40 pages • 1 hour read
Sue Monk KiddThe Secret Life of Bees
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary
Lily and Rosaleen are walking toward Tiburon when Lily realizes she has no plan for what they’re going to do once they get there. Lily tells Rosaleen that they will find a motel, and Rosaleen says there’s no hotel in South Carolina that’s going to let a Black woman stay there. Lily naively says that that was the point of the Civil Rights Act. When they get to town, Lily goes inside the general store to buy lunch for the two of them. In the store, she sees the same Virgin Mary card that she has from her mother plastered on the front of a row of jarred honey labeled “Black Madonna Honey.” The owner of the store tells Lily that the honey is made by August Boatwright, who has put the Black Virgin Mary on the honey because she herself is Black. The owner tells Lily where she can find August’s house.
Chapter 4 Summary
Lily and Rosaleen arrive at a pink house, where they meet the three Boatwright sisters: August, June, and May. Lily decides to only tell August the half-truth about why her and Rosaleen are at her door, even though August recognizes Lily immediately. Lily tells August that both of her parents have died and that she and Rosaleen, her former housekeeper, are on their way to look for her aunt in Richmond, Virginia. August immediately tells Lily that they can stay with her. August’s sister, June, seems displeased with this decision, but Lily doesn’t know why. Lily and Rosaleen move into the honey house. Rosaleen is given the job of helping May with the inside chores, and Lily is given the job of helping August with the bees. Lily and Rosaleen discuss why Lily is lying to August Boatwright, and Rosaleen concedes that Lily can do whatever she pleases with her secret. During their first night staying in the honey house, Lily goes for a walk and discovers a stone wall on the property that is filled with small pieces of paper with tragic events and sad stories written on them. Following the sound of running water, she finds a small river and wades in before heading back to the house.
Chapters 3-4 Analysis
Lily continues to misunderstand the reality of America for Black people when she suggests to Rosaleen that they get a motel room in Tiburon. Rosaleen tells her that is definitely not a possibility, and Lily responds, “Well what was the point of the Civil Rights Act? Doesn’t that mean people have to let you stay in their motels and eat in their restaurants if you want to?” (60). Rosaleen replies, “That’s what it means, but you gonna have to drag people kicking and screaming to do it” (60).
When they arrive at the Boatwrights’, Lily continues to treat Rosaleen like she is her keeper by explaining how Rosaleen got the bruises and cuts on her face. However, Lily recognizes this problem on the faces of the women: “August and June traded looks while Rosaleen narrowed her eyes, letting me know I’d done it again, speaking for her like she wasn’t even there” (72).
August knows who Lily is right away, but in her effort to keep Lily from bolting, she lets Lily keep her lie. While Lily introduces the theme of intentional blindness in the first two chapters, August here represents clear-eyed sight. When August asks Lily what her plan was for finding her aunt in Virginia and Lily responds with a lie, August says “I see,” and Lily thinks to herself, “And the thing was, she did. She saw right through it” (74). Lily also experiences being a minority for the first time while she is in the pink house, and this experience leaves her feeling both vulnerable and seen. She acknowledges her prejudice when she finds herself surprised by how “intelligent and cultured” the Boatwright sisters are (78).
When Lily goes for a walk during their first night in the cabin, she finds May’s “wailing wall.” While she doesn’t know yet what the wall is exactly, she uncovers a piece of paper that reads, “Birmingham, Sept. 15. Four little angels dead.” This note references the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four Black schoolgirls, but Lily doesn’t know that, even though this happened just last year. When Lily walks to the river and wades in, this is a moment of foreshadowing, as the river is where the keeper of the “wailing wall” will eventually be found.
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By Sue Monk Kidd
