopped
her somehow.
14.August and Zach and Lily cover the hives with black drapes. August says that doing so
reminds them that life and death are a cycle.
15.The secret thing which causes Lily’s gladness is when Sugar-Girl talked about white
people without acknowledging that Lily is white.
16.Lily thinks it is “a better plan” for blacks and whites to get along if people were just
colorless. It is somewhat contradictory to her next observation that black women are
“special,” like “hidden royalty.” (p. 209)
17.August says May meant for June to marry Neil when she said, “Don’t mess it up” (p.
210)
18.Lily says is the “oldest sound” (p. 213) is the bee hum of “souls flying away.”
19.The quote at the beginning of the chapter is another example of the author foreshadowing
a sad part of the book. Some people might object to this because they prefer to have a
plot unfold without any hints about what is to come.
Chapter 11
1. Lily feels she cannot tell August about herself now that May’s funeral is over because
August is still mourning, and Lily does not want to interrupt her.
2. Lily is walking in the woods, counting how long it takes her to see a bird land in a tree
because she is looking for another sign.
3. June says the wind rearranges her thoughts for her when she goes out with Neil.
4. Lily starts to suggest that if she was a black girl they could be together. Zach tells Lily
they have to think about changing the world instead of changing their skin color.
5. Zach has changed because he is no longer living in the moment with Lily. He is paying
attention to the news about the civil rights violence. Zach is “heated, charged, angry.” (p.
216)
6. August choose to have Coca-cola with salted peanuts for dessert because Lily told her
that she loves them.
7. August’s putting May’s suicide note into a deep crevice in the black Mary is August’s
way of ending the mourning period and giving away the guild and the “what ifs” about
May’s death, so that they all can go on with their lives—as May had instructed them to
do.
8. Lily has decided to tell August the truth, which causes her to fear ending up in a prison
camps in the Everglades where there would be alligators. Lily is too smart to really
believe in this outcome but it is probably symbolic to her of the more likely alternative of
living with T. Ray (the alligator) and suffocating in his anger.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
9. Lily’s revelation to August is postponed yet again because the Daughters of Mary are
going to celebrate Mary Day.
10.June finally agree to marry Neil.
11.The Mary Day preparations include: Lily cutting up streamers and hanging them from the
trees, making a garland of flowers, putting Christmas lights around the bushes, setting up
card tables, and setting up the candles. Zach mowed the lawn and hoed the weeds. The
Daughters fixed lots of food.
12.The part of the Mary Day ceremony makes Lily “feel better about the world” (p. 226) is
watching the adults feed each other honey cakes, which they say are the body of the
Blessed Mother.
13.August says that “remembering is everything” and that is why the reenact the chaining of
Mary. (p. 228) This bothers Lily because she cannot bear to see Mary chained, and she
hates to remember.
14.The fish necklace that the boys put on Lily is from them tying together the fish they
caught and stringing them around Lily’s neck. What upsets her most about the incident is
that she could have saved the lives of the fish, but she was too frightened to go into the
deeper water.
15.The new necklace that Zach gives to Lily is his chain and dog tag. He promises Lily that
they will be together someday.
16.The quote at the beginning of this chapter describes how many trips a honeybee must
take to make honey. The story symbolizes the many experiences Lily has gone through
and will go through in order to experience a few moments of sweetness in her life.
Chapter 12
1. Lily waiting in August’s room to tell her the truth at last.
2. Lily says it is a “big shock” when she looks at the pictures of Mary because the angel
Gabriel is giving Mary a lily.
3. August did not tell Lily that she knew who Lily was when she arrived because she knew
that Lily was not ready to know about her mother then.
4. August first got to know Deborah because she was Deborah’s nanny.
5. The “wall of glass” in Lily’s chest breaks when Lily tells August that T. Ray repeatedly
said that Deborah had run away.
6. August “like a sponge” (p. 238) because she is soaking up Lily’s tears and absorbing
Lily’s pain.
7. Lily thinks that if August still loves her, she be able to look in a mirror and see the river
in her own eyes, “flowing on despite the things that had died in it.” (p. 241)
8. Lily says only one or two moments in your life will you hear “the one secret thing at the
heart of it all.” (p. 242)
9. When Lily hears that secret, she hears that she is unlovable. August says that’s not true,
because lots of people love Lily.
10.How does August explain June’s resentment of Lily?
