Quotes and Their Importance
Alice's Section
****Most Significant Quotes
****Most Significant Quotes
Some important quotes of the book are
when we witness T.Ray's abuse of Lily, Rosaleen's love for Lily and how Lily's teacher makes her realize her true potential and abilities.
“ Still, I couldn't let the matter go entirely-T. Ray thinking I was so desperate that I would invent an invasion of bees to get attention. Which is how I got the bright idea of caching a jar of these bees, presenting them to T. Ray and saying 'Now who's making things up?'” (pg 5)
Lily acts as an adult for most of the time, so she cannot suffer being thought of as needy or less than self-sufficient. This prompted her to capture some of the bees that had been swarming around her bed. She was so distressed that she went to her father for comfort, but he called her names and reenforced the feeling that she couldn't depend on him. Her father was unkind to her and threatened her several times with the 'Martha Whites', which are southern grits. Her father forced her to kneel on them until they inflicted the requisite pain, and done the appropriate amount of damage.
She held back her feelings, so that T. Ray would not hurt her on the inside as much as he had hurt her on the outside. He used many types of corporal punishment, slapping her and making her kneel in grits. He also blames her for the death of her mother, Deborah. They had such a disconnect that they could not live together and fully understand the other's motivations.
“Matters below my necks had shaped up, not that I could show off that part. It was fashionable to wear cashmere twin sets and plaid kilts mid-thigh, but T. Ray said hell would be an ice rink before I went out like that- did I want to end up pregnant like Bitsy Johnson whose skirt barely covered her ass?”pg 9
T. Ray always put Lily down, and made her feel like less of a person because she wanted to look fashionable. His efforts to make Lily self-concious worked and T. Ray probably did not want any boy to take a liking to her, given that appearance is what tends to draw people in at first. Lily was growing up and T. Ray still had a death grip on everything that lily did. He tried to control her every movement. (As seen by his response to Lily's studies.) He expended a large amount of effort to put Lily down so that she would not leave him, or become her own person. He had to keep her under his power as long as he possibly could.
***”She stared at the bee and shook her head 'If you get stung don't come whining to me' she said' cause I ain't gonna care.' that was a lie I was the only one who knew that despite here sharp ways her heart was more tender than a flower skin and she loved me beyond reason.”pg 11
Rosaleen was the only one who loved lily, and was still alive. We assume that her mother loved her, because lily always reflects on what her mother would do if she saw what T. Ray did to her on a pretty regular basis. Rosaleen took the place of her mother, standing up for Lily when T. Ray was trying to do something that Lily's mother would not approve of. Rosaleen was Lily's support system throughout the book and she always took Lily's side.
***“'Please Lily, you are insulting your fine intelligence. Do you have any idea how smart you are? You could be a professor or a writer with actual books to your credit? Beauty school. Please.' It took me a month to get over the shock or having life possibilities.”pg 16
This is part of the catalyst to make her realize her power to leave. This makes her realize that she has potential. She believed that she would follow the path taken by most people who are “white trash”, people who have no future, or have not been motivated to do so. Her teacher sees major potential in her, yet her father had decided that she wasn't good enough for that.
Her mother had been very intelligent, but she had left him, so maybe T. Ray was trying to keep Lily in his grasp, near him so that she wouldn't leave him, like her mother had.
***“[My teacher had] said a scholarship was my only hope for a future and lent me her private books for the summer. Whenever I opened one T. Ray would say 'Who do you think you are. Julius Shakespeare?' The man sincerely thought that was Shakespeare's first name , and if you think I should have corrected him, you are ignorant about the art of survival. He also referred to me as Miss Brown-Nose-In-A-Book and occasionally as Miss Emily-Big-Head-Diction. ”pg 16
T. Ray was so illiterate and ignorant that he did not know these staple poets and writers. He belittled Lily for knowing them and trying to educate herself. By not allowing her to educate herself, he would effectively eradicate any prospects or future that she had going for her. Also in doing so, by insulting her every time she had picked up a book, she was encouraged to not learn, to not study. His distain for everything colored Lily's reactions. He doesnt want her to learn, so her unquenchable thirst for knowlege becomes even bigger. He wants to keep her here, so she runs away. She tries to become diffrent from him and more educated.
