In secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd, lily has many mothers and that affects how she lives and how she reacts in certain situations. This theme of motherhood is shown through her characterization by watching Lily develop throughout the story, we see her realization that what she is looking for is a mother figure.

In chapter 2 Lily runs away and rescues rosaleen from a hospital where she is staying because she was beaten. She does this because she has nobody who cares about her except rosaleen so she did what she had to, to get rosaleen out. after rosaleen and Lily escape, they hideout and avoid people until they need to pick up supplies and when they do, they find the calendar sisters and it is then that Lily finds out what she has been looking for and that is a mother figure. Lily and Rosaleen then stay with the calendar sister and learn the art of beekeeping. Lily then bonds with August and august becomes a mother figure for Lily and August shows love for Lily as well. On page 103 you can tell the motherly love that the calendar sister have for Lily by them just doing little things like making a pancake in the shape of an L for Lily and doing that shows Lily that they love her.

As Lily develops her love for the Calendar sisters she realizes that she has a lot of mothers and that she is loved by a lot of people. the fact that she has more mothers than most people helps her cope with the fact that her birth mother is dead and although Lily has many mothers in secret life of bees, Rosaleen has to be the most influential. Lily grew up with Rosaleen and this has caused them to have an unbreakable bond and they would do anything for each other because they have a love for each other. Lily sees Rosaleen as a mother figure that she would do anything for and this is shown on page 47 when Lily breaks Rosaleen out of a hospital after Rosaleen had been beaten and jailed.

In Secret Life of Bees, Lily finds many mother figures including August who shows Lily the art of Beekeeping and Rosaleen who nurtures Lily and loves Lily. This lets Lily relax and learn to love herself because she is surrounded with positive energy and love. Lily learns the importance of motherhood because if she didn't have motherhood, then she wouldn't have the love she has now.