The_Secret_Life_of_Bees_Character_Journal

• Lily Owens- Lily is a fourteen-year-old girl, when she was four, she accidentally killed her mother, she lives on a peach farm in rural South Carolina with her father. Lily’s most prized possessions are a few things of her mother’s she found in her father’s attic. • Rosaleen- Lily’s nanny and first friend. Rosaleen is a black woman who originally worked as a peach picker 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. • Terrence Ray (T. Ray) Owens- Lily’s father. A peach farmer, T. Ray was once passionately in love with Lily’s mother, to whom he was married. After his wife left him and later died, he became a bitter and resentful man. He abuses and punishes Lily by making her kneel on dried grits, making fun of her attempts to better herself through reading, and refusing to offer her any signs of love. T. Ray takes out his general resentment and bitterness on Lily, the product of his lost love. • August Boatwright - A middle-aged black woman who welcomes Lily into her home. August lives in a pink house in Tiburon, South Carolina, with her two sisters, May and June. Together, May, June, and August are known as “the calendar sisters.” By selling honey, she supports herself and sisters, as well as Lily and Rosaleen, once they come to stay at her house. • Zachary Taylor - Lily’s best friend and romantic interest. Zach is a junior at the black high school in Tiburon and plays football for the school team. He is handsome and has one dimple when he smiles. He is ambitious and hopes to be a lawyer someday, although he has never heard of a black lawyer. Sensitive Zach forms an attachment to Lily, giving her gifts and positive attention. He works on the Boatwright’s’ farm to earn money for college, to buy a car, and to be self-reliant. • June Boatwright - Sister of August and May and part owner of the Boatwright farm. June finds it difficult to like Lily at first because she resents August’s involvement in the white world as a housekeeper for Lily’s mother. In her spare time, June volunteers as a cellist for the local hospital, where her music soothes dying patients. • May Boatwright - Sister of August and June and a friend and roommate to Rosaleen. May once had a twin sister, April, who was depressed and committed suicide at a young age. Since that time, May has become extremely sensitive and prone to depression. When she’s sad May sings the song “Oh! Susanna” and removes herself to spend time alone by a special wall she has constructed outside the house—her own “wailing wall.” She’s a very warm person, and spends most of her time taking care of the Boatwright house by cooking and cleaning for the other ladies. I was daydreaming about my mother again today. I remember that last day, before she died. They were fighting, T-Ray and her. I wanted them to stop. I wanted her to hold me again, like she always did. My name is Lily Melissa Owens. I live with my dad, T-Ray and nanny Rosaleen. We live in South Carolina on a peach farm. I spent all day selling peaches, it was a slow day and I was growing impatient. When I finally went home I saw Rosaleen watching TV. I don’t think I’d ever seen her so into a TV show the way she was. I don’t know what she was so excited about, so I couldn’t decide whether to be excited for her, of worried about her. That night after T-Ray had fallen I crept down the stairs, outside to my special place. I dug up my tin box and sat there under the tree with the box of my mom’s personal objects. And that’s how I fell asleep, just lying there peacefully with my mom’s things on my stomach. I woke up and heard something crashing trough the trees, the next morning. It was T-Ray. He came crashing towards me yelling. He had thought I was out there with a boy. A boy' Yeah right! As a punishment, I had to kneel in hard grits, the Martha White Punishment. That’s when I decided that I couldn’t stay there anymore. I had to get out, and run away. Rosaleen took me to the market the next day. We were walking down the street and some white men were outside, playing cards. They started making comments to Rosaleen. So, she poured tobacco spit on their shoes. The men jumped on her and someone called the police. After that everything happened too fast. Mr. Avery drove us to jail. The three men followed us in a truck. When we got to the jail they were waiting. They threatened Rosaleen to apologize. She didn’t, on of them hit her on the head with a flashlight. Soon T.Ray came and took me home. He said that one of the men was the towns worst racist. He said that if she didn’t apologize, they’d kill Rosaleen. When we got home he yelled. I told him that my mother would never let him hurt me and that I wasn’t scared of him. He just laughed and said that my mother abandoned me. But I knew he was lying. She would never do that. She loved me very much. I went upstairs to my room. I knew then, that I had to get out. I had to run away. I decided to go to Tiburon. That’s where my mother had stayed when she left. I’d be welcome there. Wouldn’t I' I headed out to the jail to get Rosaleen. When I get there they tell me that she’d been taken to a hospital. In the black patient wing of the Sylvan Memorial Hospital, I was told that the three men were allowed into the jail to beat Rosaleen more—which is why Rosaleen is in the hospital. I wanted Rosaleen to come with me. I needed her. So I trick the security guard with a fake phone call and easily slipped out with Rosaleen. We walked to Highway 40 and hitchhike our way to Tiburon. When we get there I tell Rosaleen about what T.Ray said to me about my mother. Hoping she would understand I told her why we’re going to Tiburon. But instead she gets mad. She accuses me of not thinking about her when I left. I couldn’t believe my ears. Didn’t she understand that I needed to know about my mother' That I needed to get away from T.Ray' We both storm off, going our own ways. Now what'