For Lily Owens, progression meant everything. Lily grew in the least expected ways possible. Without finding the bright pink house in Tiburon, Lily would have been mentally lost. Without being able to learn the aspect of forgiveness, Lily would of never of known how to move through tough times. To learn these important morals, Lily decided she needed to go on a three hundred page journey. Her journey was like no other. Throughout all of the thoughts Lily’s mind contained, she gradually developed her unique mindset and character. In The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd showed that Lily was not only on a mission to find a mother, but also to find the greatest definition of love. If Lily looked back on herself in ten years, she would have known that the Boatwright’s pepto bismol colored home was her lifesaver. After T.Ray picked Lily up from the police station, he began to scream and yell at her. Lily knew that what had just happened was the beginning of the breaking point for her. In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily thought “In a matter of seconds, I knew exactly what I had to do-leave. I had to get away from T.Ray…” (41). At this point, Lily was telling herself that she needed to find her rescue boat. She needed somebody or something to tell her that her “jar is open” (60). Lily’s first sign of rescue was the Boatwright’s home. Many secrets and mothers lived inside of the Tiburon house. Journeys within journeys also existed. Each hardship that had occurred inside of the Boatwright’s home (For example: the news of May’s suicide) helped Lily become a stronger person. One of the hardest problems for Lily to overcome was forgiving her mother, Deborah Owens. Throughout the novel, Lily was determined to find out the truth about her mother’s situation. Another problem that Lily had to find the solution to was whether or not she could handle the truth. Learning to accept the way things are was one of the major lessons that Lily had learned. In The Secret Life of Bees, Lily said “I figured May must’ve made it to heaven and explained to my mother about the sign I wanted. The one that would let me know I was loved” (276). Lily’s mission was to find some sort of clue that somebody once loved her. Even though August always reassured Lily of this, Lily would never believe her until she had actual proof. Lily’s perfect idea of evidence was the picture of Deborah and Lily that August had saved. August kept all of these mementos for a reason. She knew they would be needed someday for somebody. Just like the pink house, the priceless picture also was Lily’s lifesaver to help her grow. She finally had found her identity of forgiveness. If Lily could not have forgiven her mother, she would have never been able to forgive anybody. Since Sue Monk Kidd based The Secret Life of Bees in the 1960 era, racial opinions and
