Journal 6-7/1/2010

Amy Blackman
Journal 6
The Secret Life of Bees
The novel, The Secret Life of Bees, contains a number of passages in which someone would view as important. I feel that the most important passage contained in both the first and second chapters in on pg.5-8. In these pages, Lily describes her first and only memory of her mother, which happens to be the day her mother died. It is clear in the rest of the pages in the novel that the death and absence of Lily’s mother plays an important role in the story. Also, we see the negative relationship between Lily and T.Ray begins in this passage.
Lily seemed to search for a long time trying to find any other memory of her mother. The only one she can remember is the day her mother died. “I tried for a long time to conjure up an image before that, just a sliver of something, like her tucking me into bed, reading the adventures of Uncle Wiggly…” (Kidd 5). In this quote, we see a sense of longing. She wants to have more memories of her mother but can not seem to find any. In later years of Lily’s life, she wants to find any type of connection with her mother but can’t seem to find many. This is due to the short amount of time Lily and mother had spent together.
Though, Lily still seems to find a particular scent which reminds her of her mother’s smell; cinnamon. This is very significant because Lily doesn’t remember much about her mother. “The scent got laid down in me in a permanent way and had all the precision of cinnamon…So it was a shock when I came upon the scent on my fifth-grade teacher, who said it was nothing but plain ordinary Ponds Cold Cream,” (Kidd 6).
In this scene, Lily’s mother seems to be packing her bags in order to leave T.Ray. She still seems to want to protect Lily. This is the first and last time a she had felt protection from a mother. Protection from a mother is the strongest and most significant form of protection. Lily’s mother and T.Ray were fighting. “Dragged out, I didn’t know at first whose hands pulled me, then found myself in mother’s arms, breathing her smell. She smoothed my hair, said, “Don’t worry…”(Kidd 7). Due to T.Ray’s anger, Lily was slammed against the wall and was told to go to her room. However, “Lifting my head. Looking past him, I saw her running across the room. Running at him yelling “Leave. Her.Alone. “ (Kidd 7). The mother showed Lily an overwhelming sense of love and protection. Lily longs to that sense of love and belonging again. We see in this section what a bitter and cold man T.Ray is. He does not seem to give Lily the same affection as her mother had. Here, he punishes her. He continues to punish her which is why she has decided to run away from him at a later age.
We also learn in this passage that Lily is the cause of her own mother’s death. She viewed the gun as a toy and since she was so young, she didn’t know that she shouldn’t pull the trigger. Her mother was shot. “That is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted. And I took her away,” (Kidd 8). Even though it was a mistake, Lily will forever more feel guilty for killing her own mother. We see this guilt come up in later parts of the novel. This passage sets up the reasons for why Lily longs for a sense of belonging and affection from her mother throughout the novel.