The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd features a young Caucasian girl, Lily, who lives with three African-American sisters, the boat masters. The novel is set in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina, in 1964: the time has come for the civil rights movement. Throughout the novel, Lily sees a lot of racial injustice, but if the novel was set after the civil rights movement it would not have had the same effect, because racial discrimination wasn't as obvious then. Even if the novel had been set before the civil rights movement, it still wouldn't have had the same effect, because before then there was little push for civil rights and little talk of racial progress in the media. plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay After May's death, a police officer asks Lily, "Were there no white people in Spartanburg you could hang with?" (p. 197) and “These are black people […] it's not natural, that you shouldn't… in short lower yourself” (p. 198). This shows how African Americans were viewed in 1964; the police officer thought it was strange that a white person was living with a black person. On the other hand, if this happened after the civil rights movement, it would not be uncommon for blacks and whites to coexist. Therefore, if the story had not been set in that period, the policeman's words would not have had the same effect. Lily's love interest, Zach, was an African-American teenager. Throughout the novel, Zach rejects Lily's advances because he knows that society would be against them being together. For example, after Zach takes a notebook from Lily, Lily throws her arms around him and leans into his chest in a hug, but Zach pulls her off him and tells her, "There are people who would kill kids like me for just that." to look at girls like me." you” (page 135). Kidd's use of the phrases "girl like you" and "boy like me" suggests that Zach is referring to their racial differences. They can't be together because Zach is black and Lily is white. If this had been written after the civil rights movement, it would not be uncommon for interracial partners, so this quote would not provide the same image of racial discrimination and Zach's concerns would not have given the reader the same amount of understanding. one point, Lily says: “We had word of a busload of people from New York City showing up to supplement the city pool. Talk about panic. We have a city-wide emergency on our hands, for there is no greater affliction to our Southern minds than that of the Northern people coming to fix our way of life.” (page 155) The setting of the story is essential to this quote because this was the only time the northern and southern parts of the United States felt this way about each other. Kidd wouldn't be able to include this part if he changed the setting. The loss of this line would have taken away the meaning of the novel, because it not only provides an accurate description of one of the racial issues of the time, but also shows how Lily's point of view is changing. This line gives off a sarcastic vibe to show how Lily knows what they want her to think, but thinks it's ridiculous. Finally, during a dinner, the characters discuss a real-life person, Jack Palance. Jack Palance, a Caucasian celebrity, brought a non-white woman into the white section of a theater. This infuriated many Caucasian people of the time. It was not socially acceptable for a white man to treat a black person.