****“[Rosaleen] looked down at my knees and stopped sweeping. They were swollen with hundreds of red welts, pinprick bruises that would grow into a blue stubble across my skin.'Look at you, child. Look at what he's done to you,' She said.
My knees had been tortured like this enough times in my life that I'd stopped thinking of it as out of the ordinary; it was just something you had to put up from time to time, like the common cold. But suddenly the look on Rosaleen's face cut through all of that. Look at what he's done to you.”pg 25
Lily had become so used to T. Ray's abuses that she sort of became numbed to the moral outrage and the whole punishment part of it. She did not know that it was a cruel thing to do and that normal parents did not do that to their kids. She did not know any better so she just accepted it. Since her mother had passed, she had nobody to stand up for her when T. Ray was being especially cruel. People feel liberated to mistreat others if they do not have a higher power watching them. T. Ray did not have integrity, and punished Lily at will. He did not believe her when she asserted that she had not been with a boy when she was in the orchard. She had been sitting there holding her mother's Black Madonna picture to her chest, and reflecting on her memories of her mother. T. Ray did not believe her, thinking that she was lying and asserted that she was a slut.
**** “'Well, look what we got coming here' he called out.'Where're you going, nigger?'...Rosaleen, who had less sense than I'd dreamed says this in this tone like she was explaining something real hard to a kindergarten student, 'I'm going to register my name so I can vote, that's what.'”Pg 31
This dialog shows the extent of racism in the south, in this time in history. This man had no other thing to do than to harass this black woman who was going to vote. The whites also did not want blacks to have a place in their society, voting, living and existing near them. They believed that the blacks were their color because of a taint, or from general ignorance. They had a fear of the unknown, and were coping with the fact that not 50 years or so ago, the blacks had been their slaves. They were treated as inferior and less than equal, despite the “Separate but Equal” clause from the government. There are people even today who believe that blacks have no right to participate in the government and do not belong in politics, but as servants or slaves.
Rosaleen's response was not self-preserving, because she verbally attacked the man, and poured snuff juice on his shoes, although he was an extremely well-known black-person hater. At this time in history, looking at a white person funny could get a black person arrested, hanged, tar-and-feathered or lynched. Some whites, such as this man, were so severely blinded by their hate that they didn't think. After this event took place, the man and some police men take Rosaleen to the county jail and try to beat an apology out of her for writing her name in snuff juice on his shoes.
****“I heard a voice say 'Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open.' In a matter of seconds I knew exactly what I had to do- leave. I had to get away from T. Ray, who was probably on his way back this minute to do Lord-knows-what to me.” pg 41
Lily finally feels free to run away, because of this voice. She previously had not entertained the idea, but decides suddenly that running away is the right thing to do. She feels that the voice is her mother telling her to escape her abusive father and the dead-end life that she would surely lead if she stayed. She would have a better chance at life if she ran away from her father who was cruel and doesn't love her. Lily had to cope with the fact that she had killed her mother. This and other quotes allude to the fact that the voice is her mother who is urging her to leave, the town and T. Ray. She escapes T. Ray, because she had to and because she was following her self-preservation instinct.
“I found myself looking at a picture of the black Mary, I do not mean a picture of any black Mary, I mean the identical, very same, exact one as my mother's she stared at me from the labels of a dozen jars of honey, Black Madonna Honey, they said.”pg 63
Lily had finally found the last puzzle piece that allowed her to find out something about her mother and how she was connected to the honey makers, and why. She did not know that much about her mother or her past, so when she found a picture of a black Mary, that said “Tiburon, SC”, it was a message to escape and it was a sign that she did not have to put up with T. Ray's abuses day in and day out. She was understandably excited when she saw the picture. Her mother had obviously done something momentous in the town and there was something that Lily felt compelled to do,to compleat herself and fufil her mother's final wishes.
when we witness T.Ray's abuse of Lily, Rosaleen's love for Lily and how Lily's teacher makes her realize her true potential and abilities.
