Freedom is a theme that winds throughout Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. While some characters face a literal and physical imprisonment, others deal with a more figurative lack of freedom that stems from familial issues.
Both Rosaleen and Zach faced actual imprisonments; notably, since the novel is set in the Civil Rights era, both characters are also African American. Rosaleen, while only confined for a short period of time thanks to Lily's hospital jail-break, was also severely beaten. Zach on the other hand was physically unharmed but confined for a greater amount of time. The respective imprisonments each left significant and lasting impacts on the two characters. Rosaleen did not become afraid of registering to vote, the very act that led to her imprisonment in the first place, and persevered to proudly register towards the end of the novel. Zach also only grew stronger in his desire to become a lawyer; while the spark of injustice did create new darker, angry undertones to his personality, he did not lose his compassion and zeal.
Contrastingly, Lily faced a more figurative imprisonment both in her family life with T-Ray and the confines of her own mind with conflicting thoughts about her mother. The first kind imprisonment with T-Ray, while inarguably abusive and harmful, cannot fully be likened to Rosaleen's and Zach's lack of freedom because she was not actually locked away anywhere; she still went to school, worked, read, had hobbies, was regularly fed, etc. Even after her initial running away, she was still haunted by, and therefore confined by, the thought of T-Ray finding her. She was only "released" from his hold at the conclusion of the novel when he left her in peace with the Boatwrights. Lily's second lack of freedom existed in her own mind. At times she was consumed with a mixture of loathing, love, misunderstanding, and every emotion in between regarding her mother's abandonment of her. Through the healing of time and gentle support from those around her, Lily eventually overcame her emotional and immature reactions to fulfill the "coming of age" theme of the novel. She accepted what she could not change and understood that her mother loved her and would never have caused her intentional harm.
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