Julia Turner

Mrs. Wilson
Honors English Language Arts 10
May 12th, 2015
Secret Life Reflection
Analysis
1. How does the symbol of the bees teach a lesson?
2. How does June change or grow throughout the book?
3. How does opportunity present itself in T-Rays abusive behavior?
Comparison
4. What is the difference between Lilys idea of her mother and what she finds
out about her mother?
5. What are similarities between Lily and Zach?
6. What are some obstacles that August and June faced?
Application
7. Do you know of another instance of prejudice in present day?
8. What would happen if someone ran to a strangers house today?
9. How can you apply the act like you know what youre doing rule of Bee
Yard Etiquette to the real world?
Evaluation
10. What is the best solution to the conflict between Rosaleen and the three
men?
11.Which theme teaches a better lesson to a tenth grader: freedom or
motherhood?
12.Between May and Lily, which story ends more happily ever after? Why?
13.Was the resolution of Lily and Zach better or worse than you expected? Why?
14.How would you feel if you were in the same situation as Lily?

Answers
1. The bees are an ongoing theme throughout the novel that represents all of
the characters. Everyone works together like a bee hive and the women are
powerful without men like the worker bees. I think this theme presents an
important lesson towards the youth of today. It resents the idea that living in
harmony requires cooperation and synchronicity. It gives a very important
lesson towards young girls that tells you that you can live your life to the
fullest without the presence of a man.
2. In the beginning of the novel, June is cold towards Lily. She doesnt like her
because of her ties to Deborah, unbeknownst to Lily, and the fact that Lily is
white. Throughout the novel, June comes to see Lily as her own person and
begins to accept her based on her actions instead of how she used to
perceive her. June also believes that a man would hold her back and keep her
form living her life. Mays death let her accept love and marry a man that
would help her advance her life.
3. T-Rays abusive behavior gives Lily the courage to leave. If T-Ray were a
loving father, Lily probably wouldnt feel as desperate to find out about her
mother; she would have been more satisfied with his answers and she
probably wouldnt have run away to live with strangers.
4. Lily believed that her mom was some perfect specimen of a mother. She
thought she was taking Lily with her to leave T-Ray and go have a better life.
Lily learns that her mother left her to go stay with August because she
couldnt stand being with T-Ray. Shes angry with her mother for leaving her
and has a fit in the knowledge that her mother is not who she thought she
was.
5. Zach and Lily both outcasts that are ahead of their time. Zach is a black boy
that wants to be a lawyer and Lily is white girl that wants to be a writer and
they both care about each other. The attraction between them is undeniable
but its impossible for them to be in a mixed race relationship at that that
time. Their ambitions tie them together in a way nothing else will
6. August and June both lived through two of their sisters committing suicide.
They had to watch out for May until her death took away that responsibility.
They look after Zach and Lily along with the members of their church. August
and June are leaders and thats a great responsibility that they take on every
day.
7. While everyone hopes that racism has come to an end, that thought is still a
hope in todays society. People are still being limited because of their race
and people still think they are better than others because of theirs. The police
brutality thats going on right now is a prime example. The fact that the
police are getting away with killing this many people without consequence is
unadulterated racism. Its ridiculous that this is even a debate, but racism is
still prevalent in todays society.

8. If someone were to run to a strangers house with the intent of living there in
todays society, they would probably be tossed into the street, or the stranger
in question would call the police. The world is a scary place and its sad that
you arent able to freely talk to strangers without any kind of threat but its
true. You cant just go up to someone and ask for help without being labeled
as a crazy person.
9. Acting like you know what you are doing is the only thing you can do to
survive the world. You have to act like you know what youre doing until you
have your life figured out, which will never happen. Life is unpredictable and
the only thing you can do about it is live it.
10.I believe the best resolution would be to apologize. I understand why
Rosaleen wanted to fight back and retain her pride, but in this situation, there
is no way a black woman will win against three white men. Not only in
physical strength, but against word of mouth. At this time, there is no way
that a police officer will believe a black woman over three white men. While
no one was in the right in this situation, it would have been easier to just
apologize and move on to the voting registration.
11.The theme of freedom is a much more prevalent theme to a 10 th grader.
Motherhood is in not as dominant in a 15 year-olds mind. Tenth grade is the
time to experiment with who you are and push the boundaries around you in
order to test what being on your own will be like. College is only two year
away for us ad freedom is on the forefront of our mind.
12.Its hard to say if wither of them truly had a happy ending. While Lily was able
to stay with the remaining Boatwright sisters and attend school with Zach,
the image of her mother was destroyed and she truly gave up her father for
good. May had killed herself and that is not a happy ending, but her note
suggests that she did what she wanted and her death made her a martyr of
sorts as she pushed her sisters into truly living their lives. The ending of this
novel is bittersweet and there really was no happy ending.
13.Zach and Lilys relationship ends up better than I expected because while
they know they cant be together at the moment, they make a promise of a
future together when society is more accepting. They are also able to remain
friends even through the challenges that the white students provide at
school.
14.If I were in the same situation as Lily, I would feel bad about intruding on the
Boatwright sisters lives. I wouldnt feel comfortable imposing myself even if
they told me that they wanted me with them. I would probably put up with TRay for the next four years and then figure out a way to get to college so I
could leave. I would look for my mother once I was an adult so I could be selfsufficient and not rely on the help of strangers. I dont think this would be the
best way to get what I want but this is probably what I would do.