40 pages • 1 hour read
The Secret Life of Bees
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Lily and Rosaleen have now been with the Boatwright sisters for eight days, and Lily’s anxiety about being found out and tracked down is growing stronger. Lily’s mounting anxiety is exacerbated by her growing romantic feelings for Zach, August’s godson who has returned to work on the bee farm. These feelings, which are revealed to be shared by Zach at the end of the chapter, can never be acted upon because Zach is Black and understands the consequences of their relationship. Lily also seems to understand this and accepts Zach’s friendship. Lily feels the space between her and Rosaleen widen as Rosaleen moves into the house to share May’s bedroom with her because May often needs to be comforted and consoled at night. Zach shares his dreams of being a lawyer someday with Lily, and she shares her former desire to be a writer. Later, Zach gives Lily a notebook as a gift to encourage her to write.
August gives Lily another opportunity to tell her the truth, but Lily refuses it. Everyone in the house overhears Neil and June having a fight in which Neil ends up storming away after calling June a “selfish bitch” for not wanting to marry him. This fight feels different than the other fights, and things at the bee farm seem to be growing in intensity for everyone.
Chapter 8 Summary
Lily and August spend more time alone working with the bees. August gives Lily multiple opportunities to share her truth, but Lily still refuses. Lily asks August all about herself, her life, the Black Madonna, and why she’s not married, and August answers all of her questions. She reveals that she decided to put the Black Madonna on the honey jars so that the Daughters of Mary would see themselves in the divine, and she admits that Our Lady of Chains, which has been passed down in her family since sometime after the Civil War, is a ship masthead but that the people saw what they needed to see in it. As for why she isn’t married, August says that she loves her freedom more than she has loved any man.
When August tries to ask Lily about herself, Lily deflects. August, instead of pressing the matter, asks Lily what she loves. Lily lists off Rosaleen, Coke with peanuts, and the color blue. August reveals that her favorite color is also blue, and Lily asks why, if that’s her favorite color, she painted the house pink. August tells Lily that May picked the color of the house, and while August didn’t love it, she figured giving May this small happiness was worth more than her own preference for the color. While Lily and August are on bee patrol, August teaches Lily about the function of the hive—how every member from the queen to the field bees has their own role that is necessary for the hive to survive.
Before Zach takes Lily along to collect the money and bring more honey to Mr. Clayton’s law office, he tells everyone over lunch how a famous movie star is coming to town and will be taking a “colored woman” to the theater with him to sit in the white section downstairs. At the law office, Lily calls collect to her father, who is clearly furious with her. Lily won’t reveal to T. Ray where she is, but before she hangs up the phone, she asks him what her favorite color is, and he doesn’t answer. When Lily gets back to the house, she writes a letter to T. Ray in which she tells the truth about her feelings, how disappointed she is, how much she despises him and how she still doesn’t believe that her mother left her. Lily tears up the letter. Once everyone has gone to bed that night, Lily approaches Our Lady of Chains, asks her for help, and, finally, touches her heart.
Chapters 7-8 Analysis
Lily’s budding friendship with Zach not only forces her to look at more of her own prejudices but also forces her to look at her ideas of herself and her future. Zach’s hopes and dreams are brave and riddled with possible heartbreak, yet he feels confident about himself and his path. Lily believes she has ruined her life, and more than that, she believes that her life ended the same day her mother’s did.
Meanwhile, June and Neil have another fight about marriage that ends with Neil asking June, “What are you so scared of?” (132). When Neil says this, he could be talking to Lily, for Lily also is letting her fear keep her from living.
Rosaleen physically moves further away from Lily by moving into the main house to keep May company. This is representative of the emotional distance Lily feels from Rosaleen. The two have yet to navigate the new terms of their relationship, a relationship in which Rosaleen doesn’t work for Lily and Lily doesn’t look to Rosaleen to be her mother. Rosaleen extends a familiar comfort to Lily by patting her knee “like old times” when Lily gets upset about her moving inside (130). This moment signifies to Lily that Rosaleen still cares for her, but the dynamic of their relationship will no longer exist as it has.
Lily is finally honest with herself that her reason for not telling August the truth is that she thinks August will shatter the fantasy she has of her mother and her mother having stayed at the pink house. Lily knows that as long as she doesn’t know the truth, she can keep her fantasy alive. The notebook Zach gives Lily a place to keep her fantasies and an opportunity to live her life in the world of the imperfect now.
August leans into her role of mentor and storyteller for Lily in this section. In telling Lily about the Black Madonna as well as her own personal history, August helps Lily think about the story that she is living by—the one that has been swirling around her mother’s death Lily’s entire life. August helps Lily to think about stories that are not literally true yet hold a truth that exists beyond factual proof. In this way, Lily is able to see that the stories one tells oneself can hold power whether or not they are true. Lily finally touching the heart of the Our Lady of Chains statue signifies that Lily is ready to fill up the hole left by her missing mother with other mothers and also that she is getting closer to telling August the truth.
Unlock all 40 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
