Noah Mabry

HELA 10 Hour 3
David
15, May 2016
SLOB Timed Write Revision

The protagonist in The Secret Life of Bee's, Lily, transcends the time period all
throughout the novel. She does this by accepting the culture and differences of these around her
and by seeing past color and not allowing society to influence the decisions she makes.
The racism in the Deep South in this time period was probably stronger than in any other
time. She sees this all throughout the novel when two of her best friends are arrested and beaten
for pushing at the racial barriers that society had set at this time. So when she goes to live with a
group of black women for shelter and accepts them as family and this is a very remarkable feat.
She practiced their religious customs with them, she worked with them, ate with them, and she
didn't bat an eye at the fact that they were African American. All of these examples of Lily
pushing the societal norms in this time period shows how she is seeing something much bigger
than race in these people. And this is shown when she finds strength from the Lady of Chains, a
black Mary. Not only does she accept the culture of the calendar sisters, she embraces it and
treats it as her own. And she embraces them and treats them as family. Another example of this is
when she falls in love with Zach.
At first, when Lily realized that she was in love with Zach, she was unsure if it
was acceptable. Fortunately, she looked past the color of his skin and realized that she liked him
for the person that he was and friend he was. This is one example of how Lily challenged what
society expected of her and made a decision that was right for her. In the novel, The Catcher in

the Rye, Holden Cauffield resented the idea of conforming to the society that surrounded him
and all of those who conformed around him. Lily never said this in The Secret Life of Bees,
however, with her actions she showed the reader that she didnt feel like being the same as
everyone else and she didnt feel like it was necessary. Thus, Lily transcended past societys
expectations of her in this time period by accepting the differences of others and not allowing
society to influence the decisions she makes.
Lily, all throughout the novel, surpassed those around hers expectations of her by
making decisions that will enhance her life not worrying about how people in this time period
will look at her. She accepts all of those around her and she provides the reader with a clear
example of how the world really should be, accepting.