I believe that Lily isn't to sure why many people are racist in her society. I think that her entire family issues (her mother being dead and her not being able to connect with her father) keep her from why most people believe in racism. Now, she is practically raised by a black maid called Rosaleen, who basically is like the mother she never had. I think that because she was so shielded against why people thought that way, along with the fact that her foster mother was black, created an overall sense that racism is wrong. She clearly was not placed around people who were ignorant and were teaching kids to hate based on skin color. She was also not raised to think this because she was basically raised by a black woman. Why would a black woman teach her that hating black people is bad, when she is black herself? The two work perfectly in Lily's case. It is a God send that she has an opportunity to be shielded from racism, and shown that people of color aren't bad people at all.
If she had a white caretaker then obviously things might be different. She might never know that black people can be nice, so she would never have a chance to dub black people humans of the same kind. She is confused by why most people believe so strongly in hatred towards African Americans because she lives with one and she treats her like she's her daughter. If no one was there to teach you how to play basketball, then you obviously wouldn't know how. If you didn't learn how to play basketball, and 95% of the population was saying that basketball for the devil, then you would probably think that it was for the devil and you wouldn't play it. However, if you were given the opportunity to learn how to play basketball while 95% of the population said it was for the devil-because you learned that it wasn't, then you wouldn't think that it is for the devil. This is how you must look at Lily's situation, and why she grows to be against or not fully understand why people believe in racism.
Lily is placed with a very loving and great, black nanny who wants the best for her. She doesn't see the world in the eyes of others because she is not in the same situation as the world. Due to this, she is shut away from the hatred, and instead shown the love away from racism. It makes complete sense to me that Lily grows from being confused about racism to understanding why it is wrong.
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I enjoyed reading your blog. Racism is always one of those topics that tends to come up every now and again. And although it is not the main focal point in The Secret Life of Bees, it is hard to get around that subject in the book. It also plays a crucial role I think. That is a good point that you made, that the reason why Lily may have so much confusion about the issue of racism, having something to do with the issues that she has to deal with in her home life. That could very well be a reason. Maybe if she didn’t have to worry so much about her own problems, she could think more about the issues going on in her society at that time. Yeah, I also think her practically being raised by a black woman would have a lot to do with it as well. With that, she was able to get a glimpse into another culture, and find out that there are so many similarities between the two. I think that in the end this turned out to be a good thing. If she was steeped into racism, she would have never thought about staying with the beekeeping sisters, who ended up helping her in such a great way.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that she was definitely shown a lot of love from her care giver Rosaleen who was black so she was unaware of the racism and hate most of the population had towards black people. Although Lily’s father was very un accepting and unloving towards her, she was truly blessed to have someone such as Rosaleen in her life to show her what true love is. I also think that it was a great blessing because she was able to form her own opinion of blacks, without having to take everyone else’s word for it. It is very rare for someone to be shielded by something so large as racism, but it truly was one of the only good things she was given. She was given the gift to love based not on skin color, but based on her feelings towards that person, her heart led her.
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