Sunday, May 12, 2013

What does Lily do with her mother's things in The Secret Life of Bees?

Lily has very few things from her mother, a photograph of her, a pair of white cotton gloves that are darkening with age, and a small picture of a black Mary, glued onto a small block of wood, with Tiburon, S.C. written on the back of it.  She has placed these items in a tin box, and she has buried the box out in the peach orchard, a "special place" (14) that no one else knows about.  She visits her special place from time to time and unearths the box. She puts on the gloves and examines the photograph and the picture of the black Mary, thinking about her mother, wondering about her, and missing her terribly.  One night, she sneaks out to do this and falls asleep in the orchard.  Her father, T. Ray, finds her there and accuses her of sneaking out to meet a boy. He punishes her when they get back by making her kneel on grits, which are very painful to kneel on. And it is a terrible punishment, particularly for someone who was just trying to conjure up her lost mother.

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