Bees

In the beginning of the novel Lily does not seem to be overtly racist or prejudiced. She seems to be an inherently kind and observant young girl who does not seem to me to believe that her race is superior just different from that of the Black community. I did get the sense though that being brought up in the South in this time period and with such a Father gave her a skewed outlook on the Black community. For example, when Lily first meets Zach she was really taken aback by the fact that she found him good looking and attractive to her. She was taken aback because she was so used to other people, both young and old, looking down upon Black features as bad or unattractive that she never really questioned it until now. Prior to this, when Lily breaks Rosaleen out of the Hospital she takes control from the get go and eventually Rosaleen takes offense to this because Lily is treating her like the other white members of the community do, as someone who is too slow or simple to take care of her let alone the both of them. These examples and other similar ones did not make me see Lily in a bad light because you cannot help but be a product of your environment, to an extent we are all products of our individual environments. The difference with Lily is that Lily did not blindly follow along the path she was set down upon. She loved Rosaleen as a mother figure and she risked her own life and safety to rescue her. Her concept of race did indeed change, but she was never a hard core “racist” or bigot to begin with. I think deep down inside she always knew that color is the most insignificant factor of a human being. When Lily first meets August, May and June I did not get the sense that she was amazed that Black women were the source of the Black Virgin Mary card rather it seemed as if she was most amazed at their way of life and its dream like quality. To Lily it was a haven and even after May has died and the police man tells her she should not “lower” herself to living in a Negro house she pays no heed because through her time spent with them she has realized more so than ever how inconsequential color is. Rather than saying Lily’s concept of race has evolved I would say it rather expanded. By living in such a strong minority household, one made up entirely of strong Black women, showed her how wrong judgment based on race is. As Lily said, after spending a good deal of time with the women, she wished God has erased any concept of skin color. I think August especially expanded Lily’s mind and what she thought, she became a substitute mother for her, the hearth fire that Lily saw in Augusts’ eyes called to her and told her that she would find unconditional love and acceptance in her. These “calendar girls” and Rosaleen called them showed Lily how race should be and how it is. In society race is a ball and chain when it should be as unimportant and meaningful as shoe size.