The English Department HS

Second Trimester
Grade 10

The Secret Life of Bees

Chapter One
1-What does the narrator (Lily) seem to long for at the very start of the
novel?
Her Mother. She wants to know more about her mother.
2-Who is Rosaleen? Analyze her relationship with Lily.
Nanny/housekeeper. Rosaleen is a black woman who worked in the
fields belonging to Lily's father. Six months after Lily's mother died, T.
Ray took Rosaleen out of the fields and assigned her to taking care of
Lily.
3-Who is T Ray? Analyze his relationship with Lily.
Ray is Lily's father, a bitter, cruel, and harsh man who takes his anger
out on Lily. The source of that anger is Deborah's abandonment. From
August, Lily learns that T. Ray was once deeply in love with Lily's
mother, but they were totally unsuited for each other in social
background and personality.
4-How did Lily’s mother die? Analyze the effect of her death on Lily.
Lily has a horrific memory that haunts her. Deborah, her mother, died
on December 3, 1954, after a heated argument with T. Ray. Lily was
only four, but she remembers her mother hurriedly packing a suitcase.
and she still remembers an explosion. She had accidentally killed her
mother. "She was all I wanted. And I took her away."
5-Identify What Lily hopes to get from charm school and what it reveals
about her character.
Lily believes that charm school will give her a chance to be  beautiful
and fashionable.  Even though Lily has Rosaleen as a mother figure, she
feels lost without her own mother.  She thinks that she needs her mother
to brush her hair and to teach her how to act.
6-Why did Rosaleen go into town on the 4th of July? Analyze the effect of
this on her character.
Rosaleen is going to town the next day to sign up to vote. She has
practiced writing her name, Rosaleen Daise, on a piece of paper. Lily
lies to her father so that he'll let her accompany Rosaleen without
asking any questions.
7-Why did Rosaleen get arrested? Analyze Rosaleen’s behavior after she
gets arrested.
While going into town to register to vote, a group of men were calling
her rude names so she poured her spit jar on their shoes. They called
the police and she was charged with assault, theft, disturbance of peace
and more. The men followed her to the police station and beat her even
worse.