Sue Monk Kidd’s coming of age novel The Secret Life of Bees has many themes, a major one being that women are powerful. There is no lack of female characters, and each is strong in their own way, and as a community they are an incredible force, something the protagonist Lily comes to realize over the course of the story. In the opening of this story, Lily is in a society where women are not highly valued. This is implied through the times; the sixties wasn’t exactly known for the best treatment of women after all. It’s subtle but ever present, echoed in the way that her father treats her, each of the many times she uses “female trouble” as an excuse, and when Mr. Gaston and Brother Gerald share “that all-knowing look men give each other when
