In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily feels lost without a mother to guide her step by step through life. However, with her escape to Tiburon, Lily finally finds support and consolation through new experiences and discoveries. Specifically, Lily is able to discover an alternative mother figure: nature. Unlike her mother, nature is not a fleeting presence or a simple memory. Lily finds inner peace and comfort in nature, as it is always present and constantly renewing itself, a trait Lily never found in her mother. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Deborah is absent for much of Lily's life, a fleeting figure. Lily asks T-Ray about his mother and is disappointed: “I managed to get some information from him… my mother was buried in Virginia, where her people were from. I got angry about this, thinking I had found a grandmother. No, she tells me, my mother was an only child whose mother died four years ago” (13). Lily's lack of a grandmother further highlights her mother's absence, as even her closest family ties to Deborah are nonexistent. Lily comments on missing her mother: “The strangest things made me miss her. Like training bras. Who would I ask about this?" (13). For a long time, Lily did not have a mother to physically take care of her needs and guide her in life. Even small things, like training bras, remind her every day her mother's absence. Lily is often confused and unsure about her mother, always reminded of her own ignorance: “I started to think that maybe I should find out what I could about my mother... But where to start? night seemed like an ink stain that I had to understand. I sat there and studied the darkness, trying to see through it some sliver of light” (101) Lily's thoughts about her mother are like “stains of ink.” ink” confusion; she is often troubled by how little she knows and is constantly reminded of the times she never spent with her mother, never finding any clues to her mother's true self. From the days with T-Ray to those in Tiburon, Lily is always aware of the brevity of Deborah's life. Lily describes her mother's nightmare as a cockroach as follows: "If I told you right now that I never wondered about that dream, I never closed my eyes and imagined her with cockroach legs... with the its worst nature, exposed, I would be... telling lies. A cockroach is a creature that no one can love, but you can't kill it. It will go on and on and on. Just try to get rid of it mother for so long, she feels blind to her mother's true flaws. Her doubts and questions “go on and on” and continue to disturb her in the depths of her mind. Deborah appears like a cockroach, with the identity of a stranger and an unknown parasite. Lily peers at the photo of her mother before the trip to Tiburon: “You couldn't believe the stories I saw in that photo… I placed the photograph next to my eighth-grade photo and I looked at every possible similarity” (13). Lily takes what little information she has about her mother and tries to extract any hypotheses or images about her mother's personality. She cannot grasp her mother's true personality, and therefore is always insecure and doubtful. Lily's insecurities stem from the fact that she doesn't fully understand her mother, instead making assumptions and never stopping on stable ground. In contrast, nature is present throughout Lily's life as a continually replenished and renewed force, unlike Lily's mother..