11.Interpret this quote: “June always said that most people bit off more than they could
chew, but August chewed more than she bit off.” (p. 244)
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
12.August describes Deborah as a “real handful” as a little girl. She walked in her sleep, had
an imaginary friend, and once ran away from home.
13.August’s description of T. Ray clashes with Lily’s knowledge of him because August
says T. Ray was “so brave” and “treated her like a princess.” (p. 248)
14.Deborah got married because she was pregnant with Lily. The knowledge upsets Lily
because she believes she was an “unwanted baby,” and her mother had “gotten stuck with
T. Ray” because of her. (p. 249)
15.Lily says she wants to be an “amnesiac” when she grows up. She means that she wants to
forget her unhappy past.
16.The final bit of information August gives Lily is that her mother did leave her just like T.
Ray had said. Deborah went to Tiburon and left Lily behind. That causes Lily to say she
hates her mother.
17.In defense of Deborah, August says she was depressed when she arrived in Tiburon, so
depressed that the doctor suggested sending her to a mental institution.
18.When she thinks she has disappointed August, Lily says, “Some of my pridefulness
drained out.” (p. 253) Lily cannot possibly know what it was like for her mother to have
married T. Ray and regretted it and to feel trapped by a marriage and a child.
19.Deborah back in Sylvan when she was killed because she had come back to get Lily.
20.Before she leaves, August reminds Lily that “There is nothing perfect. There is only life.”
21.The quote at the beginning of the chapter relate to Lily’s anguish because it says that the
queen, although the mother of the hive, lacks maternal instincts. Lily’s mother apparently
also lacked maternal instincts when she abandoned Lily to T. Ray.
Chapter 13
1. Lily wants Mary to understand her situation.
2. Lily says the “really terrible thing” is anger. (p. 258)
3. Lily acts out her anger by throwing all the honey jars, breaking them and getting honey
everywhere.
4. Lily wants the statue to open up and let her climb inside.
5. Lily says that she could lock the bitter tone in her voice forever. She means that she could
easily let her anger and pain dominate her for the rest of her life.
6. Rosaleen is not surprised when Lily tells her that her mother left her. Rosaleen did not
tell Lily that she had suspected as much because she didn’t want to “go and hurt [her]
with something like that.” (p. 265)
7. Rosaleen helps Lily to clean up the mess in the honey house.
8. Lily asks August to explain everything to Zach.
9. “Comic relief” is a phrase used to describe something in a drama which helps to lighten
the mood, especially after something else. Sugar Girl provides comic relief at this point
because her “wig hat” slides around and causes her and her husband to argue. Also, it
occurs directly after the emotional revelations about Lily’s mother and Lily’s breaking
the jars of honey.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
10.During the Mary ceremony August pours the honey on Mary. Lily is a little annoyed
because she and Rosaleen spent a lot of time cleaning honey off Mary, and now the
Daughters are pouring honey all over her again.
11.Lily want to be the last to clean her hands because she feels like she is wearing magic
gloves that can preserve anything she touches.
12.August bring a hat box to Lily. It contains some things that Deborah left behind.
13.August say that if Lily looks in the mirror, she will see her mother looking back, meaning
that Lily looks just like her mother.
14.Lily finds a strand of her mother’s hair on the brush.
15.Lily reads the poem by William Blake that her mother had underlined. She believes her
mother is the rose, and that she, Lily, is one of the invisible worms that flies in the night.
16.The picture in the frame shows Lily in a high chair being fed by her mother. Their noses
are just touching, and Deborah is smiling.
17.When she sees this picture, Lily decides that May must have made it to heaven and
arranged for this sign to be given to her because the picture lets her know that her mother
loved her.
18.Similes in this chapter: “feeling like concrete block” (p. 258); “like I’d unzipped my skin
and momentarily stepped out of it” (p. 259); “small as a stub of diamond” (p. 261); “like
she wanted to take me by the shoulders and shake me till my teeth fell out” (p. 261); “like
there was something undescribably sad written across my forehead” (p. 263); “like they’d
been rocked in a little hammock of tenderness” (p. 264); “like a circle of bee attendants”
(p. 269); “like a flock of birds that shifts direction in the sky at the same moment” (p.
270)
19.The description of the worker bee at the beginning of the chapter fits Lily because she has
been carrying a load of secrets and unhappiness that are much too heavy for her. She has
been burdened by them for a long time.
