Lily Melissa Owens

The character, Lily Melissa Owens, in The Secret Life of Bees, embodies humanity through her longing for love, acceptance, and her mother. While growing up in Sylvan, South Carolina, Lily has essentially no family except for her housekeeper, Rosaleen. Her father gives her nothing but a lack of love and appreciation and her mother, who was trapped in her marriage, was taken from her in a horrific accident. Her death haunts Lily through her self-confidence, strength, relationship with her father, and her relationships with her peers. Lily does not know the feeling of acceptance because her father and schoolmates look down on her. Nevertheless, Lily believes in her mother and knows she must embark on a journey to learn about her and the love she had for her daughter. In the novel Lily says, “This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted. And I took her away.”

“I heard a voice say, ‘Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open.’” When this voice came to Lily she let her desire for love and a fulfilling life sweep her off her feet and lead her on her path towards her mother. Lily possessed a picture, once belonging to her mother, of a black Mary with the words Tiburon, South Carolina on the back. This picture served as Lily’s compass on the journey that ultimately saved her. Lily and her housekeeper, Rosaleen, moved in with three black sister August, June, and May. August stepped in as Lily’s maternal figure, teaching her more about the world and herself that she had ever imagined. Many of August’s messages came through analogies involving her profession of beekeeping. Lily spent time growing and learning to accept the compassion of August and her sisters.

When Lily knew that August’s love for her was unshakable she became comfortable enough to inquire about her mother. Her yearning for love and acceptance had been granted, however her mother was a different story. When Lily learned that her mother was very close with August and that she had left her with her father to move in with August, Lily was crushed. Lily’s mother was extremely unhappy in her marriage and felt she could only save herself by leaving. This included leaving Lily behind in Sylvan. This information was too much for Lily to process calmly, consequently she responded with, “‘I hate her, I do I hate her. She wasn’t anything like I though she was.’ I’d spent my life imagining all the ways she’d loved me, what a perfect specimen of a mother she was. And all of it was lies. I had completely made her up.” Lily reacted as any average person would, after believing in someone for her whole life and then being let down like she was with the truth, she was distraught and was very hard on herself. In the beginning Lily chose to believe that her mother never wanted her and Lily wanted to erase her from her life. It took Lily, as it would anyone, time to understand the condition her mother was in at the time she left. Lily had to come to terms with the fact that her mother was depressed and it was not her fault. She regained the strength that August had helped build in her to forgive her mother and reaccept the love she had for her. As the novel closes Lily is a strong, confident, compassionate, accepted, and loving young woman. Lily sees the world through fresh eyes knowing that her mother and those that count in her life will always be there with her (600).