In the last couple of months I have been reading a lot of books and essays set in the South in the 60's. Race relations are something that have come up a lot in my political science classes. While things are better than they were in the 60's it is in reading these works that I see how much more work we still need to do for equality. Today our schools are less diverse than they were in the late 60's. A disturbing number of minorities are incarcerated.
The laws and justice system in this country are racially bias. It is something that comes up in the Secret Life of Bees. Rosaline is treated quite harshly for spitting on a white man's shoes. She is the house keeper for Lilly. Lilly is the main voice in this book. We learn almost equally about bees and people in this book. I loved the way the writer incorporated bee keeping into day to day life and the similarities in relationships.
Lilly's Mother was tragically killed when Lilly was 4 years old. Lilly has always had a hole in her heart where her Mother should have been. Lilly's Father was not a good man toward Lilly. He was overly harsh in his punishments and overly apathetic about her when she was behaving. Neglect and coldness is all Lilly knew from her Father so it wasn't surprising that Lilly grew very attached to Rosaline.
When Rosaline ran into legal trouble Lilly couldn't stop herself from helping her run away. They ran away to a different part of the same Southern state. Lilly has a hard journey figuring out who she is, who her Mother was, what is right or what is wrong. It is a touching and at times overwhelming journey. But in the end Lilly figures out what she believes and knows about herself and the world.
I would suggest this book to anyone who is interested in a good but heavy read.
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