The Secret Life of Bees

Study Guide Questions: ch 7-14

Chapter 7

1. “At my school they made fun of colored people’s lips and noses. I myself had laughed at these jokes,
hoping to fit in. Now I wished that I could pen a letter to my school to be read at opening assembly that
would tell them how wrong we had all been. You should see Zachary Taylor, I’d say.”(p116) Discuss
this statement, relating it to the concept of ethnocentrism. Whose standards of beauty do you think Lily
is using in evaluating Zachary? In what situations might this type of thinking negatively affect a
person’s opportunities? Define the term before discussing this question.
2. Why does Lily think she is headed for beauty school now?
3. Why does Zach get upset when Lily suggests he could be a professional player?
4. Why does Lily cry?
5. What is the metaphor Lily uses at the end of page 133, and what does she mean?
6. How has Lily’s attitude toward African American people changed since coming to live with August and
her sisters? Howareculturalmoresandvalues representedinliterature?

Chapter 8

1. Why does August tell Lily about the thirty-two words for love in the Eskimo language? Do you think
that this is fact or fiction? How would you find out?
2. Contrast August’s story with Lily’s. Why does Lily say her story “sort of” ends her life? (p 142)

3. August describes Big Mama’s story of hearing the bees sing on Christmas Eve. Does August mean the
story literally? How does this relate to the title of the book?
4. When August could not get a teaching job, she became a housekeeper for a white family, but she says of
June “you wouldn’t catch her keeping house for white people.” (p 145) How does this help explain
June’s resentment of Lily? Is there anything wrong with being a housekeeper? Why is June so against
anyone in her family working as a housekeeper?

5. Lily notices that the black Mary label she had stuck on herself is coming “unglued.“ (p 152 ) Is this a
metaphor for Lily’s situation?
6. Lily gave T.Ray a test to determine if he loved her. How did she cope with his response? Lily has at
least three people who really care about her, Rosaleen, August and Zach. Why does she still seek her
father’s love?
7. Compare a beehive to life in the pink house.

Chapter 9

1. How do you interpret August’s words “ Actually, you can be bad at something, Lily, but if you love
doing it, that will be enough.”
2. Lily says “I was seeing myself as the fire department and June as the raging inferno.” (p 162) Is this a
defining moment in the relationship between June and Lily? How?
3. How does the author show that Lily is starting to mature, in regards to her “dream world” wishful
thinking? Then what happens to reinforce Lily’s belief in signs and premonitions? Whatarethe
motivatorsandbarrierstochangefor Lily?
 4. Define the term coming of age and explain how the novel is a coming of age novel for the protagonist
(Lily)
5. What is the meaning of Lily’s dream about her mother?
6. Compare Zach and Rosaleen’s confrontations with white men. How did the political climate contribute
to the situation? Do you think that Zach or Rosaleen or both of them were justified in the action they
chose? What other choice could each have made? What might have been the consequences, physical,
emotional and ethical, for choosing a different course of action.
7. August, on page 147, says, “The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.” Zach makes a choice
that matters, to stand beside his friends. He did not have time to decide if he agreed with Jackson. What
sacrifices might one have to make to stay true to their friends, family, or culture? What are some
positive and negative outcomes of this type of choice? Can you make a text to self-connection about
this?

8. Lily says “ I watched him, filled with tenderness and ache, wondering what it was that connected us.”
What connects Lily and Zach. Is it more than just his good looks?

Chapter 10

1. August sensed that something wasn’t quite right, when May went out to the wall. How did she know
something was wrong?
2. The Wailing Wall has been May’s outlet for sorrow. Why didn’t it sustain her through Zach’s
incarceration? How might things have been different for May if she lived today instead of in the 1960’s
3. Interpret this sentence: “This had been the thing they’d been waiting for half their lives without even
realizing it.” (p 194)
4. Lily says that it “would be selfish to pour this into her cup.” (p 201) What does she mean?
5. Think about the rituals describe in this chapter; the vigil for May and covering the hives with black
cloth. How do rituals help people cope?
6. What is the difference between the origin of the rituals of men and the rituals of bees?