Chapter 14
1. Lily describes her heart with the simile “like an ice sculpture.” (p. 277)
2. Lily believes people would rather die than forgive.
3. Lily finds mouse bones under her cot.
4. Lily thinks she must have loved her “little collection of hurts and wounds” (p. 278)
because she realizes that her circumstances make her feel “exceptional,” and, in a strange
way, she enjoys that.
5. The “peculiar nature of the world” (p. 279) is that the world goes on spinning no matter
what else is happening.
6. The mention of the wedding hat and wedding cake provide some comic relief because
Lily cannot imaging what sort of wedding hat and cake June will end up with. She thinks
June is courageous to have let Lunelle, Violet, and Queenie be in charge of them.
7. While looking at Lily, August say to June that “regrets don’t help anything.” (p. 280)
8. Rosaleen is finally going to register to vote.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
9. Lily thinks both she and Zach are “doomed to misery” (p. 283). She thinks she will go
back to T. Ray and that Zach will be miserable as the first black boy at the white high
school.
10.Lily runs up the stairs after Rosaleen because she regrets not going with her to see her
register to vote. She wants to tell Rosaleen that she loves her.
11.When Lily cleans out the honey house that night, she finally figures out why she has been
carrying around the mouse bones. Lily thinks that sometimes “you just need to nurse
something.” (p. 285)
12.Lily’s last thought as she drifts off to sleep is that “…you just have to close your eyes and
breathe out and let the puzzle of the human heart be what it is.” (p. 285)
13.August shows Lily a queenless hive.
14.August explains why she told the Beatrix story to Lily, and her reason is not what Lily
thought. August was trying to suggest that Mary could act as Lily’s mother.
15.August tell Lily that she wants Lily always to remember that the statue is not magic like a
fairy godmother. She tells her that Mary is already inside of her. August says everyone
has to find the mother inside.
16.T. Ray comes to the door at 2:00 PM.
17.Lily describes T. Ray’s smile with the metaphor “the fat grin of a man who has been
rabbit hunting all day long and has just now found his prey backed up in a hollow log
with no way out.” (p. 290)
18.T. Ray finds Lily through the telephone record of her collect call.
19.It a shock to T. Ray to see the pin on Lily’s shoulder. He gave the pin to Deborah and he
does not know how Lily got it.
20.What does Lily suddenly understand when T. Ray realizes that he is in the house where
Deborah was?
21.On page 264, Lily “heard the bitter tone” in her own voice and realized that she could
“slip off into a cold place where meanness overtook her.” It parallels her realization about
T. Ray because she sees that T. Ray has “sunk into bitterness” after Deborah left him (p.
293). T. Ray allowed the meanness to take over.
22.T. Ray is seeing Deborah when he slaps Lily
23.Lily brings T. Ray back and makes him see only her when she says, “Daddy.” (p 295)
24.Lily feels that T. Ray has said “everything” when he says, “You look like her”? (p. 296).
Lily realized that T. Ray loved Deborah and was angry and hurt when she left him. He let
himself slip into bitterness just as Lily had been tempted to do. She also realizes that as
she has gotten older and, every time T. Ray looks at his daughter, he would be seeing the
woman who hurt him badly.
25.Queenie’s expression amuses Lily. It provide comic relief at this tense moment because
it’s like Queenie is thinking, “I double dog dare you to take this girl,” just like a small
boy on the playground might say to challenge another boy.
26.August says “If you need something from somebody, always give that person a way to
hand it to you.” Rather than threatening T. Ray, August asks him to leave Lily with them
as a favor which she and the others would appreciate.
The Secret Life of Bees
Study Guide
27.Lily asks her father once more about her mother’s death. Even at this point, Lily isn’t
sure he’s telling the truth, as she says you can “never know a hundred percent with T.
Ray.” (p. 299)
28.Lily believes in the “goodness of imagination.” (p. 300) She is imagining that T. Ray
knows that she is better off and that she will flourish in the pink house.
29.Lily’s first girl friend is the lawyer’s daughter, Becca Forrest.
30.In high school, Lily and Becca get a reputation as “nigger lovers” because they associate
with Zach.
31.August says Mary goes “into the holes life has gouged out of us” when she rises. (p. 302)
32.The moons shining over Lily are all the Daughters of Mary.