“ Still, I couldn't let the matter go entirely-T. Ray thinking I was so desperate that I would invent an invasion of bees to get attention. Which is how I got the bright idea of caching a jar of these bees, presenting them to T. Ray and saying 'Now who's making things up?'” (pg 5)
Lily acts as an adult for most of the time, so she cannot suffer being thought of as needy or less than self-sufficient. This prompted her to capture some of the bees that had been swarming around her bed. She was so distressed that she went to her father for comfort, but he called her names and reenforced the feeling that she couldn't depend on him. Her father was unkind to her and threatened her several times with the 'Martha Whites', which are southern grits. Her father forced her to kneel on them until they inflicted the requisite pain, and done the appropriate amount of damage.
She held back her feelings, so that T. Ray would not hurt her on the inside as much as he had hurt her on the outside. He used many types of corporal punishment, slapping her and making her kneel in grits. He also blames her for the death of her mother, Deborah. They had such a disconnect that they could not live together and fully understand the other's motivations.
“Matters below my necks had shaped up, not that I could show off that part. It was fashionable to wear cashmere twin sets and plaid kilts mid-thigh, but T. Ray said hell would be an ice rink before I went out like that- did I want to end up pregnant like Bitsy Johnson whose skirt barely covered her ass?”pg 9
T. Ray always put Lily down, and made her feel like less of a person because she wanted to look fashionable. His efforts to make Lily self-concious worked and T. Ray probably did not want any boy to take a liking to her, given that appearance is what tends to draw people in at first. Lily was growing up and T. Ray still had a death grip on everything that lily did. He tried to control her every movement. (As seen by his response to Lily's studies.) He expended a large amount of effort to put Lily down so that she would not leave him, or become her own person. He had to keep her under his power as long as he possibly could.
***”She stared at the bee and shook her head 'If you get stung don't come whining to me' she said' cause I ain't gonna care.' that was a lie I was the only one who knew that despite here sharp ways her heart was more tender than a flower skin and she loved me beyond reason.”pg 11
Rosaleen was the only one who loved lily, and was still alive. We assume that her mother loved her, because lily always reflects on what her mother would do if she saw what T. Ray did to her on a pretty regular basis. Rosaleen took the place of her mother, standing up for Lily when T. Ray was trying to do something that Lily's mother would not approve of. Rosaleen was Lily's support system throughout the book and she always took Lily's side.
***“'Please Lily, you are insulting your fine intelligence. Do you have any idea how smart you are? You could be a professor or a writer with actual books to your credit? Beauty school. Please.' It took me a month to get over the shock or having life possibilities.”pg 16
This is part of the catalyst to make her realize her power to leave. This makes her realize that she has potential. She believed that she would follow the path taken by most people who are “white trash”, people who have no future, or have not been motivated to do so. Her teacher sees major potential in her, yet her father had decided that she wasn't good enough for that.
Her mother had been very intelligent, but she had left him, so maybe T. Ray was trying to keep Lily in his grasp, near him so that she wouldn't leave him, like her mother had.
***“[My teacher had] said a scholarship was my only hope for a future and lent me her private books for the summer. Whenever I opened one T. Ray would say 'Who do you think you are. Julius Shakespeare?' The man sincerely thought that was Shakespeare's first name , and if you think I should have corrected him, you are ignorant about the art of survival. He also referred to me as Miss Brown-Nose-In-A-Book and occasionally as Miss Emily-Big-Head-Diction. ”pg 16
T. Ray was so illiterate and ignorant that he did not know these staple poets and writers. He belittled Lily for knowing them and trying to educate herself. By not allowing her to educate herself, he would effectively eradicate any prospects or future that she had going for her. Also in doing so, by insulting her every time she had picked up a book, she was encouraged to not learn, to not study. His distain for everything colored Lily's reactions. He doesnt want her to learn, so her unquenchable thirst for knowlege becomes even bigger. He wants to keep her here, so she runs away. She tries to become diffrent from him and more educated.