Chapter 11

1. How has Zach changed?

2. What do you think is the relevance of the quote at the beginning of this chapter?
3. Zach says “ We can’t think of changing our skin, change the world-that’s how we gotta think.” (p 216)
Can you think of examples, where, in changing the world, one might decide to change their skin, if only
for a little while?
4. While in mourning, the usual routines of Lily’s life have disappeared. How do routines affect our life?
How has routine helped June to cope with May’s death? If the temperature had gone over 100 degrees,
do you think that August would have gone on bee patrol to feed the bees?

5. When Lily wants to move back into the honey house, Rosaleen doesn’t protest. In fact, she is in favor of
Lily moving immediately. Both have gotten used to having space to themselves. Discuss examples from
your life where you and your mother, or a friend, have each wanted your own space, or time without the
other. Has it felt like rejection? Was it rejection? How did it turn out?
6. If you discussed question 5 from Chapter 9, then discuss what Zach might be thinking when he says “ I
know that feeling” in response to Lily saying “...Sometimes I would be hooked on that chain along with
them.” Connect this to Zach’s goals for the future.

Chapter 12
 1. Lily learns some things about her mother from August. How are Lily and Deborah alike? How are they
different? You may want to use the Venn diagram to help you answer this question. Think about how
each person’s environment shaped them and what Lily has learned from the choices that Deborah made.
Share something that you have learned from your mother’s choices and how it has shaped who you are.
What choices would you make the same/different?
2. Review your answer to question 1, from Chapter 5. Reread the last three paragraphs of page 242 and
reevaluate your previous answer? Would you change your answer? If so, how. If not, why?
3. How does the quote at the beginning of the chapter relate to Lily’s anguish?
4. How did the truth about Deborah differ from the image Lily had carried with her all of her life? Was
Deborah a bad mother and bad person or was Lily’s image of her unrealistic to begin with?
5. Discuss Deborah and T.Ray as parents. For each, discuss whether their personal issues justified their
treatment of Lily.
6. Has Lily found “the mother within herself?” How do you know?

Chapter 13

1. “A worker bee is just over a centimeter long and weighs only about sixty milligrams; nevertheless, she
can fly with a load heavier than herself.” How does this apply to Lily? Support you answer with
examples from the book.
2. Is Lily correct? Is it true that you can’t talk yourself out of anger? “ Either you are angry or you’re not.”
Does Lily’s anger justify her smashing August’s honey? What else could Lily have done to get her anger
out?

3. How do the events in this chapter move Lily toward peace with her mother?

Chapter 14

1. Why did Lily carry around mouse bones? Does that make sense to you?
2. “I wish that she had been smart enough, or loving enough, to realize that everybody has burdens that
crush them, only they don’t give up their children.” (p 278) “In a weird way I must have loved my little
collection of hurts and wounds. They provided me with some real nice sympathy, with the feeling that I
was exceptional.” (p 278) “Regrets don’t help anything, you know that.” (p 280) Compare these
statements. Can grieving or self-pity help a person heal? At what point does it become destructive?

3. Rosaleen is going to finish what she started. She is going to register to vote. How has Rosaleen changed
from the beginning of the story. Do you think that life for African Americans in the South will change
dramatically after this summer (The summer of Freedom)?
4. Discuss the quote at the beginning of the chapter as it might relate to Lily.
5. The story about Our Lady of Chains would suggest that she has magical powers. What is a more
accurate description of Our Lady?
6. “He seemed happy to carve up the rocking chair like he was all of eleven years old, putting his initials in
a tree.” Why did T.Ray do this?
7. Did Deborah leave T.Ray because he was mean,. Or did T.Ray become mean because Deborah left him?
8. Lily sometimes imagines that T.Ray shows his love for her by remembering her at Christmastime. Do
you think that this is wishful thinking? What are the positive and negative aspects of her imagining
T.Ray shows his love for her?
9. Lily began the story with Rosaleen as a mother figure for her. How has living in the pink house changed
that? If Deborah had lived today, how might things have been different for Lily? Consider that August
and her sisters may have been part of Lily’s family from the beginning, in your answer.
10. Using details from the story, discuss what kind of parent Lily will be, if she ever becomes a mother.
Think about what she has learned from the adults around her and think about how likely she is to use
that knowledge in her own parenting, especially during stressful times.
11. Who shot Deborah? Use details from the book to support your answer.