****“[Rosaleen] looked down at my knees and stopped sweeping. They were swollen with hundreds of red welts, pinprick bruises that would grow into a blue stubble across my skin.'Look at you, child. Look at what he's done to you,' She said.
My knees had been tortured like this enough times in my life that I'd stopped thinking of it as out of the ordinary; it was just something you had to put up from time to time, like the common cold. But suddenly the look on Rosaleen's face cut through all of that. Look at what he's done to you.”pg 25
Lily had become so used to T. Ray's abuses that she sort of became numbed to the moral outrage and the whole punishment part of it. She did not know that it was a cruel thing to do and that normal parents did not do that to their kids. She did not know any better so she just accepted it. Since her mother had passed, she had nobody to stand up for her when T. Ray was being especially cruel. People feel liberated to mistreat others if they do not have a higher power watching them. T. Ray did not have integrity, and punished Lily at will. He did not believe her when she asserted that she had not been with a boy when she was in the orchard. She had been sitting there holding her mother's Black Madonna picture to her chest, and reflecting on her memories of her mother. T. Ray did not believe her, thinking that she was lying and asserted that she was a slut.
**** “'Well, look what we got coming here' he called out.'Where're you going, nigger?'...Rosaleen, who had less sense than I'd dreamed says this in this tone like she was explaining something real hard to a kindergarten student, 'I'm going to register my name so I can vote, that's what.'”Pg 31
This dialog shows the extent of racism in the south, in this time in history. This man had no other thing to do than to harass this black woman who was going to vote. The whites also did not want blacks to have a place in their society, voting, living and existing near them. They believed that the blacks were their color because of a taint, or from general ignorance. They had a fear of the unknown, and were coping with the fact that not 50 years or so ago, the blacks had been their slaves. They were treated as inferior and less than equal, despite the “Separate but Equal” clause from the government. There are people even today who believe that blacks have no right to participate in the government and do not belong in politics, but as servants or slaves.
Rosaleen's response was not self-preserving, because she verbally attacked the man, and poured snuff juice on his shoes, although he was an extremely well-known black-person hater. At this time in history, looking at a white person funny could get a black person arrested, hanged, tar-and-feathered or lynched. Some whites, such as this man, were so severely blinded by their hate that they didn't think. After this event took place, the man and some police men take Rosaleen to the county jail and try to beat an apology out of her for writing her name in snuff juice on his shoes.
****“I heard a voice say 'Lily Melissa Owens, your jar is open.' In a matter of seconds I knew exactly what I had to do- leave. I had to get away from T. Ray, who was probably on his way back this minute to do Lord-knows-what to me.” pg 41
Lily finally feels free to run away, because of this voice. She previously had not entertained the idea, but decides suddenly that running away is the right thing to do. She feels that the voice is her mother telling her to escape her abusive father and the dead-end life that she would surely lead if she stayed. She would have a better chance at life if she ran away from her father who was cruel and doesn't love her. Lily had to cope with the fact that she had killed her mother. This and other quotes allude to the fact that the voice is her mother who is urging her to leave, the town and T. Ray. She escapes T. Ray, because she had to and because she was following her self-preservation instinct.
“I found myself looking at a picture of the black Mary, I do not mean a picture of any black Mary, I mean the identical, very same, exact one as my mother's she stared at me from the labels of a dozen jars of honey, Black Madonna Honey, they said.”pg 63
Lily had finally found the last puzzle piece that allowed her to find out something about her mother and how she was connected to the honey makers, and why. She did not know that much about her mother or her past, so when she found a picture of a black Mary, that said “Tiburon, SC”, it was a message to escape and it was a sign that she did not have to put up with T. Ray's abuses day in and day out. She was understandably excited when she saw the picture. Her mother had obviously done something momentous in the town and there was something that Lily felt compelled to do,to compleat herself and fufil her mother's final wishes.